UFC Fight Night: Germaine de Randamie demands more 'respect' after impressive win in Abu Dhabi

No 1-ranked bantamweight challenger submitted Julianna Pena with guillotine choke

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - OCTOBER 04: Germaine de Randemie of The Netherlands celebrates after defeating Julianna Pena in their women's bantamweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event insidShow more

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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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.”