De Randamie out of fight against Irene Aldana at UFC 268
An undisclosed injury has forced the former champion out of her upcoming fight.
Germaine de Randamie is out of her fight against Irene Aldana at UFC 268.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes reported De Randamie suffered an undisclosed injury and had to withdraw from the fight against Aldana. The promotion has not made an announcement on De Randamie yet, but the report has been confirmed other media outlets. De Randamie and Aldana were expected to meet earlier this year, but the ‘Iron Lady’ underwent surgery on her broken left hand and needed to time to recuperate.
De Randamie earned a championship opportunity against Amanda Nunes with a five-fight win streak that included wins over Holly Holm, Raquel Pennington, and Aspen Ladd. The former featherweight champion and Nunes met for the second time at UFC 245, where she was bested by way of unanimous decision. De Randamie returned to competition the next year and submitted Julianna Pena with a ‘Performance of the Night’ awarded guillotine choke at UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Aldana.
Aldana returned to the win column in July at UFC 264, where she knocked out Yana Kunitskaya in the first round of their fight. The Mexican-born fighter was previously defeated by the aforementioned Holm in a fight that was widely considered a title eliminator in the bantamweight division. The win over Kunitskaya has put Aldana in prime position to fight in another title eliminator, this time against De Randamie, but that will now have to wait in light of recent developments.
Per the report from Legaspi, the promotion is currently looking for a replacement for Aldana.
UFC 268 takes place on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Two championship rematches serve as the main and co-main event of the evening as Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington share the Octagon again for the welterweight title, while Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili fight for the strawweight title.