An MMA Thanksgiving: 2017 All-Turkey Team

Germaine de Randamie

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 19 announced that de Randamie had been stripped of the women’s featherweight title over her refusal to face Cristiane Justino. It was a move that did not endear her to fans. De Randamie captured the inaugural 145-pound championship by defeating Holly Holm in a five-round unanimous decision at UFC 208 in February. It was expected that de Randamie would put her title on the line against Justino in the subsequent months. Instead, “The Iron Lady” was publicly absent from MMA headlines and negotiations, stating she was preoccupied with her duties as a police officer in her native Netherlands. In the last week of May, the situation intensified, as de Randamie outright refused to fight Justino, stating through her management that she felt Justino was both a past and present steroid user and that she should not be allowed to fight in the UFC at all. “Germaine and her team have talked, and the position is that she will not fight ‘Cyborg’ because ‘Cyborg’ is a known and proven cheater,” said Brian Butler, de Randamie’s manager. “Even after so much scrutiny has been put on ‘Cyborg,’ she still managed to pop for something and will always be a person of suspicion who is trying to beat the system rather than just conforming to the rules.” That left the UFC with no other choice than to strip de Randamie of her championship. “[The] UFC has informed Germaine de Randamie and her management team that she is being removed as the women’s featherweight champion due to her unwillingness to fight the No. 1 ranked contender, Cris ‘Cyborg' Justino,” the UFC said in a statement. “[The] UFC maintains that any champion is expected to accept fights against the top contenders in their respective weight classes in order to maintain the integrity of the sport.” De Randamie has not fought since.

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