Hijab allowed in Asian karate games

tehran times : Hijab allowed in Asian karate games:

"TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Iran has succeeded in gaining the International Karate Federation's approval for women to compete in the Asian games wearing hijab.

The decision to allow women to participate in the Asian championships while adhering to the Islamic dress code follows talks between IKF officials and Iran's Karate Federation Chief Behzad Katiraei in Morocco, Fars news reported."

Between the ropes: Female boxer puts her heart into ring

Between the ropes: Female boxer puts her heart into ring
By Julie Randle
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:18 AM CST

Five years ago, Jamie O'Hare decided to fight back and she's been fighting ever since.

O'Hare, a professional boxer, came to the sweet science after she was stalked as a college student by a man who lived in a half-way house near her Springfield, Mo., apartment complex.

The man used to wait outside her apartment, watch her while she sunbathed at the apartment pool and tried to force flowers on her.After he physically harassed her, she decided she had had enough. She enrolled in a self-defense class at a karate studio.

"It opened me up to self-defense that became my life," said O'Hare, a 25-year-old North County resident. "I became confident and stronger and it gave me a new way to define myself. I didn't feel like a victim."

Self-defense led to kickboxing and then amateur boxing. Twenty amateur bouts and one professional bout later, she will take on Carrine Hamlett from Georgia in a match of welterweights March 8 at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand & Suites Hotel, 800 Washington Ave. O'Hare is one of 24 competitors fighting in the Xtreme Fight Party, an event that will feature boxing and mixed martial arts --- a full contact sports that combines various fighting styles including wrestling, kickboxing and boxing.
full story here:
http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2008/02/27/top_story/sj2tn20080226-0227ssj-boxer00.ii1.txt





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MMA: Pillow Fighting ?

Okay okay, I know Pillow Fighting is a far cry from " ground and pound" but what caught my attention in reading this article was the following....
" But while the WWE's convention of making crap up was adopted for the characters, PFL fights are a genuine combination of boxing and mixed martial arts. "
And ....
" The difference is in the training. Seasoned PFL fighters employ grapple techniques and hit the mat looking for submission holds. Amateurs, lacking formal instruction and generally too timid to tackle a stranger in front of 200 screaming fans, stay on their feet and exchange thunderous head shots."

Here's the article from ESPN, written I think with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=janowitz/070123

Link to their site:
http://www.canadapfl.com/

technorati tags:mixed martial arts ,mixed martial art ,mixed martial arts fights ,mixed martial arts fighting ,mixed martial arts news ,female mixed martial arts ,martial arts karate

More photos from SMACK Girl

Here's a couple more photos from SMACK Girl, the Japanese women's mixed martial arts federation...

technorati tags:ufc, media, pride, japan, mixed martial arts, k-1, news, ifl, whaledog, boxing

Rachel Duangsima

Rachel Duangsima
Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada
Trainers: Kenny Rayford, Apollo Sebastian, and Ken Hahn at Sebastian Muay Thai and Master Chan at Master Toddy's.

technorati tags:ufc, media, pride, japan, mixed martial arts, k-1, news, ifl, whaledog, boxing