Weekly Women’s MMA Wrap-Up

Welcome back to another edition of the weekly wrap-up, in which I attempt to put all the (verified) tidbits of female fighter information I find on the internets in digestable form.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS

According to an article by Loretta Hunt, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced that the two eight-woman tournaments (at 135 and 145 pounds) have been postponed until 2010.

Although there is no fficial word on negotiations with Erin Toughill (10-2-1), Strikeforce, has announced that up-and-comer Kerry Vera (1-0) has signed a four-fight deal with Strikeforce. Vera’s debut pro fight was a unanimous decision win against Leslie Smith (1-1) at Bellator 7 this past May.

KEEP YOUR EYE ON ELENA REID

Elena “Baby Doll” Reid (3-0) has graced this column before, as I predict an incredibly bright future for her. A former WIBA and IFBA Women’s Flyweight boxing champion, Reid is undefeated in MMA, won the Arizona State Kickboxing Title at age 17 and has an impressive boxing record of 19-5-6. Reid will be facing experienced Japanese fighter Masako Yoshida (16-14-5) in a title fight at Extreme Beatdown on October 24th.

ABU DHABI

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (8-1) will be fighting at Abu Dhabi in the +60kg division. Also on the list of competitors is the undefeated Lethal Lana Stefanac (6-0) who very well might just destroy Cyborg on September 19th. Should be interesting. Although not all matches will be aired, ADCC will have a live PPV and VOD camera all the way from Barcelona, Spain. You can pay $19.95 up through September 20th ($24.95 afterwards) to watch select footage. For more information, log on to www.adcc2009.com.

SARAH MORAS

Amateur MMA fighter Sarah Moras is raisining money to get to England and spend some time training with the amazing Rosi Sexton (10-1).

Moras competed in the Tigerbalm grappling tournament in Vancouver, in which she won the first match by points and the second by triangle, winning the all ranks division with only 5 months of training. Moras has a 2-0 amateur record. She got 9 takedowns in her first bout and won by decision. Her second fight this past April lasted just over two minutes and she won by armbar.

If you live in Chilliwack, you can help support this up-and-comer in this incredible opportunity. A fundraiser party takes place at Industry on September 18th at 9:00pm. There will be a Texas mickey raffle and a 50/50 raffle. And if you’re nowhere near Chilliwack, you can still send donations.

FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO FIGHT

I’m not sure how I missed this amazing series of articles, having linked to others which are far more obscure. However, I have now seen these pop up all over the place and found them to be an amazingly accurate account of both the challenges faced in women’s MMA and the headway that has been made.

Fighting For the Right to Fight Part 1: Feminist Gains in MMA

Fighting for the Right to Fight Part 2: Covert Gender Disparities

Fighting for the Right to Fight Part 3: Blatant Sexism Tolerated

FIGHT RESULTS

Last week, we reported that results were unavailable for King of the Cage fights between Thricia Poovey (8-6) and Kelly Warren, and Brandy Watson vs. Diane Berela. VFC fight results for Sarah Ward-Maloy and Rosa Colombo were also unavailable. Apparently Ward-Maloy defeated Colombo by 1st round RNC. The King of the Cage fights did not take place. Instead, Torri Lester and Corina Grimm made their professional debuts, and Lester won by first round RNC.

Still not sure how Shayna Baszler (9-6) did on her exhibition kickboxing bout though.

This past weekend, Heather Coder defeated Vanessa Bohleber via split decision at Hard Rock: The Girls are Back! Claire Haigh and Angela Rivera Parr and both made their pro debut at Cage Wars 2, and Haigh defeated Rivera-Parr via rear naked choke. At CageForce/Valkyrie, Takabayashi defeated Akiko Naito via first round TKO.

And the Jewels results, as posted on FighterGirls, are as follows:

Seo Hee Ham defeats Misaki Takimoto via Unanimous Decision
Megumi Yabushita defeats Atsuko Emoto via Armbar at 2:43 of R1
Alexandra Sanchez defeats Shizuka Sugiyama via Unanimous Decision
Tomoko Morii defeats Chihiro Oikawa via Armbar at 4:13 of R1
Mika Nagano defeats Rina Tomita via Armbar at 2:25 of R1
Yuko Kagoshima defeats Yuko “Amoeba” Oya via Unanimous Decision
Asami Kodera defeats Misaki Ozawa via Armbar at 1:56 of R2
Kikuyo Ishikawa defeats Asako Saioka via RNC at 1:18 of R1

UPCOMING FIGHTS

The biggest fight this weekend is Vanessa Porto (8-3) taking on an undetermined opponent at Jungle Fight 14. Porto’s most recent fight was canceled. Before that one, she was scheduled to fight  Ediene “India” Gomes (3-0) September 4th at Shine Fight II: American Top Team vs. the World. Porto pulled out of the promotion despite her binding contract. Legal action is pending. If anyone out there in internet land knows what Porto’s deal is, please do share.

Female Fury 2 has a couple pro female fights: Jamie Seaton (1-1) taking on Nikohl Johnson (1-0) and Jade Hayes making her debut against an undetermined opponent. Battle of Rising Stars will be featuring a battle between Brandy Nerney (1-2) and Shoni Esquiro (0-2). Last but not least, Karen Williams (3-3) is going to try to shake off her three-fight losing streak (granted to very tough opponents–Erin Toughill (10-2-1) and Jessica Bednark (5-2) by taking on newcomer Christina Domke at WNCC.

MOVING

The Women’s Weekly MMA Wrap-Up Will Be Relocating in October. Stay tuned for details.

Press releases, photos, links and offers of gear, DVDs and fight shirts with female cuts can be sent to yael.grauer@gmail.com. Catch ya next week.