Female MMA

Marianna Kheyfets - Female MMA

2011-11-10T08:52:00.001-05:00

Marianna Kheyfets
http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/

This is Marianna "The Crushen Russian" Kheyfets.
Marianna was born on June 22nd, 1985, she is five foot five, 125 pounds and is trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai.
She made her pro debut in a match against Kim Couture at XFC 11 - The Next Generation on July 9th, 2010 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.
Marianna won that match in the 3:06 of the first round via a Triangle Choke submission.
Since then she has gone on to a 4-0-0 record defeating Marissa Caldwell (2-5-0), Kaline Medeiros (0-1-0) and Molly Helsel (8-13-1).

You can check out her Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/marianna.is.marsha

Here is Marianna Kheyfets vs. Molly Helsel at XFC 14 on October 21st, 2011.

Barb Honchak - Female Fighter

2011-10-11T09:17:00.001-04:00

Barb Honchak - MMA Women
http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/

This is female MMA fighter, Barb "Little Warrior" Honchak.
Barb is making quite a name for herself in female MMA at the moment with a 5-1-0 record.
Her last fight was a win over Roxanne Modafferi (15-9-0) via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at BEP 5 - Breast Cancer Beatdown on October 1, 2011 at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher, North Carolina.
(My old home state!)

Barb was born on August 30th, 1979 in Edwardsville, Illinois (she's currently in St. Louis, Missouri).
She stands five foot four and fights at 126 pounds.
Barb trains at Steve Berger's MMA (run by MMA fighter Steve "The Red Nose Pitbull" Berger) and is skilled in kickboxing and jiu-jitsu.
Her first fight was a win over Monica Lovato (5-2-0) at KOTC - Horsepower on November 28, 2009 in Mescalero, New Mexico.
Barb is currently ranked number nine in the MMARising top ten Super Flyweights category.

Here is Barb Honchak taking on Jessica Eye (currently ranked 10th at MMARising) at the 2008 NAAFS Night of Champions

You can keep up with Barb at her Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Barb-Honchak/632282638

Or at her Twitter account here:
http://twitter.com/L_Warrior

Hiroko Yamanaka vs Cyborg Santos?

2011-09-22T11:27:00.001-04:00

Hiroko Yamanaka vs Cyborg Santos?
http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/

While female MMA in the US is not really flourishing, it's doing quite well in Japan.
And one of the reasons it's doing well is fighters like five foot eleven, 143 pound Hiroko Yamanaka.
Hiroko is currently 12-1-0 with her last fight being a win over Bolormaa "Esui" Erdenebileg (2-2-0) at Jewels - 15th Ring on July 9th, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.

Why am I mentioning Hiroko now?
Since Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos has re-signed with Strikeforce, they are probably gonna want someone good for her to fight.
As in not get killed instantly.
I think Hiroko fills that bill.

Like I said she is 12-1-0.
8 of her wins were by decision, 2 by submission and 2 by TKOs.
MMARising has Hiroko ranked number two in the featherweight division, right behind Santos.
The "Incomplete Queen" (I have no idea what that nickname means) is not only trained in MMA, but also in submission grappling (1-2-0) and shoot boxing (2-0-0).
She was the final Smackgirl Open Weight Champion and she won the Super Gals Mix Cup Open Weight Tournament.

One problem here is logistics.
Hiroko is in Japan and Cris is in the US.
There are actually rumors that Strikeforce offered Hiroko a bout with Cris earlier this year, but travel issues killed it.
If the travel issues could be resolved, maybe Strikeforce could make this happen.

Another problem is...well...to put it nicely...who cares?
Hiroko is a Japanese star and Cris is popular here.
Like I said earlier, female MMA in the US seems to be treading water.
How would they generate buzz for a fight between Cris and Hiroko?
Well that's a game for the publicists and I wish them well.

Meanwhile, female MMA fans can speculate and hope that somehow this match turns into reality.

Female MMA Fighters Rankings - June 2011

2011-06-09T08:49:00.001-04:00

On June 1st MMARising released their updated Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Rankings.
Of course you probably already know that this used to be the WAMMA Women’s Rankings, but so far MMARising has done a much better job of keeping the list updated.
One thing I really like on this list is that fighters who have not competed within the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, which takes their list out of the popularity contest level.

So here are a few of the top ranked female mixed martial artists they chose.

Featherweights (136-145 pounds)

1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (10-1-0)
Of course Cris is gonna be number one. At 10 -1 and 0, who can stop her?

2. Hiroko Yamanaka (11-1-0)
Well for starters, Hiroko Yamanaka might be able to.
Since 2008, she has been on a 7 and 0 winning streak.

3. Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes (6-1-0)
We're gonna miss Amanda and Julie Kedzie facing off on June 18 in Dallas.
I was hoping to see if she could go 7-1.

4. Rin Nakai (10-0-0)
My "Dark Horse", Rin Nakai.
Cris has 7 inches on her in height, but I think Rin could go toe to toe with Cris in a punch out.

5. Milana Dudieva (6-1-0)
Another young lady with a long winning streak, Milana hasn't been defeated since her debut in 2009 at fightFORCE - Day of Anger.

You can see MMARising's whole list here:
http://www.mmarising.com/rankings/unified-womens-mixed-martial-arts-rankings/

Ronda Rousey - Female MMA

2011-04-07T09:52:00.001-04:00

You may not have ever heard of "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey, but you will.
This five foot four, 145 pound judoka made her MMA debut at KOTC - Turning Point on March 27th, 2011 at the Braemar Country Club in Tarzana, California.
And what a debut it was.
Ronda took on Brazilian Ediane "India" Gomes, who was 6-1-0 going in and submitted her in 25 seconds.....in the first round.
Yep, Rowdy took out a lady that was touted as being one of the best in just 25 seconds.
That victory was enough to put Ronda in MMARising's Unified Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Rankings at number 10.

Ronda was born on February 1st, 1987 in Riverside County, California.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Ronda was the youngest judoka there and also in 2004, she won a gold medal at the World Junior Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Ronda was seventeen at the time.

Ronda is only 1-0-0 right now.
But keep an eye on her.

You can find out more about Ronda at her Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ronda-Rousey/17533674381

Or her website here:
http://www.rondarousey.net/

Gina Carano's Next Fight

2011-03-29T10:05:00.001-04:00

Well It's been a long time since I have even mentioned Gina Carano here other than in passing.
But now it looks like she really will be returning to the steel cage.
And it looks as though it will be on June 18th, 2011 at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum.
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will be taking on Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett will be facing Brett Rogers.
And sure enough on the card it has "Gina Carano vs TBA".
Who is "TBA" gonna be?
So far Amanda Nunes' manager has denied that it will be her and Meisha Tate has already said that she wants the fight.

Gina started training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada back in February so she's getting in shape.
She did a promotional appearance for the UFC Personal Trainer for Xbox 360 Kinect, PlayStation Move and Nintendo Wii on March 23rd in New York city.
Oh yeah...Dana doesn't want the women to fight for him, but he has no problem using them to promote UFC stuff.
What a guy.

Gina is finishing up re-shoots on her film Haywire with Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton.
Haywire is set to be released in August of 2011.
Is it just me, or does Gina look like she has packed on a few pounds?

UFC Buys Strikeforce - What Will Happen to Female MMA?

2011-03-14T12:32:00.000-04:00

Saturday afternoon, Dana White announced that Zuffa, the parent company of UFC, has purchased Strikeforce.
What does that mean to female MMA?
Well we all know that Dana has said that women will never fight on a UFC card.
But he did at least say that Zuffa will honor Strikeforce's current contracts.

Does that mean that after the current contracts are finished, we will see a mass exodus of female fighters to Bellator?

Face it, White thinks MMA is a man's game pure and simple.
Rather than trying to promote and cultivate the female mixed martial artists out there, he would rather say that there is not enough depth of talent in the female ranks.
I think it's basically because he doesn't want women in the sport.
Which is fair really.
It's his promotion, he doesn't have to do what he doesn't want to.
You can take your ball and go home if you don't like it.

Then you can watch and attend other MMA promotions that do back female fighters.

So will Bellator now become the home of fighters like Miesha Tate, Cristiane Santos, Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen?
Personally I'm thinking yes.

But White has said that Strikeforce will be a totally separate entity, so I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Marloes Coenen Vs Liz Carmouche - Female MMA

2011-03-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

Marloes "Rumina" Coenen (19-4-0) successfully defended her Strikeforce Women's 135 title against Liz "Girl-Rilla" Carmouche (5-1-0) at Strikeforce - Feijao vs. Henderson on Saturday night (March 5, 2011) at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
You may recall that the match was supposed to be Miesha Tate, but Miesha had to pull out due to a knee injury incurred during training.
So with just two weeks notice, Liz stepped up to take on Marloes.
Liz was the underdog going in, and wasn't really supposed to be much of a threat.
But Liz took it to Marloes with takedowns and spent a lot of time in control.
Marloes managed to lock on a triangle choke and secure a submission at 1:29 in the fourth round.

I think Liz really proved herself despite the loss.
This was Liz's first loss after a string of five wins and to lose to Marloes is no disgrace.
And Marloes showed us that she has the ability to come back and win.
By the way, Marloes was very gracious after the fight, say that "Liz is very, very talented, and she will be a champion someday,".
Of course the champ's bruised and battered face was also a testament to Liz's ability.

Marloes Coenen, Liz Carmouche, the last 47 minutes of the fight...

Strikeforce pretty much says that Miesha Tate will be next up for Marloes.
And since there was some question of the legitimacy of Miesha's injury, the match up could be very interesting.
After the injury, Miesha said that in four to six weeks, with everything going right, she should be able to return to the cage.
Strikeforce has three events ShoMMA 15: Wilcox vs. Damm (April 1, 2011), Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley (April 9, 2011) and Overeem vs. Werdum (June 18, 2011) scheduled in that time frame, so hopefully the match-up will happen soon.

Miesha Tate, Marloes Coenen and Zoila Frausto

2011-02-06T11:15:00.002-05:00

The Bellator 115-pound women’s champ Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto will be fighting at the Bellator Fighting Championships 35 on March 5th in Lemoore, California, but it wont be for the belt.
Zolia will be taking on Karina Hallinan in a non title bout there.
Zolia is 10-1-0 and her opponent Karina is 3-4-0.
Interestingly enough, the two faced each other once before, when they both made their MMA debuts.
It was at Wargods/Ken Shamrock Productions - The Valentine's Eve Massacre on February 13th, 2009 at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California.
Zolia won by a controversial split decision.
What is it with Zolia and "controversial" decisions?
I have read that her fight with Karina had a questionable outcome and so did her fights with Jessica Aguilar and Megumi Fujii.
So really what is going on with her?
Three of her ten wins are questionable?
Are officials handing out victories to her?
Do MMA fans have something against her?

In other news, Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes made her Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce - Challengers 13 on January 7th, 2011 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and KOed Julia Budd in fourteen seconds of the first round.
Pretty impressive debut huh?
This moves Amanda to 6-1-0 and drops Julia to 1-1-0.
This also gives Amanda an undefeated streak since her loss to Ana Maria (3-4-0) in her debut back on March 8th, 2008 at Prime - MMA Championship 2 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Does Amanda have Strikeforce champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos in her sights?
I would imagine so.

And finally, a match a lot of MMA fans are looking forward to will happen on March 5th at Strikeforce: Columbus (the same night as Bellator Fighting Championships 35...hmmmm).
Marloes “Rumina” Coenen will be talking on Miesha “Takedown” Tate.
Marloes is 18-4-0 and her last fight was a win over Sarah Kaufman via submission at Strikeforce - Diaz vs. Noons 2 on October 9th, 2010 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
Miesha's last fight was a win over Hitomi Akano by decision at Strikeforce - Challengers 10 on August 13th, 2010 at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, United States.
The match will be for the Strikeforce 135-pound title.

The Top Ten Female MMA Fighters of 2010

2011-01-08T19:32:00.003-05:00

While doing some work on my female MMA lenses over at Squidoo, I came up with a list of the most searched for female mixed martial artists on the net.
Now you have to keep in mind, these are actual fighters, not people that are inactive like Gina Carano.

Actually Gina would STILL be number one by a wide margin, but she hasn't competed since the Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg fight when Cris beat her by TKO at 4:59 in the first round.
Gina has made no indication that she is coming back into the ring so far.

So here are the top ten most searched for female MMA fighters on the net right now.....

1. Miesha Tate (11-2-0)
2. Cristiane Santos (10-1-0)
3. Marloes Coenen (18-4-0)
4. Sarah Kaufman (12-1-0)
5. Amy Davis (1-2-0, 1 NC)
6. Megumi Fujii (23-1-0)
7. Zoila Frausto (10-1-0)
8. Carina Damm (15-5-0)
9. Lisa Ward (14-6-0)
10. Roxanne Modafferi (15-6-0)

You may notice that in this list, all of these women are really fighters.
With the exception of Amy Davis, they are all in the ten plus fight range and seven of them are ranked in MMARising.com's "Top 15 Women’s Pound-For-Pound MMA Rankings".
This leads me to believe that female MMA fight fans are actually going for talent and not looks.

I mean c'mon, would Gina have been as popular as she was were she not as hot as she was?

And speaking about that, Miesha Tate needs to watch out for that trap.
She's 11-2-0 and ranked number 11 on the top 15 pound for pound, but a lot of people are looking to her as the new "Face of Female MMA".
She hasnt fought since Strikeforce - Challengers 10 back on August 13th, 2010 when she beat Hitomi Akano by unanimous decision.

Of course all that will change when she takes on Strikeforce women’s 135-pound champion Marloes Coenen for the title, probably some time in March.

Then we'll see if she's the new "Face".

The Top Ten Female MMA Fighters of 2010, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on January 9th, 2010

Female MMA Updates - Nov. 22nd, 2010

2010-11-22T11:19:00.006-05:00

First up, an update on the last entry...

Taylor Stratford

Taylor Stratford defeated Shauna Dugger at Tuff-N-Uff: The Future Stars of Mixed Martial Arts on November 12th, at the Orleans Hotel and Casino’s Mardi Gras Ballroom in Las Vegas.
Taylor won in the first round at the 1:45 mark via submission (Rear Naked Choke).
That takes Taylor up to 6-0-0.

Ronda Rousey

Also on that card, Ronda Rousey (1-0-0) defeated Autumn Richardson (3-2-0) in 57 seconds in the first round via submission (arm bar).

Both women now advance in the Tuff-N-Uff 145-pound amateur women’s tournament.
Ronda and Taylor wont be facing each other (at least not yet anyway), they will be facing the winners of two future bouts that will take place at future events.

Mia Hayes

And also on that card (Tuff-N-Uff seems to be really pushing female MMA), Mia Hayes defeated Brittany Griffin by submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:03 in the first round.
Mia goes to 1-0-0 and Brittany drops to 0-1-0.

As Monty Python used to say, "And now for something completely different..."

Eileen Olszewski

On December 17th, 2010 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami Florida, Hawaiian female pro boxer and current WIBA Flyweight World Champion Eileen Olszewski (6-2-2) will be taking on female MMA fighter Jessica "Jag"Aguilar.
Interestingly enough, all the outlets seem to be calling her Jennifer 'JAG' Aguilar (?).

Jessica "Jennifer"Aguilar

Did she change her name?
Jessica is 9-4-0 in MMA, and her last fight was that controversial loss to Zoila Frausto at Bellator Fighting Championships 31 on September 30th, 2010.

Female MMA Updates - Nov. 22nd, 2010, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on November 22nd, 2010

Taylor Stratford - Female MMA

2010-11-10T17:31:00.004-05:00

Since Megumi Fujii lost her undefeated record, let's look at another female mixed martial artist that's so far undefeated, Taylor Stratford.
Taylor was born on July 31, 1991, in San Diego, California and resides in Reno, Nevada.
Right now, her amateur record stands at 5-0-0.
She has wins over Elsa Magona, Maria Maumoynier (in a non-sanctioned fight), Shiely Chavez, Brittany Christian and Raquel Pennington.

Taylor does her MMA training at the Reno Academy of Combat under former Super Fight Champ Rick Collup.
According to Sherdog, she stands five foot six, weighs in at 135 pounds and favors boxing and jiu jitsu.

At Tuff-N-Uff: The Future Stars of Mixed Martial Arts on November 12th, at the Orleans Hotel and Casino’s Mardi Gras Ballroom in Las Vegas, Taylor will be taking on Shauna Dugger.

Here is a video of Tay taking on Raquel Pennington at Ultimate Reno Combat 13 on June 11th, 2010

You can check out Taylor's Twitter here, and her Facebook page here.

Taylor Stratford - Female MMA, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on November 11th, 2010

Zoila Frausto versus Megumi Fujii Results

2010-10-29T10:47:00.003-04:00

Zoila Frausto by Casper Munoz Photography

Well I'm stunned.
Zoila Frausto (10-1) defeated the (really) heavy favorited Megumi Fujii (now 22-1) last night at Bellator 34 to win the inaugural Bellator women's world title.
So what was going on with Megumi?
The "Queen of Submissions" (18 wins by submission) hardly even tried to get "The Warrior Princess" down on the mat.
And when she did, she took a beating from punches.

You have to hand it to Zoila, so far this year she has beaten the undefeated Megumi, Jessica Aguilar, Jessica Pene and Rosi Sexton.
And now she is the the first ever Bellator 115-pound champion.

The fight was scored 48-47, 49-46, 47-48.

And I am never going to predict a fight again.

Zoila Frausto versus Megumi Fujii Results, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on October 29th, 2010

Megumi Fujii vs Zoila Frausto Weigh In Pics

2010-10-28T17:56:00.002-04:00

Tom Hill over at Tom Hill Photos.com has done it again, this time sending me some pics from the weigh in for the fight between Megumi Fujii (113.5 lbs.) and Zoila Frausto (114.5 lbs.).
The fight is tonight, so by tomorrow we should know if Megumi becomes the first MMA fighter to have a 23 in a row unbeaten record, and the women’s 115-pound championship.

I'm thinking she will

(all photos http://www.tomhillphotos.com/)

Megumi Fujii vs Zoila Frausto Weigh In Pics, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on October 28th, 2010

Marloes Coenen Vs Sarah Kaufman Results - Female MMA

2010-10-10T11:07:00.004-04:00

Last night, Dutch submission specialist Marloes Coenen challenged Sarah Kaufman for the Strikeforce welterweight title at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, on the Showtime portion of Saturday night's Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II card.

In the first round, Marloes stayed on her feet and went toe to toe with Sarah who is known as a striker. Marloes being four inches taller than Sarah helped her stand up game.

In the second round, Sarah managed to reverse a take down attempt and fight off an arm bar.

In the third round, Marloes caught her in a armbar after Sarah reversed yet another takedown.
That led to her submission at one minute and 39 seconds in.

There is some controversy because it appeared Marloes held the arm bar even after Sarah tapped out.
Sarah was evidently upset about that and complained after the match.
Marloes said that she blamed the ref for being slow letting her know that Sarah had tapped.

After the fight, Marloes and Sarah met and worked everything out.

This win takes Marloes to 18-4-0, and drops Sarah to 12-1-0, breaking her undefeated record.

According to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, up next up for Marloes is Miesha Tate (11-2-0) sometime early in 2011.

Marloes Coenen Vs Sarah Kaufman Results - Female MMA, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on October 10th, 2010

Megumi Fujii Vs. Lisa Ward and Zoila Frausto Vs. Jessica Aguilar

2010-09-28T10:10:00.007-04:00

Two female MMA events have been announced for Bellator 31 on September 30th at the L'Auberge du Lac Casino and Resort in Lake Charles, La.

Megumi Fujii

Megumi Fujii will be taking on Lisa Ward.
Megumi has a 21-0-0 unbeaten MMA record and Lisa has is at 14-5-0.

Lisa Ward

This will not be the first time the two women have faced off.
The last time, Megumi defeated Lisa at Bodog Fight - Vancouver on August 24th, 2007 via an arm bar submission.

The same night at Bellator 31, Zoila Frausto will be taking on Jessica Aguilar.
Zoila is 8-1-0 and Jessica is 9-3-0.

Zoila Frausto

Zoila is coming off three wins in a row, having defeated Jessica Pene, Rosi Sexton and Michelle Ould.

Jessica Aguilar

While Jessica is on a five in a row winning streak over Lynn Alvarez, Catia Vitoria, Valerie Coolbaugh, Amanda Duvall.

The winners of the two fights will face each other to decide the organization's first-ever female champion.

I have to say, I think Bellator is doing this right.
We aren't waiting months between matches and I think that helps to keep everyone's interest up.

My guess.....
I think we will see Megumi defeat Lisa, Zoila take Jessica and Megumi walk away from all of this with the title.

Of course look at my win/loss record in the past here and see how good my guesses are...LOL

UPDATE:
Well I finally got one right!
Megumi Fujii (who is now 22-0-0) defeated Lisa Ward in 99 seconds via an armbar submission.
That was her eighteenth career submission victory and the eleventh victory by armbar.

And Zoila Frausto defeated Jessica Aguilar, although it was a bit of a questionable decision.
So questionable that the crowd booed when Zolia was announced as the winner.

Now Fujii and Frausto will face off at the finals in the women's 115 lb. tournament at Bellator 34 on October 28.

I'm still saying Megumi will take it all.

Megumi Fujii Vs. Lisa Ward and Zoila Frausto Vs. Jessica Aguilar, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on September 28th, 2010

Ultimate Women Challenge

2010-09-13T20:59:00.004-04:00

Remember back last year when I did a write up on an upcoming female MMA show called "Ultimate Women Combat" ?
Don't feel bad, neither do I.
I mean it was back in January last year for cryin out loud!

Anyway, it looks like the show is finally making it to the air.
But now it's called "Ultimate Women Challenge".
Joanna Krupa (Dancing With The Stars) is still the host.
Or rather one of the hosts.
The other is Amber Nichole Wood.
Amber is a UFC ring girl and Xyience spokes model.

Well at least Amber has been in a MMA ring...
But to be fair, I did hear last year that Joanna was taking BJJ lessons at Gracie Miami.

Now the ladies actually competing are....

Brighton Hutton
Height: 5’5 Weight: 135lbs
Affiliation: Action MMA – Andrew Chappelle
Hometown: London England
MMA Record: 0-1

Angela Hayes
Height: 5'7 Weight: 130 lbs
Hometown: Colorado Spring, Colorado
MMA Record 2 - 5 - 0

Angela Magana
Height: 5′4 Weight: 120lbs\
Hometown: Farmington, New Mexico
MMA Record: 8-4-0

Brandi Hainey
Height: 5′5 Weight: 128lbs (59kg)
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
MMA Record: 2-3-0

Colleen Schneider
Height:5’9 Weight:135 lbs
Hometown: Oakland, CA. (by way of Syracuse, NY)
Amateur MMA Record: 4-1

Heather Jo Clark
Height: 5′ 6 Weight: 125 lbs.
Hometown: Los Angeles CA
MMA Record: 0-1-0-0

Barb Honchak
Hometown: High Ridge, MO
MMA Record: 1-1

Julie Kedzie
We all should remember Julie right?
Height: 5′5 Weight: 135lbs
Hometown: Bloomington, Indiana
MMA Record: 13-8-0

Karina Hallinan
Height:?? Weight: 125 lbs
City: Temecula, California
MMA Record: 2-2-0

Kristin Molina
Height: ?? Weight: 125 lbs.
MMA Record: 1-0-1

Casey Noland
Height:5′5 Weight: 139 Lbs
Hometown: Atascadero, CA
MMA Record: 1-0-0

Michelle Ould
Height: 5′ 2 Weight: 125 lbs.
Hometown: Anaheim, California
MMA Record: 4-2-0

Kaitlin Young
Hometown: St. Louis Park, MN
MMA Record: 4-4-0

Patricia Vidonic
Hometown: Medford, OR
MMA Record: 4-1-0

Karina Taylor

Martha Benavides

If you wanna check out more, you can visit their website here:
http://www.ultimatewomenchallenge.com/

Ultimate Women Challenge, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on September 14th, 2010

Female MMA - Strikeforce Challengers 10 Results

2010-08-17T11:39:00.005-04:00

Miesha Tate, the next "Face of Female MMA"?

Last Friday (August 13th) at the Strikeforce Challengers 10 event they had the first women’s 135 lb tournament for the mixed martial arts promotion.
This tournament was to decide who would get a shot at the 135-pound belt currently held by Sarah Kaufman.

Hitomi Akano took on Carina Damm and won in the second round (1:48) with a triangle choke submission.

Miesha Tate got a descion win over Maiju Kujala after the second round (the semi final fights were two three minute rounds) with takedowns.

Then it was Miesha Tate versus Hitomi Akano in the final, with Miesha defeating Hitomi Akano via unanimous decision.

Now Miesha gets a crack at Sarah Kaufman's 135-pound title.

Well... that is after Marloes Coenen gets her chance.

To maintain momentum, I really think the Kaufman/Coenen fight should be held in September, with the winner taking on Miesha in Octiber.
But alas, this is not to be.
It looks like the fight will be "before the end of the year"....

Also at the Strikeforce Challengers 10 event, there was another female MMA bout with Liz Carmouche defeating Colleen Schneider via unanimous decision.

So after the smoke settled Friday night we were left with....
Hitomi "Girlfight Monster" Akano 16-8-0
Carina "Beauty But The Beast" Damm 15-4-0
Miesha "Takedown" Tate 11-2-0
Maiju "Maki" Kujala 4-2-0
Liz Carmouche 3-0-0
Colleen "The Beautiful Disaster" Schneider 0-2-0

Female MMA - Strikeforce Challengers 10 Results, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on August 17th.

Female MMA - Bellator 24 Results

2010-08-13T17:38:00.003-04:00

Tom Hill over at Tom Hill Photos e-mailed me with the results and some pics from the Bellator 24 fights.

Megumi Fujii beat Carla Esparza via submission (armbar) in the second round at 0:57.

Jessica Aguilar defeated Lynn Alvarez via submission (arm triangle choke) in the first round at 4:01.

This puts Megumi's record at an amazing 21-0.
She says now she would like to put on some more muscle and take on Gina Carano or Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

Jessica's win brings her to 9-3-0, and sets her on a collision course with Megumi.

Female MMA - Bellator 24 Results , posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on August 13th, 2010

Female MMA: Sarah Kaufman Defeats Roxanne Modafferi

2010-08-02T11:49:00.002-04:00

In case you missed it, reigning Strikeforce Women's Welterweight Champ Sarah Kaufman beat challenger Roxanne Modafferi at Strikeforce Challengers 9 fight card at the Comcast Arena in Everett, Washington on July 23rd.

Round one was good and both women looked evenly matched but in round two, Roxanne looked like she was starting to slow down.

In round three, Sarah looked like she had been studying Cristiane Santos' playbook, with a KO worthy of the Cyborg.

In case you missed it, FatherOfJoe has all three rounds posted on YouTube and you can see them at his channel here
http://www.youtube.com/user/FatherOfJoe

This win brings Sarah up to an impressive 12-0-0 and sets her up to defend her title against the winner of the August 13th four-women 135-pound tournament at Strikeforce Challengers at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.

As far as the tournament goes, right now it's looking like Hitomi Akano, Maiju Kujala, Miesha Tate and Brazilian veteran Carina Damm in the single night bracket to determine who will face Sarah Kaufman.

Female MMA: Sarah Kaufman Defeats Roxanne Modafferi posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on August 2nd, 2010

Miesha Tate and Hitomi Akano at Strikeforce Challengers

2010-07-19T12:15:00.003-04:00

Miesha Tate

On August 13th at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona, female MMA fighters Miesha Tate (9-2-0) and Hitomi Akano (15-7-0) will meet in the first bracket of a four-women 135-pound tournament at Strikeforce Challengers.
Maiju Kujala (4-1-0) is the third woman in the four-women tournament, but as of this entry, the fourth woman has not been decided on.

Miesha was born on August 18, 1986, in Tacoma, Washington, and her last fight was a win over Zoila Frausto (7-1-0) by submission (armbar) at Strikeforce - Challengers 7 on March 26th, 2010.

Hitomi Akano was born on July 27, 1974 in Osaka, Japan, and her last bout was a loss to Hiroko Yamanaka by split decision at Jewels - Seventh Ring on March 19th, 2010.

Maiju Kujala is from Finland, and her last fight was a win over Titiana van Polanen by unanimous decision at UG - Upcoming Glory 7 on March 27th, 2010.

The winner of the tournament will face the winner of the Sarah Kaufman (Champion) versus Roxanne Modafferi fight at Strikeforce Challengers 9 on July 23 in Kent, Washington for the promotion’s 135-pound championship.

Miesha Tate and Hitomi Akano at Strikeforce Challengers, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on July 19th, 2010.

Who's Next for Cristiane Santos?

2010-06-28T11:43:00.002-04:00

Well as pretty much everyone expected...Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos beat Jan "Cuddles" Finney at the "Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum" event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
And hey, Jan did go more than one round; you have to give her credit for that.

So who is the next victim...I mean opponent for Cris?

Probably the most popular choice is Erin Toughill.
Erin has had some problems with Strikeforce before, but that may all be in the past.
At least for now.
Strikeforce could probably bill this as a "The Beauty vs The Beast" match up and really rack up if it was promoted correctly.

But who are some other worthy opponents out there?

Cris already taken out Marloes “Rumina” Coenen and Gina “Conviction” Carano.

How about Hiroko Yamanaka?
Hiroko is five foot eleven and weighs169 pounds, so she actually has the height and weight advantage over Cris.
Her record is also 9-1-1.

Another possible opponent is Cindy “Battlecat” Dandois.
Cindy is 5'7, 145 pounds and has a record of 4-0-0.
One of her biggest wins was a unanimous win over Marloes Coenen at BOTE - Beast of the East in 2009.

Another good possibility is Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes.
Amanda is 5-1-0 but one important thing to me here is that she holds a victory over Vanessa Porto, the woman that defeated Cristiane Santos back in 2005.
Of course 2005 was 5 years ago.....

You could also add to this list Shana “Rock Solid” Olsen (4-0-0), Jamie Seaton (2-1-0), Yoko Takahashi (14-11-3) and Emily “Timebomb” Thompson (3-2-0).

And of course the woman that Cris said gave her one of the toughest fights of her life...Vanessa Porto (10-4-0).

Who's Next for Cristiane Santos?, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on June 28th, 2010

Cristiane Cyborg Santos vs Jan Cuddles Finney

2010-06-26T12:37:00.003-04:00

The Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs Jan "Cuddles" Finney tonight is gonna be...
Well, one sided.
I'm sorry, but The Cyborg versus Cuddles?
Can you see the problem here?
Can we just rerun an old Mike Tyson fight where he creams his opponent in like 30 seconds?

Jan is five foot eight and weighs in at 135 pounds.
Her record is 8-7-0.

Cris on the other hand is five foot eight, 145 and her record is 9-1-0.

Of course Finney is the underdog but you have to remember this is MMA and almost anything can happen.
Despite the fact that Cyborg is bigger and more physically powerful than just about any other female mma fighter in the world, Jan could win.
To Jan's credit, she does have the attitude to face Cris, and has a habit of getting in her opponent's faces.

But this will most likely get her killed against someone that is bigger than her, stronger than her, and more skilled than her.
I.E: Santos

So we will just have to wait and see, but I'm saying Santos in the first round.

Cristiane Cyborg Santos vs Jan Cuddles Finney, posted to
http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on June 26th, 2010.

Female MMA - Roxanne Modafferi, Tara LaRosa, Sarah Kaufman and More

2010-05-28T10:59:00.003-04:00

Roxanne Modafferi

First up, at Moosin: God of Martial Arts held on Friday, May 21, at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, Roxanne Modafferi defeated Tara LaRosa via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28).
As you can see from the judges scores, this was not a one sided match.
This bout brings Roxanne to 15-5-0 and puts Tara at 18-2-0.
After the match, Sarah Kaufman (11-0-0) expressed interest in facing Roxie, so Moosin might have another good fight waiting in the wings.

In my last post I said that Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii (19-0-0) would be fighting at Bellator 21 on June 10th.
MMARising.com is reporting that Megumi will be facing Sarah “White Tiger” Schneider (4-4-0).

And Bellator has added another female MMA bout, this time to their Bellator 23 event on June 17 at the Kansas City Power and Light District in Kansas City, Mo.
This time, Sarah's sister Tammie Schneider (3-9-0) will be taking on Lisa Ward (12-5-0) in a 115-pound women’s bout.

Since I havent done a top ten list in awhile, and for some reason WAMMA hasnt done an update on their female mixed martial arts rankings since October 2009, I thought I'd put up a couple of links to others that have updated their lists....

Michael David Smith has his list of the top ten female MMA fighters up over at MMA Fighting.com.
And you an see that here

And over at Independent World MMA Rankings, they have a very detailed list put up for May 2010.
You can see that one here

By the way, WMR promises that the June 2010 Women's Divisional Rankings will be published on June 18, 2010, so you might wanna keep an eye out for that on their site.

Female MMA - Roxanne Modafferi, Tara LaRosa, Sarah Kaufman and More, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on May 28th, 2010.

Megumi Fujii is Returning to the US

2010-05-10T14:52:00.004-04:00

It looks like female MMA fans will really have something to look forward to in June.
According to Daniel Herbertson over at MMAfighting.com, one of the best (if not THE best) female mixed martial arts fighters in the world, Megumi Fujii will fight at the June 10 Bellator event.
Bellator hasn't picked an opponent yet, but Megumi's appearance seems to be a sure thing.

I've mentioned her here before, but in case you missed it, Megumi has a solid martial arts background, with a black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and she got her MMA training from the legendary Hiroyuki Abe and former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.

Her record is 19-0-0 and 16 of those wins were by submission.
This five foot three, 114 pound fighter's last bout was a win (by submission) over Tomomi Sunaba (13-12-1) on November 23rd, 2009 at Shooto - Revolutionary Exchanges 3.

The last time Megumi fought in the US, was back on August 24th, 2007, when she defeated Lisa Ward at BodogFight in Vancouver, via (wait for it) yes submission (arm bar).

Megumi Fujii is Returning to the US, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on May 10th, 2010.

Female MMA - Kyra Gracie and The 2010 MMA Hawaii Awards

2010-04-20T15:01:00.003-04:00

Kyra Gracie has stirred up a lot of controversy here before, and it looks like some more may be coming.

According to MMA Fighting.com, Kyra is considering the move from grappling to MMA.
As a matter of fact, she told MMAFighting.com that even though she had no time frame, her debut would be soon.
You can read the full article here

A lot of people have wondered just how this talented Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) star would do in MMA, and it looks like we may find out soon.
I've read that Kyra was right around 130 pounds, so that would put her in the same class as Sarah Kaufman, Shayna Baszler and Tara LaRosa if I'm not mistaken.

And to soothe your Kyra Gracie needs, here is a video of her taking on Erica Montoya at the 2005 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) : Under 60Kg Weight Class Quarter Finals...

MMA Hawaii.com is holding it's 2010 MMA Hawaii Awards and you can vote.
Of course the reason I'm mentioning this is that they have a Female Fighter of the Year award.
The description is....

Female Fighter of the Year
This prize is awarded to the female fighter who embodies the spirit of Mixed Martial Arts. This fighter has remained strong and focused through each and every battle and shown a great commitment to, and love for, the sport. She, may be the underdog, but doesn’t let that defeat her goal for an optimum performance.

Eligibility and Criteria
Competitors are judged on their performances in fights during 2009.
Competitors may be from ANY weight category.
Competitors must be women.
Competitors must have fought at least once during 2009.

The deadline for nominations is April 30th, 2010. Fans will vote online at www.mmahawaii.com from May 1st -15th , 2010. The winners will be announced at a special MMA Hawaii event in June, 2010.

So if you would like to vote, you can go here and do so.
http://www.mmahawaii.com/local/2059-2010-mma-hawaii-awards.html

Female MMA News - Miesha Tate, Zoila Frausto , Gina Carano, AZUMA and More

2010-03-31T12:33:00.007-04:00

At ShoMMA 7: Johnson vs. Mahe, at the Save Mart Center in Fresno Calif. on March 26, female MMA fighters Miesha Tate and Zoila Frausto went at it, with Miesha coming out on top, winning via an arm bar submission at the 4:09 mark in the second round.
This victory brings Miesha up to 9-2-0, and drops Zoila to 5-1-0.

Over at the The Zeitgeisty Report, they pose an interesting question....
"What ever happened to Gina Carano?"
One of the conclusions they come up with is...
"I’ll wager she never returns to the ring and if she does, it won’t be with anyone that could further damage her looks. If that turns out to be the case, it’ll mean the end of women’s MMA which has tied its entire future up in Carano."
You can read the full article here

Although it's kickboxing, not technically MMA, AZUMA defeated Megumi Yabushita in a New Japan Kickboxing Federation (NJKF) fight on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan.
AZUMA won by decision.
Like I said, it was a kickboxing match up, so I dont think it affects Megumi's 18-16-0 record.

And speaking of Megumi, she is sponsored by MMA apparel company Fight Chix, and CEO of Fight Chix, Elisabeth Nuesser, was just recently interviewed by the MMA Torch.
(Boy I went a long way around to get that segue didn't I?)
Although you may look at it as just a sponsorship, Fight Chix is just as important to female MMA as TapouT and Affliction are.
You can read the interview here

And you can check out Fight Chix's website here:
http://blog.fightchix.com/

After having Lisa Marie Varon (TNA Knockout Tara) and Erin Toughill both gunning for her, Kim Couture went down to Mexico to take on Rosa Vizcarra and get a first round TKO.
To add a little Lucha Libre flavor to the match, Kim wore a mask before the bout.
You can see the whole fight here:

And speaking of Erin Toughill (see how good I'm getting at this?), she recently announced on her Facebook page that she was done with Strikeforce, and maybe female MMA altogether.
She said:
"U R hearing it first: I will no longer b fighting 4 Strikeforce. Its a personal decision tht I mde & one tht was NOT made in haste, trust me. Ill b doin interviews in cming days tht explain "WHY" I have made this hard decision. Cant subject myself 2 wht has bn going on (any longer) Retiring? Dunno, but am on verge due ...to basic issues like: NOT being able FIGHT!!! I am getting zero return for all I have put in...DONE."

I hope she doesn't leave female MMA, because she has always been one of my favorites.

Posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on March 31st, 2010

Female MMA: Tom Hill Photos

2010-03-19T11:05:00.005-04:00

Jessica Aguilar by http://www.tomhillphotos.com/

This entry is a little different.
I was contacted by Tom Hill who runs TomHillPhotos.com, and he sent me a link to his website.

There are a LOT of really good MMA photos there, and a lot of good female MMA pictures there as well.

Tom has a pretty impressive list of credits which include:
American Top Team house photographer
Official photographer for the 2009 World Grappling Championships sponsored by USA Grappling Team, TapouT, Champion Nutrition, Dollamur, Asics and Century
NAGA Championships
Unconquered Martial Arts
Strikeforce
G-Force
Hard Rock – Fight League

It just so happens that one of his subjects, and friends, is WAMMA ranked female MMA artist Jessica Aguilar.
The pictures that he sent me that I am putting up are from the March 5th, Hard Rock fight night event, Rumble at The Rock II where Jessica took on Valerie Coolbaugh.
Jessica won in the second round via submission.

And no, Tom is NOT paying me to put this up...LOL
Like I said, he contacted me and when I saw his work, I thought some of you out there might really like it.
I know we have some promoters out there that read this blog as well, and if you haven't used Tom, you might wanna think about it.

So got take a look at this talented photographers work at his website here:
http://www.tomhillphotos.com/

And thanks to Tom for letting me share his work with everyone.

Female MMA Results and Upcoming Bouts

2010-03-03T15:40:00.005-05:00

Here are some female MMA results for last month....

At Bitetti Combat 6 on February 25th, Amanda "Lioness of the Ring" Nunes defeated Ediane “India” Gomes in the second round via TKO.

At Strikeforce Challengers 6 on February 26, Sarah Kaufman defeated Takayo Hashi becoming the Strikeforce 135-pound women's champion.

At RFC 20 Stacked on February 26, Diana "Dynamite" Rael defeated the debuting Caroline "Rare Ninja" Portugal round two via TKO.

At Jungle Fight 16 on February 27th, Carina "Beauty But The Beast" Damm stopped Aline Serio in the first round with punches from the mount.

Upcoming....

At Reno Xtrene Fights III on March 19th, San Jose’s Jenny Trujillo (1-0) will take on Nicole Johnson (1-1) in a three round Featherweight match

Female MMA - Megumi Fujii

2010-02-08T17:56:00.003-05:00

You know I find it very hard to believe that I have done write ups on female MMA stars like Erin Toughill, Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos on this blog, but I have never done a write up on Japanese female mixed martial artist Megumi Fujii.

Megumi (Mega Megu) was born on April 26, 1974 in Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
As far as female MMA rankings go, MMARising.com has Megumi ranked number one on their Top 15 Women’s Pound-For-Pound Rankings, and the WAMMA has Megumi ranked number one in the Flyweight division.

Why?

Well it may have something to do with the fact that she is currently 19-0-0.
Yes, nineteen wins, no losses and no draws.
That's 16 submissions, and 3 decisions.
Of course with the exception of Lisa Ward, not many of her opponents are well known outside of Japan.
Megumi's fastest MMA fight was a submission over Dah Le Chon.
She took her out in 19 seconds in the first round with a RNC.
19 seconds?
Dah must have wondered why she even bothered to get out of bed that morning.....

Thirteen of Megumi's 16 fights have been won in the first round.

Megumi has a black belt in Judo and Jujutsu, and also fights in Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments.

Megumi got her mixed martial arts training from Shooto veteran Hiroyuki Abe and MMA fighter and professional wrestler Josh Barnett.
She has also trained several MMA fighters including Hitomi Akano (15-6-0).

If you want to find out more about Megumi, you can visit her website here:
http://www.megumifujii.com/

Or at her MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/aaccmegu

XHGNTAWNQUCT

Cristiane Cyborg Santos Defeats Marloes Coenen

2010-01-31T12:51:00.001-05:00

Photo credit: Dave Mandel for Sherdog.com

Last night at Strikeforce: Miami, female mixed martial artist Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos defeated Marloes Coenen and successfully defended her Strikeforce women's lightweight championship.
Santos pretty much dominated the entire match.
I said Marloes needed to take her down, and she did try, but it almost looked like at times that she was trying to take down an oak tree.
Santos blocked every attempt.
The fight did go longer than the Cyborg / Carano fight, and a lot of people (including me) thought that "IF" Marloes could drag the fight out, she might have a chance.
This was not the case as Cris kept coming at her like her killer robot namesake.
The highlights for me.....
When Maroes was trying to take Cris down and Santos basically lifted her up and tossed her across the mat.
Remember what I said about power in the last entry?
And when Marloes nailed her with a punch, and Cris shrugged it off with seemingly no effect.
That punch landed and I thought "Whoa, this might be the beginning of the end".
Nope, it looked like it had no effect and it didn't.

So who can stop the Cyborg?
Erin Toughill?
I'd love to see that...but after last night, I have my doubts.
I really think the only way someone is gonna beat Cris is to take her down and submit her.
With 12 wins by submission, Marloes was a good...make that great...contender for that, but it didn't happen.
I seriously think the only way anyone is gonna take Cris out is get her down, get behind her and clamp a RNC on her.
That or a baseball bat....

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs Marloes "Rumina" Coenen

2010-01-26T17:57:00.002-05:00

On January 30th, 2010 the Bankatlantic Center in Sunrise Florida will host the female mixed martial arts version of Tyson vs Holyfield as Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos takes on Marloes "Rumina" Coenen.
This fight may not have the glitz and glamor that the Santos vs Carano match-up had, but something tells me it's gonna be a better fight.

So what's gonna happen?

On one hand you have pure power in the form of Cristiane Santos.
She is 8-1-0, with 6 TKOs and two decisions.
Her only loss so far was to Brazilian Erica Paes back in 2005 via a kneebar.
And that may be the point here....

Marloes has a record of 17-3-0, with 12 of those wins coming via submission.
She took out Roxanne Modafferi, Yuuki Kondo, Asci Kubra, Majanka Lathouwers and Yoko Takahashi with armbars, Megumi Yabushita, Romy Ruyssen, Magdalena Jarecka and Keiko Tamai with rear naked chokes, and Becky Levi with a flying armbar.

So if Cris can keep her upright and pound away at her, using her strength to her advantage, she has a really good chance of winning.
But if Marloes can pull her down and clamp on a submission hold, will she be able to make Cris tap out?

I don't think you'll see another one round fight here like the Santos vs Carano match.

This fight will show everyone what female MMA is really all about.

Who do I think will win?
That really is a hard one and I think the fight could go either way.
But....I really have to go with Santos.
I'd love to see Marloes win, but to me Santos just has that early "Tyson" feel about her.

Here is an interview with Marloes Coenen by Danny Acosta for FIGHT!

You can see more female MMA here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Female-MMA-Female-MMA-Fighters

Female MMA - Angelica Chavez

2009-12-12T12:20:00.002-05:00

On November 25, 2009 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, at the “Duke City Fall Brawl 2″, female MMA fighter Angelica Chavez from Albuquerque, took on “Ms. Luck” Alyx Luck from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Angelica took a few shots from her taller opponent early in the round, but scored a take down, clamped on an armbar and forced a submission out of Alyx.
Alyx complained to the ref afterwards that she never submitted, but her argument fell on deaf ears as the hometown crowd was already cheering their girl winning.

The five foot tall, 112 pound Angelica is a third Degree black belt in Kajukembo.
She has gotten some criticism from fight fans because of pulling out of fights at the last minute.
Angelica has had last minute cancellations with Rosary Califona, Brandy Nerney and Natasha Kreiger.
She also had a canceled fight against Michelle "The Karate Hottie" Waterson.
Those cancellations and the disputed submission make me wonder and have caused some female mixed martial arts fans to call her a "fake fighter".
So far she has had three pro fights and won all three by submission.
A win over Stephanie Palmer via a keylock in February, a win over Meghan Wright via a guillotine choke in March and the win over Alyx.
So far, none of her matches have gone much over a minute and a half.

Of course since I'm such a big conspiracy theory follower, I can see how easy a conspiracy would start here.
Angelica Chavez is very attractive which of course leads to Gina Carano comparisons.
So who's to say her camp isn't canceling fights with fighters that might beat her to keep her 3 and 0 record intact?
If it gets close, have the ref rule in her favor? After all, all three of her pro fights have been in her hometown.

But you also have to look at the fact that Angelica had a 14-0 Amateur record (with 10 knockouts) before turning pro.
Were all 14 fights fixed?
Her dad (and her martial arts teacher), Melcor Chavez is a Grand Master, so Angelica has been learning martial arts since she could pretty much walk.
So this young lady does have the martial arts cred to get into a ring with just about anyone.

14-0 Amateur record, 3-0 Pro record, lifetime of martial arts training....so what do you think?
Is she for real or not?

Female MMA - Angelica Chavez posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on Dec 12th, 2009.

Female Mixed Martial Arts Updates, 11-15-09

2009-11-15T13:23:00.002-05:00

Several female MMA fighter updates.....

As you probably already know, Marloes Coenen dismantled Roxanne Modafferi in sixty five seconds at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers event on November 7th.
She submitted Roxanne with an armbar, avenging her loss to Roxanne back at K - GRACE 1 in May of 2007.
Now the Dutch mixed martial artist has her sites set on Strikeforce's 145-pound women’s champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.
The word is that the title fight may go down as early as the January 30 Strikeforce event in Miami, Florida.

Now what about Santos and Coenen?
I say if Cris keeps her upright and pounds away, she'll win being the better striker and more powerful.
But if Marloes can take her down, she might have a chance at submission.

And speaking of The Cyborg, both she and her husband Evangelista are expected to fight at Strikeforce's December 19th show at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
No...not against each other.

The upcoming video game, EA Sports MMA may or may not have female MMA stars in it.
The game is due out in 2010, and I'm thinking that if they had any female mixed martial artisits lined up, we'd know it by know.

And now the feud between TNA Knockout Tara (formerly WWE Diva Victoria, Lisa Marie Varon) and Kim Couture is really on?
I thought this had the look of a pro wrestling angle when I first heard about it, but after their run in at TNA's Bound for Glory PPV, I'm pretty sure we're getting a "work" here.
(Even though Kim and Tara both told MMA websites that it was a "shoot" and not planned.)
The bad thing about this is that no matter how much I love female pro wrestling, you should not mix it and female MMA.
In a female MMA match, we know that the person that wins...really wins.
In a scripted pro wrestling match, the winner is already determined.
MMA does not need the idea that any of its bouts are fixed. There needs to be a wide, clean line between MMA and wrestling.
Now some pro wrestling showman ship wouldn't hurt any, but leave it there.

Kim will be taking on Kerry Vera on November 20th at the Strikeforce Challengers card in Kansas City Kansas.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Kerry will win.

And finally from the British TV show GMTV, here is an appearance by female MMA fighter Rosi Sexton...

posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on Nov 15th, 2009

Female Mixed Martial Arts Updates, 10-30-09

2009-10-29T23:30:00.002-04:00

Erin Toughill was supposed to fight Marloes Coenen at Strikeforce's November 7th card, to see who would face Cris Santos, but the fight has been called due to Erin pulling out for undisclosed medical reasons.
But word has it that Roxanne Modafferi will take Erin's place and fight Marloes.
I wanted to see Erin who is 10-2-1 take on Marloes, who is 16-3, but Roxanne is certainly no slouch at 17-4-0, so it still should be a good fight.
I hope whatever Erin's medical reason is, it isn't anything serious.

Also, the November 20th bout between Sarah Kaufman (10-0) and Takayo Hashi (12-1) has been put on hold till next year.
The two were supposed to face off at "Strikeforce Challengers V: Woodley vs. Bears" but MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed that the fight is off.

The card would have had two female MMA bouts with the other being Kim Couture taking on Kerry Vera.
Kim is 1-1-0 and Kelly is 1-0-0.
Wow...looks kinda like binary code.

And if you want to hit the motherlode of female MMA videos, point your browser to http://www.fightergirls.com/videos.asp, and sit down to watch 145 female mixed martial arts videos.
Debi Purcell's site has once again outdone itself.

Female MMA Video

2009-09-24T11:37:00.001-04:00

Here are some links to the most popular female mma video across the net.
Yes it was a slow news day, and I still haven't been able to find a thing on the “FEMALE FURY II” results.

The highest rated video is this one of Lisa Ward taking on Miku "Supernova" Matsumoto posted by elsdolf on YouTube.
Although Miku lost this one, she did come back to defaet Lisa at DEEP - Toyama Impact on June 28th, 2009.
Lisa's current record is 12-5-0 and Miku's is 21-4-0.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSGS6i8-QSA

The next female MMA video is a tribute to Satoko Shinashi posted by Gullwing33 on YouTube.
Satoko's current record is 29-2-2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf9W9luyxHw

Next up is the video of Strikeforce Women's Lightweight Champion, Cris 'Cyborg' Santos choking out a MMA news reporter.
http://www.break.com/index/female-mma-fighter-chokes-out-reporter.html

Then we have a video of Liz Carreiro taking on Jill Slatten on Google Video.
The fight took place on October 13th, 2007 at FCF - Freestyle Cage Fighting.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7022254980294292050#

The next video is from Daily Motion and it features Shayna Baszler (9-6-0) taking on Tama Chan.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7es5z_shayna-baszler-vs-tama-chan-female_sport

And the last most popular clip is a little weird, between two un-named female MMA fighters.
It's posted on Live Video and you can see it here:
http://www.livevideo.com/video/EDE8AD51F955452DA5158D266954E8FB/female-mma-fight.aspx

So there are the six most popular female MMA videos according to Google right now.
Funny...Gina Carano isn't in any of them.
Hmmmm....

Female MMA Video, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on Sept 24th, 2009.

WAMMA's September Female MMA Rankings

2009-09-22T11:48:00.001-04:00

WAMMA's September female MMA rankings are out, and rather than waiting till October to do a top ten list, I thought I'd go ahead and go over the Featherweight rankings now.
Mainly because for the first time since they started doing female MMA rankings, there is a new number one.
Can you guess who it is?

1. Cristiane Santos
Yes the "Queen" was finally unseated.
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos is the new number one female MMA fighter.
The Strikeforce Women's Lightweight Champion will be fighting next at Strikeforce: Fedor vs Rogers on November 7th, 2009.
Who will she be fighting?
Hopefully one of the following ladies.

2. Marloes Coenen
One of the women that actually stand a chance against Chris is this Dutch female mixed martial artist.
Marloes is 16-3-0.

3. Erin Toughill
Another lady that could hold her own with the Cyborg is Erin Toughill.
Erin beat Marloes Coenen back in 2004, and since her loss to Megumi Yabushita in 2004, she has been on a winning streak.

4. Gina Carano
Gina finally slipped down to number four.
And now the "Face of Female MMA" may just be looking at a Hollywood career.

5. Kelly Kobold
I did an entry on Kelly way back in April of 2007, so I feel pretty good about showcasing a lady that is now number 5 in the MMA world.
Although her last three fights were losses (Gina Carano, Julie Kedzie and Tara LaRosa) this 16-3-1 fighter is still a force to be reckoned with.

6. Yoko Takahashi
No not the singer.
The Japanese female MMA fighter Yoko Takahashi has a record of 15-10-1 and her last fight was a loss to Cristiane Santos by Unanimous Decision at EliteXC - Heat, 0n October 4th, 2008.

7. Cindy Dandois
Cindy "Battlecat" Dandois is a Belgian female MMA fighter with a 1-0-0 record.
I think the reason this lady came in at seven is because her one win was a Unanimous Decision over number two Marloes Coenen.
That's no small feat.

8. Ediane (Ediene) Gomes
Ediane "India" Gomes is a 4-0-0 fighter from Brazil.

9. Revelina Berto
Revelina "Nana" Berto has a fight record of 3-0-0.

10. Emily Thompson
3-2-0 female MMA fighter came in at number 10.

For the whole list of female MMA rankings, you can go to the WAMMA site here.
http://www.gowamma.com/Rankings

BTW...if anyone has any info on what happened Saturday night at “FEMALE FURY II” let me know.
I have looked everywhere for the results.

WAMMA's September Female MMA Rankings, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/, on Sept 22, 2009

Female MMA - Yuka Tsuji

2009-09-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

Yuka Tsuji was born on December 11, 1974 in Osaka, Japan.
She is a Japanese female MMA fighter.
Yuka spent a lot of time fighting in the Smackgirl promotion, and was the inaugural Smackgirl Lightweight Champion.
When Smackgirl folded in 2008, she jumped to Greatest Common Multiple's Valkyrie promotion and there she became their inaugural Featherweight Champion.

Yuka is 5 foot 2 inches tall and weighs in at 115 pounds.
Her female MMA record is an impressive 22-1-0.

Besides being the Smackgirl Lightweight Champion and Valkyrie Featherweight Champion, Yuki won the Bronze Medal in Women's Freestyle Wrestling (51 kg) in the 1997 Asian Championship and was the 2002 JAPAN CUP middleweight tournament champion.
On August 2nd, Yuka Tsuji was ranked number two in the Flyweight division of the WAMMA's female mma rankings.

Posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on Sept 14th, 2009

Female MMA: Gina Carano to Debut in Knockout

2009-09-09T13:11:00.002-04:00

Well if you were wonder what female MMA fighter Gina Carano's next move is, wonder no more.
According to Variety, Gina will make her feature film debut in the upcoming spy thriller "Knockout" directed by Academy Award-winning film director, Steven Soderbergh.

Variety says....
"Scripted by Lem Dobbs, “Knockout” casts Carano as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is given a second chance to use her skills for constructive purposes. The film is a closer cousin to “La Femme Nikita” and “Kill Bill” than “Million Dollar Baby,” in that it doesn’t take place in the fight ring. Rather, Soderbergh considers the film as a flat out action film in the James Bond mold, and will shoot in locations around the world that include Ireland, Turkey and the U.S."

Gina is putting her debut in good hands.
Soderbergh won an Academy Award for Best Director for his film "Traffic" and has directed hits like Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Erin Brockovich and Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen.

Even though this will be Gina's first major motion picture, she did appear in Michael Jai White's "Blood and Bone" as Veretta.
She also starred in the cult film "Ring Girls", she was in the Oxygen reality series Fight Girls and of course she appeared as "Crush" on the NBC show American Gladiators.

So is Gina Carano gonna pull a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson?
Bye bye female MMA and hello Hollywood?

posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/, Sept 9th, 2009

Female MMA - "FEMALE FURY II"

2009-09-08T11:27:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, September 19th at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, CA, World Combat Sports Challenge (WCSC) will present “FEMALE FURY II”, the first-ever all-female Muay Thai/mixed martial arts event in California history.
The bouts are still being signed, but so far they have....

WCSC Muay Thai Bantamweight World Title-holder Jenna Castillo
Jamie Seaton
Marisella Badillo
Jade Hayes, making her MMA debut
Aby Rulloda
Jill Guido
Malia Spanyol
Naline Sar (Nalin Sar)
Amber Pope

For more info like times, tickets etc, you can go to the WCSC website here.
http://www.worldcsc.com/events/event.php?id=32

Female MMA Rankings For August

2009-09-04T13:45:00.003-04:00

I haven't done this in awhile, so here are the top ten female MMA fighters on this blog, and how they ranked at WAMMA.
Now WAMMA ranks their fighters on six different points all having to do with fighting, and all I rank mine on is popularity.
So you'll see some wide differences in the two lists.
Except of course for the number one position.....

1. Gina Carano (7-1-0)
Of course Gina came in at number one on my ratings and the WAMMA ranking.
Is anyone surprised?

2. Karen Williams (3-3-0)
Even with 3 losses in a row, Karen Williams still came in at number two here.
I didnt see her at all on the WAMMA rankings.

3. Latasha Marzolla (9-3) Muay Thai, (1-0-0) MMA
Latasha Marzolla came in third here, but again, I didnt see her on the WAMMA page at all.
Of course with only one pro MMA fight, you wouldnt think she would show up on their rankings.

4. Cristiane Santos (8-1-0)
You would think the champ would come in at number one wouldnt you?
But she came in fourth here and third on the WAMMA.
In all fairness though, the WAMMA rankings came out before the Carano - Santos fight.

5. Emily Thompson (3-2-0)
Emily Thompson came in fifth here, and tenth at WAMMA.

6. Erin Toughill (10-2-1)
One of my favorite female MMA fighters Erin Toughill came in sixth here, and fourth at WAMMA.

7. Alexis Davis (6-2-0)
Another female mma fighter that came up ranked here, but not on WAMMA.

8. Jessica Aguilar (5-3-0)
Jessica Aguilar came in eighth here, and sixth in the Flyweight division at WAMMA.

9. Lisa Ward (12-5-0)
Lisa Ward came in ninth here and fifth in the Flyweight division as WAMMA.

10. Yoko Takahashi (15-10-1)
Yoko Takahashi rounded the list out here, but came in sixth in the Featherweight division at WAMMA.

To see WAMMA's full female MMA rankings go here:
http://www.gowamma.com/Rankings

posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on Sept 4th, 2009

Female MMA - The State of the Art

2009-09-02T11:47:00.000-04:00

In the aftermath of the Gina Carano-Cris Santos fight, I was looking around for inspiration for today's entry.
Here is a sample of the headlines I ran across.....

Do women belong fighting in mixed martial arts?
Baltimore Sun

Does women's MMA have a future?
Baltimore Sun
(Do I sense a pattern with the Baltimore Sun here?)

Carano's loss to 'Cyborg' hurts women's MMA
FOXSports.com

Strikeforce postmortem: Is Santos' win good for women's MMA?
ESPN

Though growing, women's MMA not equal to men's
Florida Today

Female MMA is far from accepted yet.
I keep hearing terms like "not as good as the guys", "lack of depth", "women shouldn't be fighting each other".
And of course "she's ugly, she looks like a man, I don't like her."

Wow.
I thought we had outgrown that kind of thinking.
No Cris Santos is not gonna get in the cage with Brock Lesnar.
Just like Laila Ali has no business in the ring with Mike Tyson.
But that doesn't mean Santos isn't great in her division.
Maybe the WWE and their Diva division has poisoned the minds of sports fans to where they think that a woman cannot be just as good as a man.
(perhaps Lisa Marie Varon will change that idea)

These ladies work just as hard as their male counterparts and should be treated with the same respect.
I'm not saying we should praise sloppy execution in either division.
The women should be (and from what I have seen are) held to the same standards.
But no matter how good some female MMA stars are, they will be judged less than the guys and thats just not right.

Female MMA-Lisa Marie Varon

2009-08-26T11:26:00.000-04:00

Lisa Marie back in the WWE. Foreshadowing?

There seems to a little (okay a lot) of buzz surrounding pro wrestler Lisa Marie Varon and female mma fighter Kim Couture.
As you may know, Lisa was known as Victoria in the WWE and now Tara in TNA.

This all seems to have started when Lisa started talking to a agents regarding MMA endorsements and one of the promoters approached her camp about fighting Kim Couture.
But to sum it up in her own words, here is a link to the blog where Lisa eplains what happened.
http://blogs.myspace.com/victoria_lisamarievaron

You'll see the pro wrestler coming out in her in one comment...
"So Kim, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the heart you showed in your first pro fight. Tremendous. And you may be a nice stepping stone for me if I choose to drop down to 135."
"Nice stepping stone" I love Lisa Marie.
I always have.

But of course things didn't stop there.....

Kim shot back with...
"She better get her feet wet first in this sport because it's real and there is no scripting going on inside that cage. It's the real deal."
http://fighthype.com/pages/content5549.html

And in one of her latest Tweets on Twitter Lisa said...
"Just took Kettle Bell class last night and it was fabulous. Watch out Kim Couture, I'm getting stronger. Check out my blog on myspace"

Lisa has been putting herself deeply into her BJJ training.
And I keep reading about how Lisa will learn her lesson when she gets into the cage with a real MMA fighter.
Is this the same lesson UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar learned?
Or (4-0) Bobby Lashley?

Now I have said before I have no MMA experience.
But I do have 14 years of martial arts training.
And my instructors used to say that a person that could box, wrestle and knew martial arts was a hard person to beat in the street.

Lisa has a lot of experience in the squared circle. Shes been wrestling since 2000.
And even though the matches are scripted, the performers there take a real beating.
Kinda like stunt men.
Lisa's three older brothers became amateur wrestlers, and her oldest brother, Bobby Sole, won a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games.
And before wrestling or MMA, she was a fitness competitor, coming in first place at the Debbie Kruck Fitness Classic in 1999 (tall division), first place at the ESPN2 Fitness America Series in 1997, first place at the National Physique Committee's NPC Inland Empire in 1995 and she also competed in the 1998 Ironwoman Tri-Fitness.
So this lady is no stranger to physicality.
(Physicality? I sound like JR!)

So all I am saying is don't count Lisa Marie out just because she's a pro wrestler.
If anything, she may bring some missing showmanship to female MMA that it needs.
And no one will really know how good she is till after her first pro MMA fight will they?

Lena Ovchynnikova - Female MMA

2009-08-24T11:35:00.003-04:00

Female MMA fighter Lena "Hunter" Ovchynnikova was born on April 22nd, 1987 in Lviv, in the Ukraine.
Lena is 5'4 and weighs in at around 125 pounds.

Lena has a 4-0 record in MMA, 3-0 in kickboxing and 4-0 in K-1 rules.
She was the 2007 European champion (Thai, International Sport Karate Association)
2007 and 2008 Ukraine professional MMA champion
WKA (World Karate and Kickboxing Association) World champion (K-1 rules)
2009 Europe MMA champion (ISKA)

Lena was supposed to take on Anna Smirnov last night at International Gala in Truskavets, Ukraine last night, but I haven't been able to find the results yet.
If anyone finds out, how about letting us know.

UPDATE: Lena has posted to her Facebook that she won in the first round.

Lena Ovchynnikova Promo Video

Lena Ovchynnikova - Female MMA, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on 8-24-2009

Female MMA News and Updates

2009-08-21T12:07:00.002-04:00

In my last entry, I asked what was next for female MMA champ Cris "Cyborg" Santos.
Well it looks like Elaina Maxwell wants to be the next thing.....

Top 10 MMA Pro Female Fighter Elaina Maxwell, a Student of Cung Le and Randy Couture, Calls out Strikeforce Champion, Cris Cyborg
Cyborg, a Strikeforce phenom, beats a crowd favorite in Gina Carano in complete dominance, yet Elaina Maxwell is not impressed. In fact, when Elite Broadcast Media interviewed Elaina, she told us this, "I saw many holes in Cyborg's standup, and if she fights me, she will get knocked out." Elaina has over 24 titles and championships in the fighting world, trains with the best in the world, and feels it is her time to end the hype, and start a new one. Elaina, goes on to say, "I have much respect for Gina and Cris. It is not about them, it's about me. To be honest, I am sick of only training with the best, I want to fight the best."
You can see the whole press release here

And in other female mma news ( yes there are other female mma fighters besides Carano and Santos) Jennifer "Visegrip" Martin will face Priseilla Cuevro at the first female mma bout in New York.
Don't get too excited, MMA events are still banned in New York.
They are getting around the ban by having the match at the Jo Jo Redeye Building on the Seneca Nation reservation in Salamanca.
You can read more about this here

And finally, here is an article from MMA Fanhouse by David Whitley titled " MMA Is No Breakthrough for Women".
"On a practical level, I doubt the Carano vs. Cyborg was the fighting equivalent of the 19th Amendment. When it comes to female fighters, the MMA still has less depth than Paris Hilton. Carano was its Danica Patrick, and now she's been beaten by Ivan Drago."

You can read the whole article (and comment, the comment section seems very spirited) here.

Female MMA: What's next for Cyborg Santos?

2009-08-17T12:04:00.004-04:00

Now that the dust has settled over the Carano vs. Cyborg fight, what's next for the newly crowned female MMA champ?
Will she appear on talk shows (with a translator) or start appearing in ads for MMA apparel?
Who knows?
But let's focus on the fighting side of her, which seems to be what Cris "Cyborg" Santos is all about.
Who's next in the Cyborgs sights?

Well I reported awhile back that Erin Toughill (10-2-1) would likely face the winner of the match.
But at Saturdays event, Erin was nowhere to be seen.
There are rumors that Erin and Strikeforce had a "break down in communication" and Erin wasn't there.

But Strikeforce's new acquisition was there, and ready to step in if anything had happened to Carano or Santos.
And that fighter is veteran Marloes Coenen (16-3).
Remember, Santos almost faced her back in February of 2009, but Santos pulled out because she signed with Strikeforce.
Now that would be a match.
The 5'9, 145 pound Marloes might not be bulled around the ring by Santos as easily as Carano was.
Although Marloes has lost to Erin, so would Erin still be the most logical choice?

Another fighter beigin mentioned is Roxanne Modafferi (who has beaten Marloes).
Roxanne is currently 13-4-0.
But Roxanne fights at 135, although that didn't stop her from beating Marloes.

Sarah Kaufman is another name I have heard mentioned.
I think Sarah has a pretty big base of loyal internet fans.
With wins over Miesha Tate and Shayna Baszler she would seem like a good choice.
And she does have a 10-0-0 record right now.
But wouldn't Sarah also have to put on some weight to get in this fight?

Of course there is the possibility of Gina Carano facing her in a rematch.
But I didn't hear Gina's people yelling "Rematch!" after the fight.

And now we come to my "Wildcard" pick.
Lisa Marie Varon.
If you read my blogs, it's no secret I'm a big fan of female wrestling.
Lisa Marie (Victoria in the WWE and Tara in TNA) might be the first female wrestler to follow in the footsteps of her male counterparts like Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley.
She is training for MMA, and could you imagine the hype of an ex-female pro wrestler going after the women's MMA champ?
Of course Lisa needs some checks in her win column before that ever happens.
But remember, Gina Carano only trained in Muay Thai for what, 4 months before her first fight?
Lisa is 5'8, 155 pounds and has about nine years of wrestling training to fall back on.

Female MMA got the hype Saturday, so lets see if the fights they pick can keep the interest going.

Gina Carano vs. Cristiane Cyborg Santos Result

2009-08-15T23:43:00.003-04:00

http://mmafrenzy.com/

In the Strikeforce Female 145-Pound Championship, Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos

Cyborg wins at the end...and I mean very end.. of the first round.
It was like 4:58 of a 5 minute round.

Well I said Cris would win......
You could see where the power was too.

Good Luck Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos

2009-08-10T15:07:00.001-04:00

Well here we go.
Only five days till what is the most hyped female mma match ever.
I love it really, when I started this blog back in 2007, I started going down a list I made of female mma fighters and tried to do bios and at least one pic of each one.
Why?
Because I always root for the underdog.

Female MMA really didn't get much attention, a lot of people frowned on it.
Two women out there beating the crap out of each other didn't appeal to everyone.
But having spent 14 years in martial arts (not MMA mind you) I had some idea of what these women go through to get out there and do their best.
And I hate it when someone works that hard and gets overlooked.
So I tried in my own way to get these ladies out there and hopefully get some attention for them.

You'll note that you don't (and never will) see pictures of bikini clad women here just for the sake of having them.
Now if a fighter is good looking (Kyra Gracie, Gina Carano, Michelle Waterson, Erin Toughill, LaTasha Marzolla just to name a few) I have no problem with posting an attractive picture of them.
But no matter how good you look, if you get in the ring with another woman that's there to take you down and take you out, it wont matter.
This blog is for fighters both known and unknown.

And that brings me back to the upcoming match up.
(I know I went off on a mini rant there)
Here is a chance for female MMA to really shine and pick up some fans.
You'll have the MMA poster girl Gina Carano going up against a fighting machine Cris Santos.
As of right now, no one is injured and we can expect to see both women go in there and give everything they've got.
This could be the match that really puts women's MMA on the map.
There's already talk of the winner facing Erin Toughill at a future date.

So I wish both women luck and cross my fingers that the match will be as good as the hype leading into it.

Not only does the sport need a good show, but so do all those ladies out there in little known gyms pounding away at bags and wondering if they'll ever get the chance to climb into a ring and show everyone just how good they really are.

Gina Carano Updates

2009-08-08T11:08:00.002-04:00

Gina Carano is featured in the August 10th issue of ESPN the Magazine.
On page 26 there is an article titled " Six Things You Should Know About Being A Female MMA Fighter."
Also at http://espn.go.com/mma/ there are two videos up with Gina featured.

Rolling Stone (who rarely dose sports much less MMA) has an article in their August 6th issue called "Athletes Without Fear".
And Gina is on that list.

And if that's not enough Gina for you, she's hosting Carano-Cyborg Week on SHO 2, a series showcasing her past fights and those of her opponent Cris Santos.
Nice to see Cris finally get a mention.

Since Gina is such a media darling (I'm not taking anything from Gina, I think she's great), whats gonna happen if Cris demolishes her in Round 1?
Will Cris be propelled to superstar status?
Will you see Cris in ESPN, Maxim, Rolling Stone?

Yes Another Gina Carano/Cristiane Santos Update

2009-08-03T13:24:00.000-04:00

Well I keep trying but all I seem to come up with these days is Gina Carano/Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos stuff.
Maybe I should just quit fighting and give into the hype.
After all, it's only 12 days till showtime.
(That wasn't a pun...really)

Anyway, word has come out now that Cristiane Santos is the odds on favorite to beat Gina on August 15th.
And adding to that is Carano's ex-boyfriend Kit Cope coming out on MMAJunkie Radio saying that (to put it nicely) Gina is gonna get beat if she keeps training at (as he puts it) "Xtreme Fashion" with Shawn Tompkins and Randy Couture.
Randy, by the way, will be in Gina's corner at the fight, but not long time friend Kim Couture.
This has lead to the totally unfounded (as far as I can tell) rumor that Gina is seeing Randy.
But think about it realistically a minute.
You're in the fight of your life, who do you want in your corner?
Mixed martial artist, Greco-Roman wrestler, former collegiate wrestler, and only five-time champion in UFC history Randy?
Or 1-1-0 Kim?
I'd go with Randy.

Female MMA - Erin Toughill

2009-07-31T11:04:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite female MMA stars won't be making her debut with Strikeforce on August 15th.
Erin Toughill was originally slated to appear on the card, but now she is being held in reserve in case (okay, I know, I mention them every entry now....) Gina Carano or Cristiane Santos gets injured before their match.

Erin is 10-2-1 in MMA and also 8-2-1 in boxing and what an incredible break it would be for her to step into that match and win.
We could actually see a new star made right before our eyes.
Of course I am not wishing anything bad on Gina or Cristiane, that IS the fight everyone wants to see.

And according to Strikeforce, Erin just might get a shot at the winner of the Carano-Santos fight.

Female MMA - Erin Toughill, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on 7-31-2009

Female MMA News Today, Gina Carano, Chris Santos and Kyra Gracie

2009-07-27T13:22:00.001-04:00

In female MMA news today....

There's an article over at Bleacher Report by Josh Sanchez about the idea of bringing Kyra Gracie over to Strikeforce's women's division, which I think is a very good idea.

And speaking of Srikeforce, they have put a video up promoting the ( I know, I cant even go a week without saying it) Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Chris “Cyborg” Santos fight.

The MMA promotion "MMA Big Show" had a 16 round card Saturday night (Saturday July 25th) called Unstoppable and on that card, Big Show had their first female mixed martial arts bout.
It was Erica Ellington, a freestyle fighter, took on Marissa Caldwell, a jiu jitsu specialist.
Marissa defeated Erica with an armbar at 2:33 of the first round.
(They didnt need a five minute round did they?)

Female MMA: 3 Minutes or 5 Minutes?

2009-07-20T17:46:00.001-04:00

I mentioned in a post awhile back about changing the three minute rounds in female MMA to five minute rounds.
Well it seems that over at MMA Junkie and Watch Kalib Run there has been an ongoing discussion of this which I just caught the last part of.
You can go to their site and read all of the articles here:
http://www.watchkalibrun.com/2009/7/2/935763/peer-reviewing-dr-benjamins-ideas

It now seems the Carano - Santos fight will be five minute rounds.
That's something I wondered about when the fight was announced.
(Dang! I was gonna try to go a whole week without saying Carano or Santos!)

So what do you think?
Should female MMA be five minute rounds?

To me, and this is totally unscientific, saying female MMA should be three minute rounds and male MMA should be five minutes is like saying Danica Patrick can only drive 250 laps at the Indy 500 cause she's a girl.

Female MMA Reality TV Show "FightLife"

2009-07-20T13:03:00.001-04:00

FightLife is an upcoming female MMA reality show from Warm Springs Productions.

From the website.....
"FightLife bases a group of eight professional female fighters in one house where they live, breathe and make their money off the sport of Mixed Martial Arts fighting. The series will focus on the girls’ real lives – hardcore partying, the drama, catfights, relationships, owning and operating fight shop, intense physical training led by Ken Shamrock, and their professional MMA fights."

If you want to find out more about the show, you can visit their website, read more and see an extended video trailer for the show.
http://www.warmspringsproductions.com/details.cfm?id=7

I couldn't find out anything on when or where it will air.

Of course this isn't the first female MMA reality TV show.
Oxygen did Fight Girls back in 2007 and Ultimate Women’s Combat is set to air on NBC in 2009 or 2010.

BTW, UWC has a MySpace page set up so you can keep updated with their production here:
http://www.myspace.com/pennyjo20

It seems female MMA may be picking up more than a little steam huh?

Cannot Avoid Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos

2009-07-17T17:01:00.003-04:00

Okay, I was gonna try to go for a bit without mentioning Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and their upcoming fight.
But right now, all eyes seem to be turned towards this.

Crave Online has an article about the match up, as does The Las Vegas Sun, The Examiner, ESPN and a host of others.
This is looking to be the defining moment (so far) in female mixed martial arts.
Finally the women get the coverage and recognition that the men get.

Could it all blow up in their faces?
Oh yes, easily.
A bad fight and all the hype and build up will go down the drain with a loud SWOOSH!
But a good fight, and the hype will be justified and we may just see a turning point in female MMA.
I would hate to be Carano or Santos right now, because even though their opponents are their top priority, you know the media pressure has got to be in the back of their minds.

Jessica Bednark and Tuff-N-Uff Productions

2009-07-17T12:40:00.000-04:00

On July 10th, 2009, Tuff-N-Uff made Las Vegas history with an all female MMA card.
The show was at the packed Orleans Arena, and 20 female mixed martial artisits battled it out in the ring.
According to Barry Meyer, president of Tuff-N-Uff Productions, it was the largest attended female MMA event in Las Vegas history.
You can read a full write up on the event here.

A really good thing about this even is that a portion of the proceeds from this event went to help Jessica Bednark.
In case you didn't know, Jessica is a pro MMA fighter who suffered a ruptured artery in her brain while training back in May.
Jessica has no health insurance, and her boyfriend's brother Derek Gould, is collecting donations.
Derek can be reached at derekwgould@yahoo.com, and donations can be sent to 15824 Neon St. NW, Ramsey, MN 55303.
A paypal account has also been set up for Jessica, and paypal donations can be sent to helpforjessica@twincities.mn.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jessica and I pray for a complete and total recovery for this brave young lady.

WAMMA's Female MMA Rankings Versus Mine

2009-07-13T15:26:00.002-04:00

How many pictures of Gina Carano are on this blog anyway?

I thought this month I would list the most searched for female MMA fighters here, and also list their WAMMA rankings so we could see how popular these ladies are verses how they are ranked.

Of course number one here and on WAMMA's list is (take a wild guess....)

1. Gina Carano
Yes, Gina Carano is still number one.
Was there any question?

2. Karen Williams
Karen got votes on the WAMMA list, but not enough to rank.
She was recently beaten by Erin Toughill by a first round TKO.

3. Cristiane Santos
Yes the "Cyborg" is riding the publicity wave from the upcoming Carano versus Santos match up.
But if Santos wins...will she become the next media female MMA sweetheart?
Strikeforce will be holding a pre-fight press conference tomorrow (July14th) at the Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater in New York City.
She came in 3rd in the featherweight division at WAMMA.

4. Emily Thompson
Emily was ranked number 9 in the featherweight division at WAMMA.
Number 4 here.

5. Erin Toughill
At WAMMA she came in 4th, and she came in 5th here.
Erin will be on the "Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg" Aug. 15 card facing an as of yet un-named opponent.
Erin came in 5th here and 4th at WAMMA.

6. Alexis Davis
Alexis didnt rank on WAMMA, but she did get votes and she came in 6th here.
The Canadian lost to Tara LaRosa on January 23, 2009 at Extreme Challenge: War At The Shore.

7. Jessica Aguilar
Jessica came in 6th in the flyweight division at WAMMA and she came in 7th here.
This lovely young lady has a MySpace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/jaguilar_smiles

8. Lisa Ward
Lisa came in 4th in the Flyweight didvision at WAMMA and 8th overall here.
You can visit Lisa at her MySpace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/lisa_ward

9. Yoko Takahashi
Yoko came in 9th here and 7th in the featherweight division at WAMMA.
Her fight stats are 15-10-1 including a loss to Cristiane Santos at EliteXC Heat on October 4th, 2008.

10. Elena Reid
Elena came in 10th here and she didnt rank at WAMMA, but got votes.
Elena's last bout was at Extreme Beatdown on April 18th, 2009, when she defeated "The Karate Hottie" Michelle Waterson.

For more female combat, check out my other blog:
http://womenboxing.blogspot.com/

Gina Carano Versus Cristiane Cyborg Santos Is Set

2009-06-11T11:14:00.001-04:00

As most of you probably already know, the No. 1 and the No. 2 females fighting in the world, Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will finally face each other Aug. 15.
This has been brewing since EliteXC went under a little over a year ago.
The fight will be for the Strikeforce 145 lb Women's Championship.
Gina should have little problem making the 145 pound allowance, but Cristiane has had trouble making it before.
The bout will be five rounds, and unless something changes between now and then, they will be three minute rounds.
I'd like to see five minute rounds, but we'll see.
The bout will air live on Showtime on Saturday, August 15th, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA.

My prediction right now (this is subject to change) is a win by Gina by decision.
I'm not seeing any kind of blow out here.
I think it will go the distance and whoever wins, it wont be by a huge margin.
I also think that how this bout goes will have a major impact on female MMA bouts in the future.

LaTasha Marzolla - Female MMA

2009-06-03T14:34:00.004-04:00

LaTasha Marzolla may look more like a model than a MMA fighter, but she's both.
After training with Master Toddy in Las Vegas and her friend Gina Carano, LaTasha made her MMA debut May 30th at the Orleans Arena.
And she got a first-round victory over Christy Tada at the Tuff-N-Uff extravaganza.
Although LaTasha is new to MMA, she isn't new to fighting.
She has a 9-3 record in Muay Thai, but she hasn’t fought in three years.
LaTasha did well in her debut, although her opponent's record was 1-3-0.
Did you know that in 2003, LaTasha and fellow model turned fighter Bobbi Billard both trained for the WWE at their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling?
In 2004, they were both released for "not taking wrestling seriously."

Female MMA: Jessica Pene

2009-05-28T11:30:00.003-04:00

Jessica Pene 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.
You can find out more about Jessica at her MySpace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/jessicapene

Round 5 Gina Carano Figure

2009-05-26T11:24:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-18T11:59:00.000-04:00

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

2009-05-15T10:59:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-06T14:16:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-05T13:16:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-02T14:34:00.002-04:00

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

Miesha Tate, Kim Couture, Gina Carano, Cristiane Santos and More

2009-04-28T10:40:00.003-04:00

Miesha Tate

Here are several articles dealing with female MMA.
If you notice, all the articles reference Strikeforce, who seems to own the female MMA scene at the moment.
I'm glad the female fighters have a place to show their skills, but any kind of a sports monopoly makes me nervous.

FightHype has a really good interview with Miesha Tate about her upcoming fight with Kim Couture.
You can read the article here

It looks like the Gina Carano vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos Strikeforce title bout is targeted for August.
Here's an in-depth article at MMA Junkie.com about it.

And according to Fanhouse.com, Josh Barnett is still a little more than upset with Mrs. Santos about the Hitomi Akano fight.

More on the Kim Couture, Miesha Tate Fight

2009-04-23T13:22:00.000-04:00

I mentioned the upcoming Kim Couture / Miesha Tate fight in my last entry.
Here is an article from Beau Dure over at USA TODAY about the fight, and rumors of unrest between Tate, Couture and Cris "Cyborg" Santos......

Lacking stars, depth, women's MMA has yet to deliver a big hit
By Beau Dure, USA TODAY
Kim Couture has only two professional mixed martial arts bouts, but she's ready for a step up in competition after her last opponent.
"I don't know if you saw the last fight, but that's kind of what happens when I fight someone with an equal record," Couture (1-1) says of the first-round knockout of Lina Kvokov, who appeared to have stage fright.
Couture next fights Miesha Tate, who has a 6-1 MMA record and experience in international grappling competition. The bout on Strikeforce's Challenger Series card May 15 in Fresno features two fighters with an acute interest in pushing women's MMA forward after a couple of missteps (Showtime, 11 p.m. ET).

You can read the full article here

Kim Couture versus Miesha Tate

2009-04-15T12:03:00.001-04:00

Kim Couture (1-1, the wife of MMA legend Randy “The Natural” Couture) and Miesha Tate (5-1) will be facing off at Strikeforce's May 15 ShoMMA show.

Kim won her last fight against Lina Kvokov in November, but the fight that most fans know her from is the brutal battle with Kim Rose. That fight proved Kim didn't know the meaning of the word quit.

Miesha's 5-1 record includes her one loss to Kaitlin Young, and victories over Dora Baptiste, Jessica Bednarek, Jamie Lynn Welsh, Elaina Maxwell and Jan Finney.

Reid vs Waterson and Santos vs Akano Results

2009-04-14T12:37:00.002-04:00

Elena “Baby Doll” Reid (3-0) beat Michelle "The Karate Hottie" Waterson (7-3) at Saturday's Extreme Beatdown event.
Elena won with a TKO 1:50 into the second round.

And Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (6-1) defeated Hitomi Akano (14-5) in the third round.

If you missed it, you can see the fight here:

Elena Reid versus Michelle Waterson

2009-04-09T10:29:00.003-04:00

Michelle Waterson

Elena Reid

I had mentioned earlier that Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson will be facing MMA and boxing star Elena “Baby Doll” Reid at “Extreme Beatdown” at Apache Gold Casino on April 11th.
I haven't had an entry on Elena here, although I did do one on my female boxing blog back in 2007.

Elena Reid was born November 1, 1981 in Phoenix, Arizona.
And although Elena has found success in boxing, she started out in karate and kickboxing, winning an Arizona State Kickboxing Title at the age of 17.

Elena made her MMA debut on December 28, 2007 with a win over Tammie Schneider by TKO in the second round.
She has a 2-0-0 record in MMA, and a 19-5-6 in boxing.

Elena is more of a striker and Michelle is more of a ground fighter, so this match up should be interesting.

More Hitomi Akano versus Cris Cyborg News

2009-04-08T11:06:00.001-04:00

I mentioned the Hitomi Akano versus Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos match on April 11 in a previous post.
But now I hear that Josh Barnett will be in Akano's corner.
This would make sense since Akano is one of Josh's students.
Should an upset happen....what would happen to the anticipated Gina Carano / Santos fight?

The Akano / Santos fight will air on Showtime as part of their Strikeforce premier.
You can find out more about ths Showtime event here:
http://strikeforce.sho.com/

MMA Updates, Gina Carano, Kim Couture and More

2009-04-07T09:01:00.001-04:00

It looks like the Gina Carano / Cristian "Cyborg" Santos fight could happen in August at the Strikeforce show.
If it happens, the fight will most likely air on Showtime or CBS.

Kim Couture will be on the May 15 "ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers," acrd facing an undetermined as of yet opponent.

Kyra Gracie won the Absolute and Lightweight divisions last year at the 2008 Womens Brown/Black Belt World Champions.
She is said to be competing at the April 18th New York International Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship in New York, but I haven't seen confirmation of this yet.

At the April 11 in “Extreme Beatdown” at Apache Gold Casino, Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson will be facing MMA and boxing star Elena “Baby Doll” Reid in a special female 112-pound catch-weight attraction bout..

I don't know if I mentioned it before or not, but Erin Toughill has a website at http://www.erintoughill.com/

And Tara LaRosa won her MMA fight with Sally Krumdiak at Atlantic City's Trump Marina with a third round submission.
Tara's next fight is tentatively scheduled for May 30 in Atlantic City or June 14 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Felice Herrig Updates

2009-04-06T13:47:00.001-04:00

http://www.mmamadhouse.com/

I didn't know a lot about Felice Herrig when I did my first entry on her back in 2007.
Then she was on Oxygen's reality series "Fight Girls".
At the time she was a 22 year old, working at a salon in Wheeling, giving facials, manicures and pedicures.
Gina Carano mentored Felice and she won her first fight against Gina Reyes.
As one of the five finalists in Thailand, Felice won her fight against a champion Thai fighter.

She recently lost a three round, split decision to Iman "Mannie" Achhal at UWC 5: MAN "O" WAR in Fairfax Virginia.
But she is now looking forward to her next fight at XFO 29 on Friday April 17, 2009.

You can see more of Felice at http://chicagosmma.com/

Female MMA Fighter - Ginele Marquez

2009-03-31T18:45:00.001-04:00

Female MMA fighter Ginele Marquez.

Ginele trains at Paulson's CSW (Combat Submission Wrestling) under Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett.
She stands 5'3 and weighs around 135 pounds.
Her first pro match was a loss to Christine Van Fleet via Submission (Triangle Choke) at Pacific Pankration Kickboxing Association (PPKA) - Muckelshoot on August 15th, 2001 in Auburn, Washington.
Ginele's last match was a win over Atsuko Emoto via Unanimous Decision at Smackgirl - World ReMix 2008 Second Round on April 25th, 2008 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Her current record is 7-7-1.

You can check her out on Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/ginele.marquez
Or follow her at Twitter here:
http://twitter.com/ginelemarquez

Julie Kedzie

2009-03-31T14:19:00.002-04:00

I haven't had anything here about female mma fighter Julie Kedzie in a while.
So why not do something now?
Julie is trained in Taekwondo (third degree black belt), Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Since my last write up on her, her last win was over Angela Hayes at Battlequest 8 on April 11, 2008.
But on March 14th, she lost to Sarah Schneider by a round one tapout due to a Rear Naked Choke.

Top Ten Female MMA Update

2009-03-26T12:10:00.000-04:00

It's time for another Top Ten "most searched" female MMA update.
Which makes this interesting because now I can compare these fighters to the WAMMA Top Ten Rankings.

First up:
1 Gina Carano (7-0-0)
What a surprise huh?
Didn't see that one coming did you?
Number one here and on WAMMA's list.

2. Karen Williams (3-2-0)
Number two on this list and number seven on the other list.
Her latest loss was to Erin Toughill on February 6th, 2009.

3. Kim Couture (1-1-0)
Comes in at three on this list, not on the WAMMA list at all.
Understandable because some fight experts regard her as a "novelty"fighter.
Not gonna argue the point, it's up to her to prove them wrong.

4. Emily Thompson (3-0-0)
Four on mine, eight on theirs.
She'll be facing Erin Toughill (man she gets around!) at the Palace Fighting Championship on May 8th.

5. Kaitlin Young (4-2-0)
Number five on mine, not ranked on the WAMMA.
Just did a write up on her.

6. Michelle Waterson (4-2-0)
Six here, again, not ranked at WAMMA.
Same record as Kaitlin Young, but then again, she's not ranked either.

7. Christiane Santos (6-1-0)
Number seven here and tied with Gina on the WAMMA list.
She should be either one or two.

8. Erin Toughill (9-2-1)
Eight here and six on theirs.
I really think Erin should be ranked higher.

9. Julie Kedzie (9-7-0)
Nine here, again, not ranked on WAMMA.

10. Tara LaRosa (16-1-0)
Won 16, lost 1?
Why isnt she at the top of both lists?
Did she just fight chumps?

Kaitlin Young Update

2009-03-19T09:52:00.004-04:00

I've made various mentions of Kaitlin Young here on this blog.
She's a top female MMA fighter that I think could be one of the top draws in the business.
Kaitlin was born September 15th, 1985 in Circle Pines, Minnesota.
Her current record is 4 and 2, with 3 of her wins by knockout.
Her last loss was to Gina Carano at EliteXC: Primetime.

Here is a write up by Jay Stephenson at Quad Community Press.com about Kaitlin......

Kicking, punching and elbowing her way to the top
by Jay Stephenson

BROOKLYN CENTER — It’s not often a girl in high school can grow up to earn a living participating in an activity that could land her a trip to the principal’s office and school suspension. But Circle Pines native Kaitlin Young is doing just that — and making her mother proud.
When Young graduated in the top of her class from Centennial High School in 2004, she probably didn’t expect that four years later she would be considered one of the top female athletes in a sport still considered controversial, especially for women.

You can read the full article here

Kaitlin Young Update, posted to http://femalemixedmartialartists.blogspot.com/ on 3-19-2009

MMA News: Cristiane Santos versus Hitomi Akano

2009-03-11T11:30:00.000-04:00

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (6-1) of Brazil will be facing “Smack Girl” Champion Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano (14-5) of Japan at the "Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz " event on April 11th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

I think this will be a very interesting match up, because the two women are almost polar opposites.
On the one hand you have Santos' Muay Thai striking and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills, and on the other hand you have Akano's submission skills.
Cristiane is of course the co-holder (along with Gina Carano) of the number one ranking in the WAMMA.
So what would a loss to Akano do to that standing?
And what would that do for Akano?

Hitomi was the very first lady I profiled on this blog back in February of 2007.
She has won 11 of her 14 fights with a submission. 10 of them were armbars and 5 were in the first round.
She beat fellow female MMA fighter Hari Hari in 38 seconds in the first round with an armbar.

Cristiane has won 4 of her fights in the first round, and 2 of those were by corner stoppage, her opponents corner men threw in the towel after the first round.
But the only loss she has had was via a leg lock submission, and submissions are Hitomi's bread and butter.
All of Hitomi's losses were by decision.

Cristiane has the height, weight and age advantage, but in MMA, sometimes that doesn't mean a lot.

Rosi Sexton and The WAMMA Top Ten Rankings

2009-03-07T13:37:00.002-05:00

Female Mixed Martial Arts fighter Dr Rosi Sexton (9-1-0) has signed a four fight deal with the US based Bellator Fighting Championships.
Rosi will fight in the inaugural Bellator Fighting Championships show at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida on April 3rd.
She will face the American Top Team fighter and fellow BodogFight veteran Jessica Aguilar (5-3-0).
For more info, head over to the Bellator Fighting Championships website here.

I mentioned a couple of entries back, that WAMMA was going to start ranking the top Female Mixed Martial Artists.
Well they released the list this week, and I really wasn't surprised at the rankings.
It didn't kinda surprise me that the number one position was a tie.....

1 (tie) Gina Carano
1 (tie) Christiane Santos
3 Kelly Kobold
4 Megumi Yabushita
5 Marloes Coenen
6 Erin Toughill
7 Karen Williams
8 Emily Thompson
9 Elaina Maxwell
10 Tonya Evinger

If you want to see more about the list and the people that created it, you can go here

I noticed no Rosi Sexton on the list.
At 9-1-0 shouldn't she be?
I mean is Tonya Evinger is 7-3-0......

MMA News, Erin Toughill

2009-02-24T10:47:00.002-05:00

I reported on the then upcoming MMA fight between Erin Toughill and Adrienna Jenkins back several weeks ago, and forgot to follow up on that.
Erin won, but she didn't fight Adrienna Jenkins. Adrienna was injured and unable to compete, so Karen Williams was substituted.
Erin won via TKO in the first round. She pretty much just overpowered her smaller opponent and bashed her until the ref stepped in at 2:06.

Palace Fighting Championships will hold another event on April 23, this time a mixed martial arts / boxing card, and the womens match there will be April Cautino vs. Sarah Kaufman.
PFC is saying April Cautino, but I wonder if they mean April Coutino?
I can't find any record of an April Cautino.

WAMMA and Female MMA Rankings

2009-02-16T11:18:00.002-05:00

Ranking female mixed martial artists isn't easy as you may have seen here on this blog.
But the WAMMA (The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts) is going to start undertaking that task this year.
Here's a link to the official press release......

WAMMA to Begin Female Rankings, Call for Pollster Applicants
By: WAMMA
The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) has announced that it will be launching a monthly poll in 2009 that will rank the best female mixed martial arts in the world.
Starting in the first quarter of the New Year, WAMMA's new female poll will rank the top ten female fighters in three separate weight classes: 125 pounds, 135 pounds, and 145 pounds.
You can read the full press release here

But not everyone thinks this is such a good idea.....

The Problem with WAMMA's Plan to Rank Female MMA Fighters
By Josh Stein, FightTicker.com blogger
I feel obliged, almost, to put a disclaimer at the top of this piece. It’s a taboo in journalism, I’ve discovered, but it needs to be done, in this case.
I will say first, that I support WAMMA and its efforts to unify the sport of mixed martial arts. I’ve been candid about that in the past, but the announcement of the opening up of female MMA rankings has been bothering me for some time now, and while I thought about doing a fluff piece on how great this might be for the women in the sport that many of us have never heard of, I realized I couldn’t do that, because even when I’m wrong, I can be proud of my honesty.
You can read his full article here

In case you didn't know, WAMMA is a sanctioning organization for professional MMA. It was launched in 2007 and it's goals are to create insurance programs for MMA fighters, give financial education seminars, train referees and judges and contribute to a fighter pension fund.

Gina Carano, Tonya Evinger and Bruce Lee

2009-02-09T13:42:00.003-05:00

With female MMA going through some tough times, it's good to see companies stepping up and backing some of the ladies.
For instance, Heavy Knucklez Sportswear will be one of the sponsors of Tonya 'Triple Threat' Evinger at the upcoming 'Valentines Eve Massacre' on February 13, 2009 in Fresno California.
You can visit their website here:
http://www.heavyknucklez.com/

So did anyone catch Bruce Lee and Gina Carano in one of the Pepsi Superbowl ads?
The commercial was doing the " old / new" thing and had a short clip of Lee followed by a short clip of Carano.
I love Gina to death, but to compare her to Bruce Lee?
In the words of one of my favorite websites.....FAIL!
If you want to see the commercial you can check it out here:

Tara LaRosa, Back Fighting in MMA

2009-02-01T16:14:00.000-05:00

After a 14 month break from combat, Tara LaRosa returned to fighting at Extreme Challenge: War at the Shore and brought her 15-1 record to 16-1 when the ref stopped the match in it's third round.
Tara dropped Alexis Davis with a left hook, prompting the TKO.
Tara had been away from the MMA scene since a personal tragedy that no one should have to go through.
Her boyfriend and fellow MMA fighter, Army Sgt. First Class Adrian Elizalde,was killed by an explosive device near Baghdad, Iraq.
But Tara is back now and we wish her luck.
Hopefully the fight promotions will get things straightened out and we'll see more of this talented lady in the future.
In the meanwhile, Tara will be doing her mixed martial arts training at the Philadelphia Fight Factory, coaching on the reality-television show, "Ultimate Women's Combat," and waiting.

Female MMA: Felice "Lil' Bulldog" Herrig versus Iman "Mannie" Achhal

2009-01-29T12:17:00.004-05:00

On February 21st, 2009, The Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) will host a battle between women's champion kickboxer Felice "Lil' Bulldog" Herrig and Iman "Mannie" Achhal.
It will take place at UWC 5: MAN "O" WAR in Fairfax Virginia at the George Mason University Patriot Center Arena.
This will be the first professional MMA fight for both women.
You can get more info on the event at the UWC website here.

Felice Herrig is trained in boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai.
She won the 2005 and 2006 IKF Woman's Bantamweight North American Championship, the 2006 W.A.K.O. Woman's Bantamweight National Championship and 2007 W.A.K.O. Woman's Bantamweight National Championship.
Her current record is 18- 2-1 with 4 Knockouts.
Felice appeared on Fight Girls in 2007 on the Oxygen Channel.

Iman Achhal was born on January 12, 1977 in Tetuan, Morocco, she does her mixed martial arts training full time at Capital Jiu-Jitsu.
You can read an interview with her by Capital Jiu-Jitsu here

The Future of Female MMA

2009-01-23T11:39:00.000-05:00

Cannon Jacques over at The Bloody Elbow has posted an article about why the ProElite situation has hurt MMA.
And the third reason he listed was the effect on female MMA.

The ProElite Debacle Hurts the Sport of MMA
3) Female MMA is being hindered along with its most recognizable stars. Saying that Gina Carano is important to the future of female MMA is like saying that Michael Jordan was a pretty decent basketball player. For better or worse, she is currently the public face of the female version of the sport.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/1/10/716540/the-proelite-debacle-hurts

Of course I agree with him and I've pointed this out several times.
The build up for the Gina Carano and Cristiane 'Cris Cyborg' Santos fight has lost most of it's momentum.
And as I have also pointed out before, Carano and Santos are probably the closest figures this part of the sport has to a Tito Ortiz or a Chuck Liddell as far as being recognized.
But without actually getting into the ring and fighting where are they going to wind up?
Doing advertisements for clothing and equipment?
And it's not just Carano and Santos. There are a ton of talented women out there that need the chance to get into the ring.
Why would amateurs compete knowing there's nowhere to go if they turn pro?
The schools, equipment, all cost money.
Okay I know there's the love of the sport, and many will continue because of that.
We have seen several female boxers turn to MMA.
If this continues, we may see female MMA fighters turn to boxing, where the female side is getting more and more press, and more opportunities.

Female MMA Updates

2009-01-16T12:18:00.002-05:00

Just a few quick notes here.

Watch Missouri native, Megan Thomas.
She's a a cheerleader turned model turned MMA fighter and some are already saying that she might be the next Gina Carano.

Check out the article by Steve Cofield over at Yahoo Sports.
It's his view on female MMA.

And finally, Erin Toughill ("Steel" of the American Gladiators) will be facing Adrienna Jenkins at the Palace Fighting Championships card on February 6th.
Erin Toughill is 8-2-1 and Adrienna Jenkins is 10-2.
You can check out Palace Fighting Championships site here.

Another Gina Carano Entry

2009-01-15T10:34:00.000-05:00

Ask Men has a question and answer article with female MMA star Gina Carano.
I know, it seems like every other entry here is about Gina Carano.
Well female MMA is still struggling, and it's hard to find new info on the fighters sometimes.
But since Gina is such a "media darling" finding info on her isn't that hard.
I'd love to focus more on the lesser known fighters, but getting info on them isn't that easy.
Anyway.....
Here is the link to the article.
http://www.askmen.com/celebs/interview_300/305_gina_carano_interview.html

Female MMA Fighters

2009-01-08T10:52:00.000-05:00

Looking for some stuff on the web, I ran into two different stories about two different women that I think really shows the drive and determination behind female mixed martial artists.
Female MMA is not easy, nor is it an easy road to take. Don't get me wrong, it's hard on the men as well. But the women have to undergo the same training and punishment and still have to deal with being a female in what is basically a man's sport.
But like I said, these two ladies show what it takes to compete.

First, a story from Portland Oregon about female MMA fighter Jody De Simone.
http://wweek.com/editorial/3509/12054/

Then an in depth story about female MMA fighter Cindy Hales from Seattle.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-01-07/news/spoiling-for-a-fight/1

Ultimate Women Combat

2009-01-01T13:37:00.001-05:00

Big MMA fan?

Interest in female MMA seems to be growing, and this will no doubt help.
A new TV show called "Ultimate Women Combat," is currently in production.
And the list of people connected to it ( so far Tara LaRosa, Rosi Sexton and Cesar Gracie) gives a lot of legitimacy to the show.
And Joanna Krupa is the host.
Swimsuit model Joanna Krupa?
How the heck did she get involved in this?
Well she likes MMA and is currently taking lessons at Gracie Miami, so I guess that's enough to host the show.
Now is this gonna be unique, or just a revamped version of Oxygen's "Fight Girls"?
Either way, you can read more about the show here:
http://mmajunkie.com/news/13477/tara-larosa-joins-sexton-gracie-as-coaches-for-ultimate-women-combat.mma

Shayna Baszler and the Top Ten Female MMA Stars

2008-12-17T11:37:00.000-05:00

In response to the comment by zoneblog1 on the last entry......
I have featured Shayna Baszler three times on this blog in the past and I think she is a very good fighter.
The "Top Ten" list over there in the sidebar is the top ten most "searched" for female mixed martial artists.
Not the top ten "best".

Anyway, for those of you that don't know, Shayna Baszler (The Queen of Spades) was born on August 8, 1980 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Her mixed martial arts training is in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and her fight record is currently at 9-5 with all 9 wins via submission. She trains with former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.
Her last fight was a loss to Cristiane Santos by TKO on July 26, 2008 at EliteXC: Unfinished Business .

In all due fairness to her I did run another check and yes, this month Shayna did come into the top ten.....

Gina Carano
Kim Couture
Kaitlin Young
Cristiane Santos
Emily Fisher
Julie Kedzie
Tara Larosa
Satoko Shinashi
Shayna Baszler
Shelby Walker

I will be updating that list shortly.

But in all due fairness to the "over-marketed, picked-4-prettyness-only, hand-picked-opponent-only type ladies you call fighters"......
Out of that list, Cristiane Santos and Tara Larosa have both beaten her by TKO.
While Shayna has defeated Julie Kedzie.

Gina Carano and Strikeforce

2008-12-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

I know not being sure of your future is no fun, but Gina Carano should at least feel flattered.
It must feel like a senior prom to her with so many people wanting to take her out.
UFC President Dana White wants her for the WEC, Affliction's Vice President Tom Atencio want her (mainly for the Carano/Santos dream match) and now, Gina's orginal promotion Strikeforce wants her as well. Too bad all the EliteXC fighter's contracts are right now in limbo.

Anyway, MMAjunkie has a big write up about all this and you can see everything in depth here:
http://mmajunkie.com/news/13321/strikeforce-also-interested-in-female-star-gina-carano.mma

Mia St. John and Gina Carano Interviews

2008-11-27T11:35:00.001-05:00

Video Jug has an interview with Mia St. John talking about MMA.
Despite what the comments say, I think it's at least interesting. Usually you just see Mia hitting people, here she is actually talking.
You can see the video here

Also there's a article at mma fanhouse wondering (like everyone else) where and when we'll see Gina Carano fight again.
And it also has a video interview with Gina Carano in it.
You can see that article and video here

If you're like me you're wondering what kinda buzz a Gina Carano / Mia St. John fight would get.

Gina Carano in the WEC?

2008-11-19T12:22:00.001-05:00

Gina Carano may wind up in the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).
If she does, that will pretty much make Carano their centerpiece.
Now imagine that, a female MMA star as the main attraction of a promotion.

"White said he is thinking of inviting Gina Carano to fight in the WEC. Carrano had been fighting in the now defunct EliteXC. "Gina Carano is a star, I think she's talented. I think she's got all the tools, so what I'm willing to do is bring Gina into the WEC. We could do fights whenever there's a challenger for Gina. That's how I'll test the waters and see how it goes." In the past, White has dismissed talk of having women fight in his organization, saying there wasn't enough talent out there."
http://www.660news.com/news/sports/article.jsp?content=s111849A

If this does pan out, will it signal a change in the thinking of MMA promotors?
NOW is there enough talent?
And what about Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos?
Will Dana White invite her as well?
Gina's gotta fight somebody......

Gina “Conviction” Carano versus Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos

2008-11-11T13:46:00.001-05:00

All is not lost!
LOL
MMA Mania has run an excerpt from an interview in Fighters Only magazine that says Gina Carano still wants to make the Carano / Santos fight happen.
Of course this will take some maneuvering but it is still a possibility.
Gina has the pull, now it they can get an organization to fall into line.

Here's a snip from the article:
Gina Carano vs Cris Cyborg fight still possible
Former Elite XC female superstar Gina “Conviction” Carano (7-0) still has plans to face off against Brazilian rival Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (6-1) even with the collapse of Elite XC, according to a recent interview with Fighters Only magazine.

And here's a link to the whole article:
http://mmamania.com/2008/11/09/package-deal-gina-carano-vs-cris-cyborg-fight-still-possible/

Female MMA: Kaitlin Young

2008-11-10T10:34:00.002-05:00

FightHype has an in depth interview with female mixed martial artist Kaitlin Young.
I think Kaitlin has the potential to be just as big as Gina Carano with the right training and backing.
But now that Elite has folded, it's kinda put female fighters like Kaitlyn up in the air.
She was scheduled to fight Sarah Kaufman on November 8th, but with Elite gone, the fight was canceled.
Anyway, here's the link to the interview:
http://fighthype.com/pages/content3756.html

Kim Couture versus Lina Kvokov set for November 21st

2008-11-05T21:45:00.001-05:00

Kim Couture will face Lina Kvokov at “Strikeforce: Destruction” on November 21st.
Both women are 0-1-0, but everybody has to start winning somehere don't they?
Kim is (as WWE's Jim Ross would say) "double tough".
The wife of UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture broke her jaw in her first fight earlier this year just seconds into the first round.
But she showed true fighting spirit by staying in there all three rounds.
Even though her opponent Kim Rose won the fight by unanimous decision, Kim scored a personal victory.
Both women on paper are evenly matched.
But showing the kind of guts Kim did back in June, I do not envy Lina Kvokov.

Speaking of Lina, she is involved in a very worthwhile organization, "Female Fighters Against Domestic Violence".
You can check out their website here: http://www.ffadv.org/

What’s next for Gina Carano?

2008-11-05T12:22:00.000-05:00

It looks like I'm not the only one wondering what Gina Carano is going to do next.
This female MMA fighter is building up a pretty varied resume.
MMA Fighter
Gladiator "Crush" on American Gladiators
She starred in the cult film Ring Girls
She was a mentor to female fighters in the Oxygen reality series Fight Girls
And she's in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 as Natasha

What’s next for Gina Carano?
Now that EliteXC is dead, a plethora of MMA free agents will be hitting the market soon, one of the most prominent being Gina “The Conviction” Carano.
Gina Carano quickly became the face of women’s MMA. Coming from a successful muay thai career, Carano made a quick and successful transition into mixed martial arts. Carano is undefeated, and has defeated all of her opponents in exciting fashion during her reign with ProElite. EliteXC spent a lot of money marketing her, and she is the most recognizable personality in women’s MMA.
http://mma.lohudblogs.com/2008/10/31/what%E2%80%99s-next-for-gina-carano/

Boxing's Chevelle Hallback Switching to MMA?

2008-11-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

Four-Time Boxing World Champion Chevelle Hallback (Chevelle, is that a cool name or what?) looks like she may be switching over from boxing to MMA.
I know Mia St. John had a MMA fight back in January which she won.
And I know MMA competitor Erin Toughill tried her hand at boxing before she decided to become "Steel" on American Gladiators.
So maybe this will work out for Chevelle.

Four-Time Boxing World Champion to Make MMA Debut with Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) on December 5 in Tampa
Chevelle Hallback Transitions from the Boxing Ring to the MMA Steel Cage at the St. Pete Times Forum - and Vows to Soon Add an MMA World Title to Her Overflowing Trophy Case
Tampa, FL: She’s a Tampa Bay product whose championship fights have aired nationally on FOX Sports, ESPN2, and Pay-Per-View. She’s one of just eight female fighters ever featured as a playable character in the EA Sports “Knockout Kings” video game franchise. And she’s a four-time boxing world champion, having captured titles with the IBA, IFBA, WIBA and WBAN. Now, Chevelle “Fist of Steel” Hallback has set her sights on conquering the world of the Mixed Martial Arts - and she says her goal is to become the first person ever to win five combined world titles in both boxing and in MMA.
She’ll be making her steel cage debut at Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC)’s “Salute to Our Armed Forces 6: Clash of the Continents” on Friday, December 5 at the St. Pete Times Forum in downtown Tampa. This will be XFC’s fifth fight card at the St. Pete Times Forum; the previous four fight cards drew a combined total of 43,700 fans.
Full story here

Elite XC damages Female MMA?

2008-10-29T12:22:00.001-04:00

I had to post this because I love Command and Conquer and Gina Carano.

Here's an excellent article by David Mayeda over at FightTicker.com lamenting the loss of EliteXC and what it will do to the female mma fight scene.....

What Pro Elite did that no other MMA organization could accomplish was put female mixed martial arts on a national platform, and when it came to the competitions, they did this in top fashion. In fact, in a recent FightTicker poll, voters concluded that EliteXC should promote Gina Carano more than any other fighter with the Kimbo Slice era closing. This was the right choice.
Over the course of EliteXC’s three televised fight cards on CBS, the company consistently highlighted quality women’s matches. Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young kicked off the focus on women. Sure there were hiccups in Carano not making weight and their fight being stopped prematurely. However, the match itself was arguably the best match on the card and attracted 5.5 million viewers, making it the sixth most watched MMA match in U.S. history.
http://www.fightticker.com/story_1021081546_the_pro_elite_debacle_a_loss_for_womens_mma