Competing in front of a partisan crowd in her home country, Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie earned a devastating knockout win tonight at UFC Fight Night 87: “Overeem vs Arlovski” in Rotterdam, South Holland, The Netherlands. The elite bantamweight striker finished Anna “Panda” Elmose.
De Randamie received a tremendous ovation from the fans in attendance, who looked on intently as she ended Elmose’s night with a first-round knee to the body. In strawweight action, Polish star Karolina Kowalkiewicz picked up an impressive Unanimous Decision win over “Hurricane” Heather Clark.
De Randamie (6-3-0) opened the action with a quick combination and she countered a clinch from Elmose (3-1-0) by landing knees to the midsection. Elmose briefly got her down to one knee, but de Randamie rose to her feet and blasted Elmose with right hooks and uppercuts. Elmose initiated another clinch and de Randamie kept her at bay with more hard knees. She landed a particularly nasty one to Elmose’s stomach and Elmose collapsed to the mat. The fight was quickly waved off and the Dutch crowd roared in support of de Randamie’s performance.
Tonight’s victory was an important one for de Randamie, who opted to stay on the Rotterdam card rather than dropping out in order to face Invicta FC champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino at UFC 198 in six days. A bout between de Randamie and Justino is still a possibility for the future, pending Justino’s performance on Saturday, but tonight was all about de Randamie’s second straight Octagon win.
Winner: Germaine de Randamie by KO (Knee To The Body) at 3:46 of round one. She improves to 6-3-0.
Earlier on the card, Kowalkiewicz (9-0-0) overcame a slow start in round one and showcased her formidable striking skills in the final ten minutes en route to a well-deserved decision victory over Clark (7-5-0), who put forth a solid showing in her first fight back since recovering from a torn ACL that kept her on the sidelines for 17 months.
Clark set the tone early on by landing right hands and lunging left hooks. Kowalkiewicz threw kicks from a distance, but Clark quickly countered with combinations and she pinned Kowalkiewicz against the cage. Both women landed strikes in close, but Clark kept the pace high and she scored with more punches and knees. Kowalkiewicz answered with a spinning back kick late in the round.
Save for a brief takedown from Clark in round two, the remainder of the fight belonged to Kowalkiewicz. She was much more aggressive with her punches and she repeatedly tagged Clark with quick flurries. When Clark closed the distance, Kowalkiewicz countered by landing knees and elbows over the top. She punished Clark with knees to the body and reversed a throw late in round two that allowed her to threaten with an armbar attempt before the bell.
The final round began with Clark landing a head kick, but it only seemed to fuel Kowalkiewicz’s aggression. She landed leg kicks, combinations and a spinning backfist as Clark began to slow down. In the clinch, Kowalkiewicz unloaded with elbows and punches. She battered Clark with one-twos, knees and kicks throughout the final minute and rocked her with a big flurry before time expired.
In spite of Clark’s strong start, Kowalkiewicz’s impressive performance in rounds two and three was enough to seal a victory in her favour. Scores were 30-27 and 29-28 twice for Kowalkiewicz, who stayed unbeaten and now takes another step towards a title shot in the women’s strawweight division.
Winner: Karolina Kowalkiewicz by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 9-0-0.
(Photo Credit: UFC)