This past weekend, in the main event of UFC 208, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm stepped into the Octagon with undefeated kickboxing veteran Germaine de Randamie for a highly anticipated showdown for the inaugural women’s featherweight title.
The fight was a competitive one, with De Randamie narrowly out-striking Holm over the course of 5 rounds en route to a unanimous decision win to become the first ever women’s featherweight champion. With that being said of course, the fight wasn’t without some controversy. On two separate occasions, fans booed as De Randamie landed punches after the bell had signaled the end of the round.
While many criticized referee Todd Anderson for not deducting a point from De Randamie, referees Big John McCarthy and Marc Goddard both revealed on social media that according to procedure, while the bell does signal the end of the round, it is ultimately the referee’s job to stop the action at the end of a round.
While De Randamie has offered Holm a rematch in light of the controversy, it was revealed in the week following the fight that Holm’s camp would be appealing the loss according to MMAFighting. An excerpt from the statement from Holm’s manager explains:
“We respectfully request the commission review referee Anderson’s failure to assess a foul and render a decision regarding a point deduction following Round 2, and failure to assess a foul and a point deduction following Round 3, and determine an appropriate result”
“It was blatant,” Holm’s agent Lenny Fresquez said. “Very blatant.”
“I hope Germaine is a lady of her word and gives Holly the immediate rematch she promised her.”
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/15/2017.