Buckle up, Denver!
Colorado’s @RockyPMMA faces the returning @IronLadyMMA. #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/xMLNSvukTK
— UFC (@ufc) August 9, 2018
The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 25th Anniversary card in Denver just landed another Colorado native, as Colorado Springs’ Raquel Pennington vs. Germaine de Randamie has been officially announced for the Nov. 10 event.
Beyond a mere nod to the locale, the fight is a matchup of Top-10 women with something to prove. “Rocky” will look to regain momentum and show she is none the worse for wear after a brutal fifth-round TKO loss to bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in May, which snapped a four-fight winning streak. While Pennington was roundly lauded for her heart and grit, the punishment she took was severe enough that her corner as well as referee Marc Goddard received some criticism for not stopping the fight sooner.
The 34-year-old de Randamie, on the other hand, will be fighting for the first time since taking the women’s featherweight title from Holly Holm in February of 2017. “The Iron Lady” was stripped months later, as she refused to set a date to defend the strap against Cristiane Justino. She was excoriated by UFC President Dana White who questioned her will to fight, while de Randamie maintained she had obligations related to her full-time job as a police offer in her native Holland.
The UFC is returning to where it all began, as UFC 1 took place at McNichols Arena in Denver in November of 1993, launching the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion and, many would argue, marking the beginning of the modern sport.
UFC Fight Night 139 takes place on Nov. 10 at the Pepsi Center in Denver and already features a matchup between Coloradan Donald Cerrone and Mike Perry.