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.

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

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.

Reid vs Waterson and Santos vs Akano Results

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:

More Hitomi Akano versus Cris Cyborg News

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 News: Cristiane Santos versus Hitomi Akano

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.

Hitomi Akano - MMA Women

Height 5'4 (163cm)
Weight 135lbs (61kg)
City Tokyo
Country Japan

Hitomi Akano is a Japanese mixed martial artist. Her most recent fight was against Debi Purcell on 15 February 2006 at Smack Girl, which she won by unanimous decision.

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Female MMA - Hitomi Akano

Female MMA, Hitomi Akano
Height 5ft 4in (163cm)
Weight 125lb (57kg)
Fighting out of Japan
Hitomi Akano is a Japanese female MMA fighter. Her most recent fight was against Debi Purcell on 15 February 2006 at Smack Girl, which she won by unanimous decision.

UPDATE: Hitomi has had several fights since this entry was made. Her record now stands at 14-5, her latest match being a victory over Hari Hari at Jewels 1 on November 16, 2008. She won in the first round with an armbar submission.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Hitomi has had two more fights since the last update.
A loss to Cristiane Santos on April 11, 2009 and a win over Miki Morifuji on July 11, 2009.
This brings her female MMA record to 15-6.