This past weekend, Germaine de Randamie picked up the biggest win of her career as she defeated former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm to claim the first ever UFC women’s featherweight title.

The fight was an extremely competitive one that saw De Randamie out-strike the former champ en route to her unanimous decision win. With that being said however, De Randamie received criticism for several punches that landed after the bell. Following the event, referees ‘Big’ John McCarthy & Marc Goddard took to social media to explain that while the bell notifies both fighters and referees of the end of the round, it is ultimately the referee’s job to stop the fighters at the end of the round.

Now, De Randamie has released a statement on the fight, and the controversial blows, via Facebook, saying:

“First of all THANK YOU ALL from the bottom off my heart I’m truly overwhelmed from all the love and support that I have received. This journey started 18 years ago and none of this would have been possible without so many people. I wanna thank my coaches who helped me every step down the road. I wanna thank my teammates for all the hours of work. I wanna thank my dear family and friends I know it’s been tough at times but you guys always stuck by my side through good and bad. My fans thank you for your continues support over the years.
It’s been one hell of a ride. Thank you all so much!! I can say I’m blessed to have so many amazing people surrounding me.
Last night was 18 years in the making not my best fight but I gave it my all. I do wanna say I’m not a dirty fighter. I respect Holly Holm to the fullest and never did I hit her intentionally after the bell. The first time the referee told me it was a clean shot and second time it was absolutely in the heat of the moment. My apologies to Holly and her camp if they think I did it intentionally because that was absolutely NOT the case.

Thank you all for this amazing journey

Holland I’m on my way home”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/14/2017.