Jordan Nicole Gaza Faces Amber Stautzenberger At Dakota FC 15Texas-based strawweight prospects Jordan Nicole “Ninja Princess” Gaza and Amber “The Apex Predator” Stautzenberger have agreed to face off in a featured matchup at Dakota Fighting Championships 15 on April 20th in Fargo, North Dakota. The bout was officially announced for the card today.

Both Gaza and Stautzenberger rebounded from close losses to “12 Gauge” Paige VanZant with impressive submission victories in their most recent fights. Gaza defeated the previously unbeaten Kathina “Kill Switch” Catron, while Stautzenberger made quick work of Summer Artherton in January.

Gaza (1-1-0), a former Tuff-N-Uff champion who went 4-3 as an amateur, kicked off her pro career in June in a closely-contested bout with VanZant. Though she came close to submitting VanZant on two occasions, Gaza was unable to secure a finish and ultimately came out on the wrong end of a razor-thin Split Decision. Subsequent fights fell through and Gaza did not return to action until earlier this month when she faced Catron at 125 pounds. She used her superior grappling to overwhelm Catron and scored her first pro victory via second-round rear-naked choke.

Stautzenberger (1-1-0) also held a 4-3 amateur record and she, too, faced VanZant in her first pro bout this past year. Stautzenberger started strong and landed some solid strikes on the ground in round one, then dropped VanZant early in the second stanza, but VanZant was able to rally back and walked away with a narrow Unanimous Decision win. Not to be deterred, Stautzenberger stepped back into the cage this past month at Dakota FC 14 and submitted Artherton with an armbar in just 67 seconds. She looks for another big win in her second fight for the promotion and is also booked to face newcomer Ashley Allen at Xtreme Knockout 18 on March 23rd in Texas.

As the female strawweight division continues to attract talented young fighters thanks to the efforts of Invicta Fighting Championships, both Gaza and Stautzenberger will be looking to take another step up the ranks of the division as it becomes more and more competitive. A victory for either fighter could potentially propel the winner into a bout under the Invicta FC banner in the future.

Dakota Fighting Championships 15 takes place on April 20th at Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota.

 

  1. Love this match up between Amber and Jordan! Should be a good one fans won’t want to miss. Could be a marketing gold mine as well if Dakota FC takes the beautiful fighter angle.

  2. The beautiful fighter angle is overdone with Gaza. She looked soft/pudgy at 125 against Catron, which points to a major lack of discipline with respect to pre-fight dieting and weight cutting. I’ll be watching this one with interest, if only to see if Gaza can make the 115 limit.