Invicta FC 6 - Female MMA

In the last post I said that on July 13, 2013 at Invicta FC 6, Marloes "Rumina" Coenen will take on Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino for the first Invicta FC Featherweight Championship.
But that's just scratching the surface of what will be going on at FC 6.
There will be 13 matches with some of the best in female mixed martial arts in the world, including four of the top ranked featherweight female MMA fighters.

Marloes Coenen vs. Cristiane Santos
Claudia Gadelha vs. Ayaka Hamasaki            
Sarah D'Alelio vs. Lauren Taylor            
Leslie Smith vs. Jennifer Maia   
Jessica Penne vs. Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc            
Joanne Calderwood vs.TBA.                
Ediane Gomes vs. Julia Budd
Bec Hyatt     vs. Mizuki Inoue                
Miriam Nakamoto vs. Duda Yankovich            
Tecia Torres vs. Rose Namajunas            
Ashley Cummins vs. Emily Kagan    
Mollie Estes vs.Veronica Rothenhausler            
Cassie Robb vs. Livia Von Plettenberg

So it looks like on July 14th I will be changing a lot of win-loss records on blogs.....

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.

Who's Next for Cristiane Santos?

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

Female MMA Reality TV Show "FightLife"

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?

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

Ginele Marquez - Female MMA Fighters

Ginele Marquez 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

MMA News, Erin Toughill

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.

Gina Carano in the WEC?

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......

Emma Bunton ( Baby Spice) - Martial Arts

Emma Bunton ( Baby Spice)

Emma Lee Bunton is an English pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. Emma is best known for being a member of the successful '90s girl group, Spice Girls. Emma was known as "Baby Spice", in the group, as she was the youngest member, had an "innocent" demeanour, and often wore "baby doll" dresses.

Bunton was born in Finchley and grew up in Woodside Park, both in Barnet, London. Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor, a milkman, split up when she was eleven, and she stayed with her mother who runs a Gojukai Karate club.
(Goju Kai Karate is very similar in techniques and Katas to Goju Ryu. Goju Kai places more emphasis on the sport side of training rather than the body conditioning and the supplementary exercises of Goju Ryu.)
Her mother has reportedly trained Emma to a "very high standard".

It figures, " Baby Spice" would be the deadly one.

Muay Thai - Alisanne Casey

Fighter Name: Alisanne Casey
Height: 5'2"
Preferred Fighting Weight: 110 - 115 lbs
Date of Birth: 7/5/1969
Dominant Hand: Left
Fighting out of: Flash Academy,Salt Lake City, Utah U.S.A.
Trainer: Kwame Stephens
Record: Style Win Loss Draw
Kickboxing/Muay Thai (Amateur) 3 2 0
Trained for two years with Sakasem "The Punisher" Kanthawong

Titles held:
WKA North American Muay Thai Title
WKA American Muay Thai Title

More info:
http://www.tuffgrrlz.com/index.asp?page=competitors&fighter_id=73


muay thai