MMA Preview – Germaine de Randamie vs Julianna Pena at UFC Fight Island 4
GERMAINE DE RANDAMIE VS JULIANNA PENA FACTS
When is UFC Fight Island 4? Sunday 4th October, 2020 - 01:30 start (UK)
Where is UFC Fight Island 4? Flash Forum, Fight Island, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Island 4? No tickets are available as this event will take place without spectators
What channel is UFC Fight Island 4 on? BT Sport 1
Where can I stream UFC Fight Island 4? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ and you can sign up for access as part of a Disney Bundle here!
GERMAINE DE RANDAMIE VS JULIANNA PENA LOWDOWN
Germaine de Randamie returns after her title fight loss to Amanda Nunes back in December last year. That loss snapped a five-fight winning streak including wins over Holly Holm, Raquel Pennington and Aspen Ladd, but she was very inactive fighting only once a year. In fact, she has only fought six times in seven years.
Another bantamweight who has really struggled just to make the walk to the octagon is Julianna Pena. After a catastrophic knee injury in 2014 tearing every ligament you can think of, Pena has only fought five times. She steamrolled Milana Dudieva and bagged the biggest wins of her career with vintage performances and unanimous decisions over Jessica Eye and Cat Zingano. She then bet the weapon that is Valentina Shevchenko in 2017 getting submitted and then took some time off giving birth but made her return in July last year banking the points again against Nicco Montano.
GERMAINE DE RANDAMIE VS JULIANNA PENA PREDICTION
A classic striker vs grappler match-up. De Randamie is the kickboxing and Muay Thai specialist and Pena is a beast of a wrestler with strong jiu-jitsu and ground-and-pound.
So, this will all come down to de Randamie’s takedown defence which is 71% in the UFC. When up against opponents who have grappled, she has had mixed fortunes. She stuffed all eight of Pennington’s takedown attempts and knocked out Aspen before she got a chance but when Nunes decided to grapple, she took her down eight out of 11 times and kept her down.
Pena has a 52% takedown accuracy but has succeeded in taking down all her UFC opponents so far and just needs one early in each round to take the fight away from de Randamie.
De Randamie needs to be aggressive and we could see a lot of clinch work here with Pena trying to drag her to the mat but de Randamie has a strong and offensive clinch herself. This will be a close fight and Pena’s only chance is to grind her way to a decision whereas de Randamie has the knockout threat and the longer she can avoid the takedown, the more damage she will land on the feet.
Prediction: De Randamie via Decision
