Valentina Shevchenko defeats Holly Holm at UFC on FOX 20

Wow.
It seems like every couple of weeks I am reporting about upsets in MMA.
This time it is Valentina Shevchenko (13-1-0) defeating Holly Holm (10-2-0).
Valentina won by unanimous decision, and all three judges scored the fight for Shevchenko (49-46).
Since knocking Ronda Rousey out at UFC 193 in November, Holly is 0-2-0 in UFC.

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.

Julianna Pena defeated Cat Zingano

Julianna Pena defeated Cat Zingano via Unanimous Decision at UFC 200

Lena Ovchynnikova - MMA

I haven't done anything on Ukrainian kickboxer and mixed martial artist Lena “Hunter” Ovchynnikova in a while.
So here she is.
Since the last post, Lena has gone on to an 11-4-0 record in MMA, and a 12-6-0 record in kickboxing.

Andrea Lee - MMA Fighter

Female MMA fighter Andrea Lee was born on February 11, 1989 in Atlanta, Texas.
She currently fights for Invicta FC in the Flyweight division.
But at the moment, she is on a nine month suspension.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission gave her the nine month suspension after she tested positive for diuretics after a submission loss to Sarah D’Alelio at Invicta FC 16 on Mrach 11th, 2016.
Nine months is not bad since the standard suspension for drug violations is two years.
But the suspension is retroactive to the date of FC 16 which means she'll be eligible to fight again on December 11th, 2016.

Her current MMA record is 4-2-0.

Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc - Female MMA

 

    http://www.estherlin.com/

Besides being a pro MMA fighter, Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc has been a runway model and a ring girl.
The "Night Queen" had her first pro MMA fight on March 10th, 2006 against Sarika Patel at ACF - Showdown at Sundown which she won via TKO.
Nicdali's last fight was a win over Angelica Chavez at Invicta FC 2 - Baszler vs. McMann on July 28th, 2012 which she won by Unanimous Decision.
Her current MMA record is 8-6-0.

You can follow Nicdali at Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/nicdali.riveracalanoc
Or on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Nicdali

Elaina Maxwell - Female MMA

If you are like me, you probably remember Elaina “Beef” Maxwell from Strikeforce's first female MMA fight against Gina Carano on December 8th, 2006.
Although she lost the fight via Unanimous Decision, she has since gone on to a 7-4-0 record and is currently on a three win in a row streak.
Elaina is currently ranked number seven in the Unified Women's MMA Rankings 145-pound female MMA fighter category.
Her last fight was a win over Ashley Sanchez (4-3-0) at RFA 2 - Yvel vs. Alexander on March 30th, 2012 at the United States Viaero Event Center in Kearney, Nebraska.

Yana Kunitskaya - Female MMA

Yana Kunitskaya was born on November 11th, 1989 in Murmansk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
She is five foot eight, 145 pounds and is trained in Taekwondo and Sambo.
Her current MMA record is 8-1-0.

So far during her MMA career she has held the 2007 UKADO World Championship, the 2007 Russian Taekwondo Championship, the 2010 Bushido Women's MMA Championship and the 2011 Russian Muay Thai Championship.

Milana Dudieva - MMA Female Fighters

Female MMA Fighter Milana Dudieva was born in Vladikavkaz which is the capital city of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania in southern Russia.
She is five foot five, 140 pounds and has a current MMA record of 8-1-0.
Her only loss so far was in her debut fight against Julia Berezikova at fightFORCE - Day of Anger back in February of 2009.
Milana's latest win was over Danielle West via TKO (Punches) on April 1st, 2012 at ProFC - ProFC 40 at the Russia Sports Station in Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast, Russia.
She is currently ranked 4th on WMMA Rising's Unified Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Rankings for Featherweights.

Hiroko Yamanaka - The Best Female MMA Fighter In The World?

MMA Rising has it's April rankings out, and even though “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey (5-0-0) defeated Miesha Tate (12-3-0) at Strikeforce - Tate vs. Rousey on March 3rd, 2012 for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship, Ronda still comes in second on the Featherweight list.
For Ronda to take the top position there, she needs to defeat Hiroko “Cat’s Eye” Yamanaka .
Her current record is 12-3-1

This five foot eleven, 143 pound female mma fighter was born on October 24th, 1978 in Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan.
She not only does MMA, but Submission grappling and Shoot boxing as well.
Of course you may know her as the fighter that Cristiane Santos beat down in the first 16 seconds of her last fight.
But due to the drug test afterwards, that decision was over turned.
I have to wonder though just how Ronda would do against Hiroko.

    http://sports.sho.com/

Marloes Coenen Vs Liz Carmouche - Female MMA

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.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhe21m_marloes-vs-liz-pt-1_sport

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.

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs Marloes "Rumina" Coenen

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-Lisa Marie Varon

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?

Female MMA News and Updates

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.

Gina Carano vs. Cristiane Cyborg Santos Result

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.

Gina Carano Updates

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?

Kim Couture versus Miesha Tate

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.

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

Kim Couture versus Lina Kvokov set for November 21st

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/

Elite XC damages Female MMA?

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