Voting for the 2012 Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Awards concluded this past week and winners have been crowned in more than a dozen categories. For the second consecutive year, new UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey has been named Female Fighter of the Year.
As in past years, 2012 once again featured many excellent women’s bouts and voting was very close for 2012 Fight of the Year. That distinction goes to the spirited rematch between Sarah Kaufman and Alexis “Ally-Gator” Davis at Strikeforce: “Tate vs Rousey.” A full list of all award winners is below.
Weigh-ins for Invicta Fighting Championships 4 were held today at Aladdin Holiday Inn in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. A strawweight title bout between Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza and late-replacement opponent Bec “Rowdy” Hyatt is set to headline Saturday’s 13-fight all-female card.
Jessica “Evil” Eye’s journey to the top of the women’s flyweight rankings culminated with her biggest win to date at Bellator Fighting Championships 83 on December 7th. Eye choked out Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Gurgel in just 58 seconds and now takes over the number one spot at 125 pounds.
Finland’s Katja “Killer Bunny” Kankaanpää picked up another big win tonight at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 51 in Dublin, Ireland. Kankaanpää stayed unbeaten with a Unanimous Decision win over hometown standout Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly in a featured 120-pound catchweight bout.
It wasn’t the knockout that she had hoped for, but former Strikeforce champ Marloes “Rumina” Coenen scored an impressive win tonight at DREAM.18: “Special NYE 2012” in Saitama, Japan. Coenen submitted late-replacement opponent Fiona Muxlow with an armbar in the latter half of round one.
Leading Japanese promotion DREAM staged its annual New Year’s Eve event tonight at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. DREAM.18: “Special NYE 2012” was headlined by a featherweight bout between veteran Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri and former UFC competitor Michihiro Omigawa.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight for UFC 155: “Dos Santos vs Velasquez 2.” The event features a UFC Heavyweight Championship rematch between Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and former titleholder Cain Velasquez.
After Claudia Gadelha withdrew from the Invicta Fighting Championships 4 main event this morning, Australia’s Bec “Rowdy” Hyatt has stepped in on short notice to face Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza for the Invicta FC Strawweight Championship.