A 135-pound women’s bout between tough veteran Jan “Cuddles” Finney and unbeaten prospect Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche is in the works for the Strikeforce Challengers 12 card on November 19th. MMARising.com first learned of the possible fight earlier this week and confirmed plans today.
Finney moved up in weight to challenge Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight (145-Pound) Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos in June, but was stopped with strikes in the second round. She will now return to 135 pounds to face Carmouche, who won a Strikeforce tournament alternate bout in August.
Finney (8-8-0) has battled a who’s who of the 135-pound women’s division during her six-year career and holds notable wins over Ginele Marquez, Liz Carreiro and Adrienna Jenkins. The hard-hitting striker advanced to the finals of this year’s Freestyle Cage Fighting Women’s Grand Prix, but was released from her FCF contract in order to pursue the Strikeforce title bout with Santos in June. Despite showing tremendous heart in defeat, Finney was dominated in the fight and ultimately stopped by a knee to the body in round two. She will now look to hand Carmouche her first loss when returning to the stacked 135-pound division.
Carmouche (4-0-0) has already competed four times in 2010 and has yet to taste defeat in her short career. She made her Strikeforce debut as part of the promotion’s 135-pound women’s tournament in August and won an alternate bout with Colleen Schneider via Unanimous Decision. Although she did not participate in the tournament final, Carmouche stayed busy and most recently stopped Valentina Shevchenko on September 30th. The abbreviated, two-round bout with Schneider remains the only time that Carmouche has gone the distance to date. A convincing victory over Finney could place her in the Strikeforce title mix.
Strikeforce Challengers 12 takes place on November 19th at the Jackson Convention Complex in Jackson, Mississippi. The event is headlined by a lightweight bout between Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro and Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox. Also on the card, Ovince St. Preux will face Antwain “The Juggernaut” Britt in light heavyweight action, while lightweights Ryan Couture and Juan Zapata will also square off.