Germaine De Randamie says she deserves more respect after offering a reminder of her title credentials with an impressive victory against Julianna Pena at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
The former featherweight champion, currently the No 1-ranked contender at bantamweight, clinched the win at Flash Forum via a guillotine choke in the third round – her first submission in the UFC. It earned a Performance of the Night bonus.
De Ramdamie, who serves as a policewoman in her native Netherlands, is a 10-time world kickboxing champion and moves now to 10-4 in professional mixed martial arts (7-2 UFC).
However, despite her CV, De Ramdamie featured third last on Sunday's card in the capital, with Holly Holm and Irene Aldana – the No 2- and No 6-ranked challengers respectively at bantamweight – headlining.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, De Ramdamie said: “I honestly believe I’m not getting the respect I believe I deserve. I made history a lot of times in my career and I really did not get the respect.
“I’ve seen in the past that if you’re being a jerk you get respect here in the UFC. I don’t want to be a jerk; I want to stay true to myself. But I believe I deserve a little bit more respect for all I have done in my career.
“I’m 36 years old, I have a full-time job, I train besides being a police officer. It’s not easy. I’m getting older and it’s not easy. But I still do it so I deserve a little bit more credit for that.”
The first featherweight champion in UFC history, De Randamie looks well placed for either a third match-up with Amanda Nunes – they met most recently in December, where the Brazilian won for a second time – or a rematch with Holm, who defeated Aldana comfortably on points on Sunday.
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UFC Fight Night in pictures
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De Ramdamie and Holm clashed for the featherweight crown in 2017, with the former earning a controversial decision win.
Asked what it would take to get another shot at Nunes, the two-division champion, De Randamie said: “Honesty I really don’t know, and honestly I couldn’t care less.
"Don’t get me wrong, I just love to fight. And whoever I have to face, I face. I just want to put up the entertaining fights; no boring fights. Give me an entertaining fight, even if it’s a title shot or not. Because I’m here as an entertainer.
“Do you know how many belts I have? They get dust on them. I have to clean that [stuff], seriously. It would be cool, because I will be opening my own gym in January with my coach, so that new belt would sit fine in the new gym. We have a nice spot for it.”
