Former UFC featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie believes that all the pressure is on Amanda Nunes ahead of the bantamweight championship bout at tonight’s UFC 245.
Amanda Nunes has been the UFC women’s bantamweight champion for over three years, and she has now established herself as a perennial favorite, including over Germane de Randamie, where Nunes currently sits as a 3-to-1 favorite. De Randamie feels that, because of being written off by so many people, she will be playing with house money, so to speak, and is enjoying the stress-free life ahead of trying to capture her second UFC championship (Transcript via Bloody Elbow):
“My preparation was great. My weight is at its lowest ever,” de Randamie told Combate ahead of tonight’s UFC 245. “I’m in great shape. To be here is already a victory to me, especially when there’s a belt on the line. No matter what happens, when I make that walk on Saturday, I’ll have already won. I’m the underdog, I’m at ease and have nothing to lose. Only Amanda has something to lose.”
If the fight between herself and Nunes were booked two years ago, as de Randamie claims was planned, perhaps there would have been more pressure on her, since de Randammie had just became the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion after defeating Holly Holm in 2017. After being stripped of the featherweight title, de Randamie claims her second fight against Nunes was then supposed to take place in the bantamweight division. And because that bout never happened, The Iron Lady believes there is some unfinished business between herself and Nunes, even though Nunes already holds a victory over her from six years ago.
“Amanda and I were supposed to fight right after I beat Holly Holm. That was the deal, a bantamweight fight. The fight was supposed to happen at bantamweight because Amanda wasn’t the featherweight champion yet. That’s why I didn’t take the featherweight fight. It had to happen at bantamweight, like it was previously planned.”
Who do you predict will win tonight when Amanda Nunes defends
the bantamweight championship against Germaine de Randamie?