Hayato “Mach” Sakurai will receive a second shot at DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis. The Japanese veteran will face Zaromskis in a non-title rematch at DREAM’s upcoming event on July 16th in Tokyo, Japan. The bout was officially announced earlier today.
Sakurai and Zaromskis first met in the finals of the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix in July of 2009. Zaromskis used his trademark head kick to set up a finish on Sakurai and went on to capture the DREAM title later in the evening. The struggling Sakurai has dropped three straight fights since.
A concussion in training has forced UK star Rosi “The Surgeon” Sexton out of a CWFC Women’s Super Flyweight Championship bout with Sheila “The German Tank” Gaff. The bout, which was to take place at Cage Warriors 43 on July 9th in North London, England, has now been scrapped entirely.
Jessica Aguilar has not had an easy start to 2011. The Bellator standout has encountered fight cancellations, lived through a devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, and now faces financial stresses due to the lack of prominent sponsors that are available for female fighters in MMA today.
Long-time pound-for-pound queen Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii will return to Jewels on July 9th when she faces promotional star Mika “Future Princess” Nagano for the second time. The featured bout will be part of a stacked Jewels: “15th Ring” card at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan.
Strikeforce made its way to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas tonight for Strikeforce: “Overeem vs Werdum.” The card was headlined by a Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal bout between Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum.
A second Olympian was also in action tonight, as silver medallist in freestyle wrestling Sara McMann needed only 32 seconds to stop Julie Malenfant at Blackeye Promotions 4 in Fletcher, North Carolina. McMann took the fight to the mat and moved to mount, then unloaded with punches for the win.
Olympic bronze medallist in judo “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey picked up her fifth MMA win and second as a professional tonight with a 49-second armbar submission of Charmaine “Not So Sweet” Tweet at Hard Knocks Fighting Championship: “School of Hard Knocks 12” in Calgary, Alberta.
Hard Knocks Fighting Championship made its return to the Century Casino in Calgary, Alberta, Canada tonight for HKFC: “School of Hard Knocks 12.” The event featured a 150-pound women’s bout between Olympic medallist “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey and Charmaine “Not So Sweet” Tweet.