Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm picked up another quick submission win in Brazil on Thursday night, as she defeated late replacement opponent Sheila “Amazon” at Iron Man Championship 10. Damm had been set to face Valentina Shevchenko, but her opponent was changed earlier this week.
As a veteran of 23 professional mixed martial arts fights, Damm has drawn criticism for continuing to face inexperienced and overmatched opponents in bouts in her native Brazil. Four of her last six opponents in the country have been MMA debutants, including in last night’s brief bout in Salinopolis.
Damm (17-6-0) wasted little time in taking her fight with Sheila (0-1-0) to the mat, where her experience and ground skills showed. She then secured an armbar that forced a tap from Sheila, who took the fight on mere days’ notice. A reason for Shevchenko’s withdrawal from the fight was not immediately listed. Shevchenko, herself, also would have given up a significant experience edge to Damm.
Winner: Carina Damm by Submission (Armbar) in round one. She improves to 17-6-0.
While Damm has now won back-to-back fights since suffering three consecutive defeats in the United States, she has not faced an opponent in Brazil with more than one fight’s worth of experience at the time of competing since a rematch with Ana Maria “India” in December 2008. Aside from the four MMA debutant opponents, Damm’s other recent wins in Brazil came against Kalindra Carvalho Faria and Aline Sério, who were each 1-0 at the time.
Damm has yet to win a fight outside of Brazil since mid-2008 when she was suspended after testing positive for steroids following a submission victory over Sofie Bagherdai. She fought once more in the United States one month later and knocked out Lashonda Knox with a knee in 11 seconds before her suspension was enforced.