Weekend Recap: Erin Toughill Upset In FCF 46 ReturnFormer pro boxer and veteran mixed martial artist Erin “Steel” Toughill made her long-awaited return to MMA on Saturday night in Oklahoma, but things did not go according to plan. Toughill was upset by one-time bantamweight Ashley “Loca” Sanchez in the main event of Freestyle Cage Fighting 46.

Competing at a catchweight of 160 pounds, Toughill required two attempts to make the contracted weight limit and was outworked by Sanchez through three rounds. Toughill, a former top contender at 145 pounds, suffered a Unanimous Decision loss to Sanchez in her first fight since May 2009.

Toughill (10-3-1) withdrew from a series of planned fights for Strikeforce in 2009 and 2010 due to health and weight issues, and was also forced out of a September bout in Singapore due to injury. As a result, her fight with Sanchez (3-2-0) on Saturday was her first appearance inside the cage in nearly two years.

Sanchez surprised her veteran opponent and controlled much of the 160-pound matchup en route to a close but Unanimous Decision. The Illinois native was making her own return to action after a lengthy layoff, and had not competed in MMA in over three years. All three cageside judges – Chris Ritter, Nick Atwood and Jason Greenwalt – scored the fight 30-27 for Sanchez.

Winner: Ashley Sanchez by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) after three rounds. She improves to 3-2-0.

 

With Toughill no stranger to controversy and past verbal battles with numerous female fighters, this upset loss is a significant setback in her career. Having already retired from active competition once, it remains to be seen whether Toughill will opt to call it quits a second time or persevere in search of a once-certain showdown with Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.

 

 

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)

  1. Erin is contesting some info (not particularly from this site) on her Facebook.

    First, she says she didn’t miss weight two times. She said she weighed in once, and it was at 160.08 lbs.

    She also says Ashley Sanchez fought twice recently. She said Ashley had a kickboxing match, but couldn’t confirm the other fight. So, she was not away from fighting for three years.

    Kaitlin Young confirmed she fought and defeated Ashley Sanchez recently in K-1, and they fought at 155 lbs. Seemingly, Ashley was having a hard time making weight. So, the implication is, if she was a bantamweight once, she is not anymore…

    Not my opinion, by the way, and I can’t back up the info she provided either… Just thought I should post that.

  2. typical erin toughill , she just can’t accept reality. when ever something doesn’t go her way, she always twists it totry to make herself look better . when all it does is make herself look worse. there are lots of example s of just how unstable this women is . i mean just about every fight she has , she either can’t make weight or it gets cancelled because she can’t make weight. i mean there is no reason when you are a professional to miss weight. she can delude herself all she wants, cyborg would beat her up bad. cyborg cuts down from well over 170 to 145 , which is one reason most girls can’t beat her , most girls only cut 10-15 pds, when skills are comparable the bigger stronger fighter will win most of the time.

  3. Rafael, that’s correct. Ashley had competed recently at weights near/at 155 pounds, but she fought at 135 earlier in her career. She apparently has some mixed martial arts bouts that aren’t documented and I’m trying to find results for those.

    I’ve updated the post above with the correct scores. I was initially told that it was 29-28 across the board, but it was actually 30-27 from all three judges.

  4. It’s over Erin.

  5. Hey, Rob…

    Ashley Sanchez posted on Erin’s facebook that she is now 3-2 in MMA, and 0-1 in kickboxing.

    Just trying to help…

    Take care!

  6. Haha, her manager says 2-2. I guess they’re not on the same page there! We’ll go with 3-2.

  7. Erin is a nut job. Anyone who knows her will tell you she is crazy shit talker who is really just a bitch in a mans body. We call her sheManErin here in las Vegas