Amanda Nunes submits Miesha Tate

Last night at UFC 200, Amanda Nunes submitted Miesha Tate to win the UFC bantamweight title. You know since Ronda lost the belt, that thing has really been passed around. I think that may be a good thing though.

Miesha Tate defeats Holly Holm at UFC 196

I gave up a long time ago and I really have no idea why I even try now.
Ronda Rousey crushed Miesha Tate every time they fought.
Then Holly Holm beat Ronda Rousey.
So Holly should have whipped Miesha easily.
Right?
Wrong.
Miesha got a fifth round submission victory with a rear naked choke.
Of course she had to because Holly was leading in scoring with the judges.
So now Ronda says that she is all ready to get back to training because she knows she can beat Miesha and get the belt back.

WMMA Bantamweights Ranking - February 2016

Last time I listed the WMMA Featherweights.
Now we take a look at the Unified Women’s Pro MMA Rankings for Bantamweights.

Of course number 1 is Holly “Preacher’s Daughter” Holm, the woman that rocked the MMA world when she defeated Ronda Rousey.
Everyone is pretty anxious to see how this boxer turned MMA fighter does in the future.

Bantamweights (126-135 pounds)
1. Holly “Preacher’s Daughter” Holm (10-0) – UFC Champion
2. “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey (12-1)
3. Miesha “Cupcake” Tate (17-5)
4. “Alpha” Cat Zingano (9-1)
5. Amanda “Lioness” Nunes (11-4)
6. Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Peña (7-2-0)
7. Sara McMann (8-3)
8. Tonya “Triple Threat” Evinger (17-5)
9. Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche (10-5-0)
10. Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko (12-1)

11. Jessica Eye – 12. Lauren Murphy – 13. Bethe Correia – 14. Marion Reneau – 15. Sarah Kaufman

You can see the whole list here:
https://wmmatoday.wordpress.com/unified-wmma-rankings/

Miesha Tate vs Rin Nakai at UFC Fight Night

On September 20th, 2014, Miesha "Cupcake" Tate is gonna take on Rin "I dont have a cute ring name because I dont need one" Nakai.
I swear this match up looks like a fitness model going up against a bodybuilder.
They will face each other at UFC Fight Night at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Miesha is 14-5-0 and Rin is 16-0-1.
Miesha's wins have been 3 KO/TKOs, 6 Submissions and 5 Decisions.
Rin on the other hand has 4 KO/TKOs, 6 Submissions and 6 Decisions.
Pretty darn close huh?

Who's gonna win?
I have been wrong in every female MMA fight I can remember.
So there is no way I am calling this.
But just from their body types I wonder what kind of match up this will be.

The Current UFC Female MMA Fighters

The UFC list of female fighters has REALLY grown.
Before Dana White became Ronda Rosey's smitten kitten, he swore women would never fight in UFC.
Though he happily used Gina Carano to promote his stuff.

But now the UFC Women's Bantamweight roster has 27 fighters on it.

Of course the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion is Ronda Rousey.

And although most of the fighters are from the USA and Canada, there are a few from Russia, Brazil and one from the Netherlands and one from Japan.

Ronda Rousey
Alexis Davis
Liz Carmouche
Jéssica Andrade
Miesha Tate
Bethe Correia
Amanda Nunes
Sarah Kaufman
Germaine de Randamie
Jessamyn Duke
Sara McMann
Raquel Pennington
Jessica Eye
Valérie Létourneau
Sarah Moras
Julianna Peña
Cat Zingano
Alexis Dufresne
Elizabeth Phillips
Jessica Rakoczy
Leslie Smith
Alexandra Albu
Shayna Baszler
Milana Dudieva
Holly Holm
Lauren Murphy
Rin Nakai

Miesha Tate Getting Ready

Female MMA fighter Miesha Tate getting ready for her UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne match against Liz Carmouche.
Miesha is 13-5-0 and coming off two straight losses.
One to Ronda Rousey and one to Cat Zingano.
Liz is 9-4-0 and her last fight was a loss to Alexis Davis.

https://www.facebook.com/mieshatatefanpage

Female MMA Fighter Miesha Tate is Doing Well

Despite losing three out of her four last fights, Female MMA Fighter Miesha Tate is doing really well for herself.

Female MMA - The UFC Women's Bantamweight Roster

I never thought I would be doing this, but here is the UFC WOMEN'S roster!
Yeah, the place where female mma would never have a home according to Dana White now has a home.
I have ragged him about this but actually I think maybe I should change my attitude and be grateful that he changed his mind.
It takes a big man to admit he was wrong you know?

Anyway, here is the UFC Women's Bantamweight Roster (so far....)

Ronda Rousey (7-0)
Liz Carmouche (8-3)
Germaine de Randamie (3-2)
Alexis Davis (13-5)
Sheila Gaff (10-4-1)
Sarah Kaufman (15-2)
Julie Kedzie (16-11)
Sara McMann (6-0)
Amanda Nunes (7-3)
Miesha Tate (13-3)
Cat Zingano (7-0)

These are all the women that I definitely know are there, not rumors.
If anyone else has any additions, please feel free to throw them in the comments section!

UFC Buys Strikeforce - What Will Happen to Female MMA?

 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.

Miesha Tate, Marloes Coenen and Zoila Frausto

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

While doing some work on my female MMA lenses over at Squidoo (RIP) 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

Marloes Coenen Vs Sarah Kaufman Results - Female MMA

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

Female MMA - Strikeforce Challengers 10 Results

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: Sarah Kaufman Defeats Roxanne Modafferi

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

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.

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

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, Sarah Kaufman, Miesha Tate and Shayna Baszler

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

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

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

Sarah Kaufman Versus Miesha Tate Tonight

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

First, an article from Fanhouse:

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

You can read the full article by Ariel Helwani here

Then an article from Sports Illustrated:

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

You can read the full article by Ben Fowlkes here

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

Sarah Kaufman faces Miesha Tate at Strikeforce: Challengers

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

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATES:

It looks like undefeated Sarah Kaufman will replace Kim.

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

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