Germaine de Randamie: Amanda Nunes Won’t Strike With Me

Don’t expect Amanda Nunes to strike with Germaine de Randamie this weekend.

That’s according to the latter who will challenge Nunes in a rematch for the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 245 this Saturday in Las Vegas. The pair first met in 2013 where Nunes was able to get the victory with a first-round TKO victory.

Six years on from that fight, de Randamie looks back at that setback as a pivotal moment in her career as she believes it made her a mixed martial artist rather than a kickboxer. “The Iron Lady” hasn’t suffered defeat since and believes there is very little chance that Nunes and her will engage in a striking battle:

“I think the most thing I learned about it and the thing that will happen Saturday is she’s not going to stand with me,” de Randamie said at a recent athlete panel (via MMA Fighting). “She’s going to shoot on me.”

Nunes also appeared on the athlete panel later on and scoffed at the idea that her wrestling would be the only path to victory against de Randamie:

“I have so many things to do in this fight,” Nunes said. “I just have to take my time. I think what I’m going to wait for is she’s going to make a mistake. I know she’s going to make mistakes. Like the first time. I’m going to capitalize. The takedown for sure is something that I look for. But I don’t know when it’s going to happen.

“I know I’ll be able to strike with her. I know I believe I can knock her out. I know she’s very good what she has with her striking but I already see a lot of holes. We know each other very well. This is my second camp for her and I know I’m going to finish her.”

How do you expect the rematch to play out?