The Complete Guide to UFC 208: Holm vs. De Randamie

Holly Holm tries to get back on track and win her second UFC title.Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Main Event: Featherweight Championship

Holly Holm (10-2; 3-2 UFC) vs. Germaine de Randamie (6-3; 3-1 UFC)

In an unlikely first women's featherweight title fight, Netherlands native Germaine de Randamie takes on former bantamweight champion Holly Holm.

The long shadow of Cris Cyborg shouldn't distract from the fact that this is an excellent matchup. While Holm has lost two in a row since her epic upset of Ronda Rousey in November 2015, dropping fights to Miesha Tate and Valentina Shevchenko, she's still among the elite at 135 pounds. She also has real name value.

Her opponent, de Randamie, isn't well-known. She has won two in a row, though, taking out Anna Elmose and Larissa Pacheco following a loss to current bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. 

The winner will be set up for a fight with Cyborg or perhaps Invicta FC champion Megan Anderson. Either way, this fight will be one to watch.

De Randamie is a big, rangy striker, standing 5'9" and boasting long reach (71") to boot. Her game is built around maximizing the strengths of that frame with slick, technical craft.

A heavy jab is the focus of her game at range. She pops it consistently, slamming it home to the chin, chest and solar plexus to gauge and enforce her preferred long range. It also serves to blind her opponent and set up the rest of her striking arsenal. 

The jab-cross is de Randamie's meat and potatoes, something she throws with great regularity. Her straight right hand is quick, accurate, long and carries serious power. She also has a heavy right uppercut that she uses to catch ducking opponents.

Although we haven't seen much of it, de Randamie is also a vicious kicker when she lets her legs go. Cracking low kicks and a sneaky left high kick are all quick and powerful.

The sheer technical soundness of de Randamie's striking game is hard to overstate. She does all the little things well: Her footwork is outstanding, she pivots and moves beautifully, and she always keeps her feet under her as she throws. Everything she does is efficient with no wasted motion or energy. She's slick defensively, pulling her head off line as she throws to avoid counters and using crisp parries and blocks.

Things don't get any easier for her opponents in the clinch. Her height and long limbs give her great leverage, which she puts to good use with her double-collar tie, frames and over-under control. She throws knees at a quick clip with fight-ending force and technique.

De Randamie's control of the range and crisp footwork make it hard to get a clean shot at her hips for a takedown, and she excels at catching her opponents with knees and uppercuts as they change levels. If they can get a takedown chain going against the fence, though, de Randamie struggles to defend forever. She offers nothing from her back and isn't hard to control.

Holm is quick, strong, athletic and big at 5'8". The southpaw had a long career as a professional boxer, and that shows up in her crisp footwork and defined preference for the straight left hand. 

Outside fighting is Holm's specialty. She sets the distance with an array of rangy kicks, especially the side kick to the body and oblique kick to the thigh, which allows her to either force her opponent to come forward and be countered or set up blitzing, forward-moving combinations that combine punches and kicks.

The left hand is Holm's bread and butter. She throws it early and often, doubling or even tripling it, and it sets up everything else she throws with intent. A left elbow adds a little variety, but it's her round kicks that do real damage. If the opponent brings hands to the front to block or parry the straight, the head kick is open; if she chooses to defend the kick, the straight is there. Either way, Holm can throw to the body.

Holm works at a quick pace and can pile up a substantial amount of volume. She's not much of a puncher, though, and doesn't have much pop. This isn't an issue when she can run her opponent onto her punches, as she did to Rousey, but it's a problem when she's the one moving forward.

Her lead hand varies between inconsistent and invisible; despite her boxing background, she barely jabs and almost never throws a right hook. Her preference for extreme long range means she has a lot of ground to cover with blitzing combinations, which makes them predictable and easy to see coming.

That's the meat of Holm's game. She's proficient in the clinch and can hit the occasional takedown there when the mood strikes. Strong defensive wrestling keeps her standing, and her command of distance makes it hard to get a shot at her in the first place. She doesn't offer much on the mat, though, either from the top or the bottom. An opponent can capitalize when Holm tries to scramble back to her feet.

Betting Odds

De Randamie -125, Holm +105

Prediction

Though it might be surprising to see the betting odds so close, this is a brutal matchup for Holm. She's facing another high-level striker with a preference for outside fighting but one with better fundamentals, more power and an edge in the clinch if it goes there. 

De Randamie has two options here and can beat Holm with either. If she wants to stick at long range and fight Holm at distance, she has the tools—jabs and kicks—to keep pace there while doing more damage than the American. If she prefers to pressure and work into the pocket, she can rely on her power and clinch game to get the job done.

Holm also has paths to victory, though. She likes to work at a quicker pace than de Randamie, and if she's willing to take the risk of eating some shots, she can outwork her opponent. Her takedown game isn't great, but it's better than de Randamie's, so she could eat up some time with attempts and top control. Holm has the experience edge in long fights and the cardio to work for a full 25 minutes.

Still, the basic outlines of the matchup favor de Randamie. She wins a back-and-forth decision. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.

Patrick Wyman is the Senior MMA Analyst for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Heavy Hands Podcast, your source for the finer points of face-punching. For the history enthusiasts out there, he also hosts The Fall of Rome Podcast on the end of the Roman Empire. He can be found on Twitter and on Facebook.