Germaine de Randamie Shares Her Thoughts on Ciryl Gane’s Controversies

Ciryl Gane is the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, but his recent fights have been controversial, most notably his title fights with Tom Aspinall and Alex Pereira.

Aspinall fight ended abruptly with the eye pokes, while the Pereira fight was filled with some potentially illegal strikes.

In a recent interview with Combat Sports Fan Page, Germaine de Randamie shared her perspective on these controversies surrounding 'Bon Gamin'.

Germaine de Randamie is the first UFC Women's Featherweight Champion. Before completely transitioning to MMA, she dominated the Muay Thai kickboxing world, building an undefeated 46-0 record. She's amongst the elite group of athletes who've won world championships across multiple combat sports.

De Randamie experienced similar criticism as Ciryl Gane after her UFC 208 title fight against Holly Holm, when she accidentally landed late blows. When I asked her thoughts on Gane's situation, de Randamie shared a nuanced and helpful take.

First, she addressed how people only throw their judgment from behind a screen:

"What can I say? People are people. Those are heroes behind the computer. There is always people that going to say about you, you know? Because they're fans of Alex Pereira. They are fans of Tom Aspinall. They're going to, but these are all, you know, keyboard warriors. I'm sorry to say that. You know, everybody can have their own opinion, but they will never come up to you when you're walking on the street and tell you, "Hey, you're such a beep, because you threw a late blow." They won't do that."

Germaine de Randamie Revisits Her Fight With Holly Holm

She then went back to the Holly Holm fight and pointed out she won the judges' unanimous decision:

"If I look at my fight with Holly, it was a unanimous decision. It was not that I just won one round. I almost won every round, except, you know, lose from the late blows. Every judge around the cage decided I was the better fighter that night. So, you can blame me. But you have to blame the judges, not me."

The Iron Lady also spoke about the late blows from that fight: 

"In the heat of the moment, you don't do it intentionally. You're in the heat of the moment. I don't listen to click, click. I'm in there to fight. And if I rock you and I throw another punch, then the referee steps in. You know, it can happen." 

Germaine de Randamie Explains When Fighters Should be Penalized for Fouls

de Randamie showed her understanding for the kind of situation Ciryl found himself in, but she was also clear that if a fighter does the same mistake repeatedly, then they should "worry" about it:

"A punch on the side of the head or on the back of the head, no, it's not allowed. I agree. You should be point deducted. Absolutely. But it can happen. This is fighting. You know, there are two men or two women standing in front of each other, and they both want to win. There's a world title, a UFC world title on the line. It's not like we're just doing this for fun. And it can happen. And it can happen once; it can happen twice. Of course, if it happens every fight, you should worry"

Germaine de Randamie Offers Advice to UFC Referees

Towards the end of the dialogue, the Dutch legend offered her recommendations for how referees could prevent similar incidents and better protect fighters inside the Octagon:

"When this next fight's coming up, you come in the dressing room, one punch to the back of the head, one eye poke, you will be disqualified. That's it, you know, you're out of luck. All your lucky charms you have delivered it's done. Then they have a good conversation with him, you know, as a referee, because you're in charge too, to protect the fighters. As the same, the referee is in charge of the bell. Not the fighter; the referee is in charge of it. You know, they're in charge of protecting the fighters when they can't protect themselves anymore."

Germaine de Randamie's comments offer an interesting perspective ahead of Ciryl Gane's upcoming heavyweight title defence. The Frenchman will look to defend his undisputed championship against the brash American contender, Josh Hokit, at UFC 334.

The fight headlines the UFC's return to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 14. After the controversies surrounding his recent fights, Gane will be looking to deliver a clean performance and leave no room for further debate on who's the baddest man on the planet.