Germaine de Randamie, former UFC champ, eyeing 2023 return after giving birth
Former UFC women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie is eyeing a return to competition after giving birth earlier this year.
De Randamie gave birth to their son Isaiah on March 20 after her and partner Samantha announced their pregnancy late last year.
“We are full in training and I don’t have a date yet, but we are going for November or October, end of October or November,” De Randamie told UFC Eurosport (translated by YouTube). “I’m feeling good, I’m waiting for the call right now. My manager is negotiating, so we’ll see, but 2023 it will be anyway.”
“I have to say very honestly after three years it is tough because I am also getting older by the day,” De Randamie said. “My body feels that, but there is a fire burning in me. You can no longer take that figure away, and especially now that I have become a mother, I fight with a different goal: my little man. I want to make him proud. … So, in the end, whoever is in front of me, it will be them or me, that’s one thing for sure.”
“The Iron Lady” de Randamie holds a professional mixed martial arts record of 10-4. She also works as a police officer in the Netherlands.
The 38-year-old fighter and mother has not competed inside the UFC octagon since October 20 when she defeated former champion Julianna Peña, prior to Peña shocking the world and defeating Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight belt.
In February 2017, de Randamie became the UFC’s first female featherweight champion when she defeated Holly Holm for the vacant title. She never defended the title and was later stripped of the belt when she refused to fight Cris Cyborg.
