NEW YORK // Germaine de Randamie clocked Holly Holm after the bell in one round, then a second, and got nothing more than a warning from the referee.
De Randamie kept those pivotal points on the scorecard, and slapped a UFC championship belt over her shoulder.
The 32-year-old Dutch kick-boxer shook off Holm’s clinching and won by unanimous decision – 48-47 on each judge’s card – in the main event at UFC 208 on Saturday night to become the first featherweight champion in the woman’s division.
De Randamie (7-3) dropped to her knees in celebration as the Barclays Center crowd booed the end of a lacklustre bout. UFC created the new 145-pound division in part as a showcase for Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino.
Justino was the lone fan standing in the front row toward the end of the five-round bout and stuck around to snap selfies with fans. Justino’s UFC fate is in limbo because of a doping violation that knocked her off the New York card.
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“I want to fight everybody and I will fight anybody so we will see who is next,” De Randamie said.
A fight may not be on the immediate horizon.
De Randamie, who also fought in Strikeforce, said she needed surgery on one of her hands. UFC said De Randamie was taken to a hospital.
Holm (10-3) has lost three straight bouts since she became the first fighter to defeat Ronda Rousey in December 2015.
De Randamie rocked Holm with repeated hits after the bell in two rounds. She struck Holm with a right a tick after the horn to end the second round that sent the crowd of 15,628 howling. Holm shook De Randamie with a head kick near the end of the third. But De Randamie again thumped Holm just after the bell and was walked to her corner with referee Todd Anderson talking in her ear. But she was never penalised for the late blows.
“The second time, at that point you’d think they’d do something,” Holm said.
De Randamie said the hits were not intentional.
“It was in the heat of the moment. I apologised,” she said.
Like Holm, De Randamie moved up in weight for the shot at the title in the first UFC pay-per-view in 2017. She might be the least-known fighter on the card. But she walked out a champion.
“I came to fight and she didn’t want to fight me,” she said.
Holm may have fought in the main event for the last time in her UFC career. She heard unflattering comparisons all week to former heavyweight champion James “Buster” Douglas, who was a one-hit wonder in the fight game following his KO of Mike Tyson.
Anderson Silva had one more big win left in the MMA octagon, a passable performance to beat Derek Brunson in the co-main event. Silva had the Brooklyn crowd clearly on his side, and his familiar dose of swagger and showmanship were on full display in a 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 victory.
Silva crouched in his yellow trunks, the crowd going wild for “The Spider,” all hoping he could recreate the greatness of his prime. He landed a spin kick to the body in the first round that rattled Brunson but otherwise never came close to dominating the middleweight bout.
Silva dropped his longtime entrance song, DMX's Ain't No Sunshine, for an original tune called Doom by his teenage son Kalyl.
“I’m the best ever,” repeated one of the lyrics.
Silva, 41, is certainly on the shortlist of all-time great MMA fighters.
Silva (34-8) was hit with emotion and appeared to choke back tears as he held a hand to his face. Chris Weidman, who ended Silva’s dominant run in 2013, sat in the front row and nodded in approval as the sell-out crowd chanted “Silva! Silva! Silva!”
“I know I’m too old to fight,” Silva said.
Silva said he climbs inside the cage these days for the of love the sport and for his family and friends. Talk of future shots have faded into the background, and this victory over Brunson (16-5) certainly did nothing to prove he is worth another crack at the belt.
“Everyone is telling me that I won. I feel terrible,” Brunson said. “I took this fight on short notice and, to have this happen, is just crazy to me.”
Silva won the middleweight title in 2006 in his second UFC fight and went held the belt for nearly seven years. He had 10 straight title defences before he lost to Weidman. Silva’s only win since 2012 was overturned with a doping suspension and he was stopped on short notice by Daniel Cormier in his last bout at UFC 200 in July.
UFC’s second trip to the Big Apple in three months lacked the top-to-bottom star power of the debut show in November but fans were just as enthusiastic and filled the place well before the PPV started.
Dustin Poirier won a brutal, bloody bout in the opener against Jim Miller that left both fighters broken. Poirier tagged Miller with straight shots that cut him open above his eyes and covered his face in blood.
Poirier appeared to sustain a serious injury to his right ankle. Poirier, a majority decision winner in the lightweight bout, was down on the canvas for a bit after the bout ended and needed help from this corner to sit on a stool. He was helped back on his brittle leg to the locker room and a stretcher soon followed him down the corridor. UFC said Poirier was taken to a hospital.
“I didn’t hear anything snap,” Poirier said. “It felt wobbly the last couple of rounds.”
Glover Teixeira defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision in dull fight that brought out the New York boo birds. Jacare Souza choked out Tim Boetsch at 3:41 of the first round and moved to 7-1 in UFC.
The US$2,275,105 (Dh8.3 million) gate was the highest for a sporting event in Barclays Center history.
* Associated Press
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