On Friday night in Dallas, Texas, former 14-time boxing world champ Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm improved her mixed martial arts record to 5-0 with another dominant TKO victory. Holm stopped late replacement opponent Nikki “Knuckles” Knudsen at Legacy Fighting Championship 24.
Ashlee Evans-Smith became CFA Women’s Featherweight Champion on Saturday when she TKOed Fallon “The Queen of Swords” Fox at CFA 12 in Coral Cables, Florida. And on Thursday, Carina “Barbie” Damm submitted Yelka “Princesa Inka” Torres Gallegos at 300 Sparta 4 in Lima, Peru.
Holm (5-0-0) scored with knees and punches in the clinch early on and Knudsen (2-2-0) struggled to find her range in the opening minutes. Holm landed combinations and a variety of kicks including front side kicks and head kicks as the round progressed. Knudsen put together a combination of her own, but Holm continued to pick her apart with precision strikes until the end of the round.
Holm opened round two with a flurry and a pair of head kicks that rocked Knudsen. As Knudsen tried to recover, Holm stepped forward and landed a side kick to the body that left Knudsen in visible pain. Holm swarmed on her with knees and the fight was stopped at the 1:18 mark of round two. Holm continues to impress in her MMA career and she will likely debut for the UFC in 2014.
Evans-Smith (2-0-0) put on what was clearly the most impressive performance of her career in her title-winning effort on the Championship Fighting Alliance 12 card. CFA’s inaugural women’s featherweight tournament received a considerable amount of media attention – and not all of it positive – due to the promotion’s inclusion of transgender fighter Fox (3-1-0).
Save for a few solid knees from Fox in the opening round, the one-sided title fight was all Evans-Smith. The former All-American wrestler used her superior grappling skills to keep Fox pinned down on the mat. She threatened with a rear-naked choke in the opening minute and scored with knees to the body and punches as the fight progressed. At the end of round two, Evans-Smith appeared to have finished the fight with punches from mount, but Fox was saved by the bell.
Fox attempted takedowns in the final round, but Evans-Smith stood up and scored a takedown of her own. She struck from side control and then moved to mount once again. Finally, after another barrage of punches, the referee had seen enough and stepped in to stop the fight, awarding Evans-Smith with a huge TKO victory at the 3:15 mark of round three. The win earned the 26-year-old Evans-Smith the inaugural CFA Women’s Featherweight Championship and a cheque for $20,000.
Damm (19-10-0), who has battled her fair share of controversy this year after receiving a suspension for falsifying a pre-fight urine sample in June, picked up her second victory in her past three fights by submitting Torres Gallegos (1-1-0) in Peru. Damm overwhelmed her less experienced opponent on the feet with strikes and took the bout to the ground. From there, she mounted Torres Gallegos and spun into an armbar that forced Torres Gallegos to verbally submit at the 1:45 mark of round one.
The win helped to get Damm back on track, but the former top-ranked flyweight has not defeated an opponent with more than one bout on her record at fight time since September 2009. That victory, a second-round TKO triumph over Kalindra Faria, was avenged when Faria submitted Damm in July.
Would love to see Holly Holm vs Germaine de Randaime, as well as Germaine vs Miriam Nakamoto.
As to Evans-Smith, she seems to be a promising prospect. Hope she goes to Invicta!
would love to see Holly fight anyone who’s not a tomato can. seriously. she’s better than that. it makes me not like her, and i really want to.
Her boxing management also makes me not want to like Holm. It is clear they don’t feel she is that good or she would face legit fighters. Digging up Angela Hayes is a joke. Might as well bring up crowd members.
She is acting scared of the UFC fighters. Because they know one shoot, she is on the ground, and getting choked out.