Invicta FC strawweight contender Katja “Killer Bunny” Kankaanpää returns home for her next bout at Fight Night 10 on May 17th in Lappeenranta, South Karelia, Finland. Kankaanpää meets Ukrainian prospect Alyona Rassohyna in a featured matchup that was announced for the card today.

Kankaanpää most recently engaged in a closely-contested fight with TUF 20 cast member Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood at Invicta FC 7, while Rassohyna has won four straight. Also at Fight Night 10, Vuokko Katainen faces Julia Borisova and Suvi Salmimies makes her pro debut against Yana Lyashko.

Kankaanpää (8-1-1) has quickly risen up the women’s ranks during the past two years thanks to key victories over final Valkyrie champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi at Botnia Punishment 11 and Irish contender Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly at Cage Warriors 51. The victory over Daly earned Kankaanpää a spot on the Invicta FC roster and she handed Juliana “Ju Thai” de Lima Carneiro her first career defeat at Invicta FC 5. Kankaanpää returned to action in December and gave Calderwood all that she could handle in their 115-pound bout, but Calderwood ultimately prevailed via a narrow Unanimous Decision.

Rassohyna (8-2-0) has not yet faced the same level of opposition as Kankaanpää, but she has quietly made a name for herself in her home country with wins in seven of her past eight fights. The 23-year-old Ukrainian has fought exclusively for Oplot Challenge since 2012 and all six of her wins for the promotion have come by way of first-round armbar. Her lone defeat in the past three years came when she was submitted by Anna Bezhenar at Oplot Challenge 4. Rassohyna takes a big step up in competition to face Kankaanpää, but a victory could put her on Invicta FC’s radar as the promotion signs new talent.

On the preliminary portion of the Fight Night 10 card, Katainen (2-1-0) looks for her third straight victory when she battles undefeated Russian opponent Borisova (3-0-0). Katainen makes a quick return to action after scoring a first-round TKO victory two weeks ago. Borisova has fought sparingly since her October 2006 pro MMA debut. She most recently defeated Chinese striker Jin Tang three years ago.

Rounding out the Fight Night 10 female fights thus far, Salmimies (0-0-0) makes her professional debut against Russia’s Lyashko (0-1-0), who succumbed to strikes from Katainen on March 29th.

Fight Night 10 takes place on May 17th at Kisapuisto in Lappeenranta, South Karelia, Finland.

(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)