Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Germaine
de Randamie is hanging up her gloves.
In a statement posted on Instagram
on Thursday, de Randamie (10-5) signaled her retirement from MMA.
The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight queen stated that she hoped
to take one more fight before calling it quits, but the schedule
did not work out this year and she has decided to move on. The
40-year-old has competed once since 2020—including a lengthy layoff
to give birth to a son—where she came up short to likely future
title challenger Norma
Dumont.
“Hey guys,” de Randamie wrote in a caption to her video statement.
“With so many mixed feelings I’m sharing this message with you
guys. I definitely didn’t plan or envisioned/dreamed it this way,
but hey it is what it is sometimes. I begged the UFC for one more
fight. But it had to be this year. I promised myself that I would
retire from fighting December 31, 2024.”
She continued, “Unfortunately the UFC told me all cards are fully
booked. That’s why I decided that the time is now. I really wished
I could have walked the walk one more time. But I guess it was not
meant to be. [Too] many people to think personally so thank you all
for being a part of my journey. Thank you all for the amazing
memories. I’m forever grateful for all of them. Like I always say,
‘Die with memories, not dreams.’ The Ironlady has left the
building.”
In addition to serving as the first titleholder in the women’s
featherweight bracket, the Dutchwoman who also serves as a police
officer maintains a number of key victories over names like
Julianna
Pena, Holly Holm
and Raquel
Pennington. “The Iron Lady” battled all-time great Amanda
Nunes on two separate occasions, and she came up short both
times—with those two losses accounting for two of the three she
sustained in the Octagon after over a decade on the roster. Prior
to swimming in the seas of MMA, de Randamie established herself as
a top kickboxer, celebrating a record of 46 wins with no defeats,
and 30 knockouts on her ledger.