Jessica Penne - Female MMA

Jessica Penne is an undefeated female MMA fighter.
She stands 5'5 and weighs in at 115 pounds.
Jessica began her training at Apex Jujitsu in Aliso Viejo, and now trains at Subfighter in Laguna Hills and Legends in Hollywood.
Her MMA record is 6-0-0.
She has defeated Tammie Schneider, Alicia Gumm, Heather Basquil, female MMA fighter and pro wrestler Sumi Sakai, Brandy Nerney and Sally Krumdiak.
Three of her wins were via submission.

Round 5 Gina Carano Figure

Soon you will be able to own your own Gina Carano.
Well a replica at least.
Round 5 will release a Gina Carano figure this July as part of Round 5's Series 4 release.
Besides Gina, the series will include Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Matt Serra.
This is the first female MMA figure Round 5 has done.
The figure will be available at Toys ‘R’ Us, Wal-Mart (Canada), Champs Sports and FYE.

I didn't see anything at their site yet, but you can check out Round 5's website here:
http://www.round5mma.com/

Female MMA, Sarah Kaufman, Miesha Tate and Shayna Baszler

Sarah Kaufman raised her undefeated record to 9-0 at ShoMMA with a unanimous decision over Miesha Tate (6-2) in a 135-pound fight.
Both women put on a good fight and were determined to win.
I wonder if Tate had more time to get ready for Kaufman, would the outcome have been any different?
Sarah as you know was a "last minute" substitute for Kim Couture.
But Sarah didn't have any extra prep time either as she just jumped into this fight.

The next fight though will be a different story, as Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has already announced that the winner of this fight (Kaufman) will face Shayna Baszler on June 19th.
"The Queen of Spades" Baszler who is 9-5-0 and Kaufman will both have plenty of time to get ready for each other.

Now I wonder if we can get Strikeforce to extend the rounds to three minutes instead of five?

Sarah Kaufman Versus Miesha Tate Tonight

Here are some articles about tonight's MMA bout between Sarah Kaufman and Miesha Tate....

First, an article from Fanhouse:

Miesha Tate Out to Prove She's More Than Just a Pretty Fighter
Miesha Tate (5-1) went from training for a fight against a well-known, less experienced opponent in Kim Couture (1-1), to a lesser-known, more experienced opponent in Sarah Kaufman (8-0). It was a bitter pill to swallow for the up-and-coming female MMA star, but one that she ultimately realized could benefit her career even more in the long run.

You can read the full article by Ariel Helwani here

Then an article from Sports Illustrated:

Female fighter Tate ready to shine
Here's how close Miesha Tate came to completely missing out on a career as a professional female fighter: It was down to wrestling or basketball. A high-school freshman in Tacoma, Wash., she and her best friend had always played sports together. But in the winter season, their school only offered basketball or boys' wrestling. Tate couldn't play basketball and her best friend was barely 5-feet tall. It wasn't a difficult decision, the way Tate remembers it now.

You can read the full article by Ben Fowlkes here

So for a change, one of the female MMA bouts on a card is generating quite a bit of press.
I think it's kinda safe to say that Miesha is the underdog here.
But underdogs have won before.

Sarah Kaufman faces Miesha Tate at Strikeforce: Challengers

It has been confirmed now that Sarah Kaufman ( 8-0 ) will step in to replace Kim Couture in match with Miesha Tate at the May 15th, Strikeforce: Challengers.
Not a lot of notice for the as of yet undefeated fighter who last fought on April 23, winning by TKO in the second round.
But Sarah stepped right up, and interestingly, her intial offer was made via the forum at mixedmartialarts.com, also known as The Underground.
I wonder if that's a first?

WAMMA Female MMA Rankings For April

The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts has released its female fighter rankings for the month of May.
The list has a new weight division (115 pound weight class) and a few other changes.
For brevity's sake, I have only listed the top five fighters in each catagory.
You can see the whole list here:
http://gowamma.com/Rankings

Featherweight
1 Gina Carano
2 Marloes Coenen
3 (tie) Cristiane Santos / Erin Toughill
5 Kelly Kobold

Bantamweight
1 Tara LaRosa
2 Takayo Hashi
3 Roxanne Modafferi
4 Shayna Baszler
5 Sarah Kaufman

Super Flyweight
1 Rosi Sexton
2 Carina Damm
3 Rin Nakai
4 Aisling Daly
5 "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba

Flyweight
1 Megumi Fuji
2 Yuka Tsuji
3 Ana Michelle Tavares
4 Lisa Ward
5 Miku Matsumoto

Female MMA News: Tara LaRosa, Kim Couture and Miesha Tate

Here's an article about female mma fighter Tara LaRosa from fanhouse.com...

Tara LaRosa may be the best mixed martial artist -- male or female -- that you've never heard of.
While Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos have received all the attention from MMA fans and media, the consensus pound-for-pound best female fighter in the world has seemingly been pushed aside. What a shame.
http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/04/30/the-curious-case-of-tara-larosa/

In other news, Bellator has held their first female mma match.
It was between Jessica Pene and Tammy Schneider, with Jessica coming out victorious.
And in a similar vein, WEC is now planning a women's division.

And bad news, as word comes that Xtreme Couture Vice President Kim Couture has pulled out her scheduled May 15 "SHO MMA: Strikeforce Challenger Series" fight with Miesha Tate.
Strikeforce officials didn't give a reason for Couture's decision, but the organization is looking for a replacement in hopes of keeping Tate on the card.

UPDATES:

It looks like undefeated Sarah Kaufman will replace Kim.

And this may give insight as to why Kim pulled out of the match:

Randy Couture served his wife Kim Couture with divorce papers on Tuesday according to a Raw Vegas report.
It was widely reported that Kim pulled out of her fight with Meisha Tate at SHO MMA: Strikeforce Challenger Series on May 15th due to martial problems. According to the report the divorce papers came as a shock to Kim.
http://www.aroundtheoctagon.com/?p=1755