It took just over two minutes for “The Queen of Spades,” Shayna Baszler, to dispatch of fellow veteran Adrienna “AJ” Jenkins in the finals of the FCF Women’s Bantamweight Grand Prix last night. The final bout took place at FCF 43 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with Baszler capturing the grand prix title with a first-round armbar.
The tournament underwent a number of changes throughout its five-month run, but in the end, Baszler emerged victorious and will now return to Strikeforce in hopes of getting a shot at the 135-pound women’s title.
Baszler (12-6-0) was originally set to face Jan Finney in the tournament final, but Finney was released from her FCF contract in order to pursue a 145-pound Strikeforce title fight with Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. Instead, Baszler took on Jenkins (17-4-0) and made an emphatic statement by submitting the 21-fight veteran in just over two minutes. Baszler took the fight to the ground and controlled position, then transitioned into an armbar to pick up her 11th career win by submission.
Result: Shayna Baszler defeats Adrienna Jenkins by Submission (Armbar) at 2:12 of round one. She improves to 12-6-0 and becomes the FCF Women’s Bantamweight Grand Prix Champion.
With the win, Baszler receives a guaranteed contract with Strikeforce, where she previously battled current Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight (135-Pound) Champion Sarah Kaufman. She will either be part of the upcoming Strikeforce women’s tournament or be pegged as the next title challenger for the winner of the upcoming bout between Kaufman and Roxanne Modafferi. Baszler submitted Modafferi in their October 2006 meeting. She dispatched of Megumi Yabushita, Alexis Davis and finally Jenkins to capture the FCF tournament championship.
