A flyweight bout between Ukrainian veteran Lena “Hunter” Ovchynnikova and local fan favourite Rebecca “Becky” Ruth has been added to Bellator 150: “Galvão vs Dantas 2,” which takes place on February 26th in Mulvane, Kansas. The matchup will be featured on the Spike-televised main card.
MMARising.com confirmed plans for the fight with Bellator officials this evening. Ovchynnikova, a skilled kickboxer, returns to MMA for the first time since earning a submission win in October 2014. Missouri’s Ruth went 3-0 in 2015 and all five of her career victories have come via a form of knockout.
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UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm is set to make the first defence of her title on March 5th at UFC 197: “Dos Anjos vs McGregor” in Las Vegas, Nevada. The undefeated striker faces off against former Strikeforce champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate.
UFC officials confirmed plans for the title fight today following a report from Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter this past week. Holm captured the title with a shocking knockout victory over “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. Tate, who twice came up short against Rousey, has won four straight fights.
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A second women’s bantamweight bout has been added to the upcoming UFC Fight Night 82: “Cerrone vs Means” event, which takes place on February 21st in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Marion “The Belizean Bruiser” Reneau battles Ashlee Evans-Smith in featured action on the card.
UFC officials announced the matchup earlier today. Reneau looks to get back into title contention after dropping a Unanimous Decision to current bantamweight champ Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm. Evans-Smith returns to action for the first time since suffering her first loss at UFC 181.
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TUF 20 cast member Justine Kish eked out a victory in her long-awaited Octagon debut tonight at UFC 195: “Lawler vs Condit” in Las Vegas, Nevada. The unbeaten strawweight took a contentious Unanimous Decision win over Nina “The Strina” Ansaroff on tonight’s televised preliminary card.
Kish was very aggressive on the feet in rounds one and two, but she was repeatedly tagged by hard counterpunches from Ansaroff, who appeared to clearly get the better of the striking exchanges. However, Kish’s takedowns and ground control later in the fight swayed the judges in her favour.
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The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight for UFC 195: “Lawler vs Condit.” The event was headlined by a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit.
Also on the card, Stipe Miocic took on former UFC champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski in the heavyweight co-main event. Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin battled Albert “Einstein” Tumenov in a featured welterweight bout. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for tonight’s UFC 195 card.
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The Ultimate Fighting Championship crowned two new champions on December 12th at UFC 194 in Las Vegas. “The Notorious” Conor McGregor took over the top spot at 145 pounds by knocking out José “Scarface” Aldo in just 13 seconds to claim the UFC Featherweight Championship.
Also at UFC 194, Luke Rockhold finished “All-American” Chris Weidman to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion. In featured women’s bouts at UFC on FOX 17, Octagon newcomers Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko and Karolina Kowalkiewicz both picked up big victories in their UFC debuts.
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WPMF Women’s Pinweight Champion Saya Ito capped off the year with another impressive victory on Saturday night at Martial Arts Tournament 1 in Tokyo, Japan. Ito knocked out previously undefeated Thai champion Rojana late in the fifth round of their featured Muay Thai bout on the main card.
MAT 1 also featured three additional women’s matchups. J-Girls Flyweight Champion Rena Matsuda captured WBKF gold by defeating Lorena “Lady Pitbull” Klijn. Kwanchai Sor.Tawanrung upset J-Girls bantamweight champ Madoka Jinnai, and Mizuno Shiho outpointed “Crusher” Keiko Matsukawa.
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Former KSW champion Karolina Kowalkiewicz made a successful UFC debut in a featured strawweight showdown tonight at UFC on FOX 17: “Dos Anjos vs Cerrone 2” in Orlando, Florida. The Polish star defeated TUF 20 semi-finalist Randa “Quiet Storm” Markos on the FOX-televised main card.
In other action tonight, another UFC newcomer also picked up a big victory in her Octagon debut. Decorated kickboxing champion Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko stepped in on just eight days’ notice and took a well-deserved decision win over former Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman at 135 pounds.
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