A bantamweight bout between Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith and Raquel “Rocky” Pennington has been added to the main card of Invicta Fighting Championships 4 on January 5th in Kansas City, Kansas. The featured matchup was officially announced by the promotion earlier today.

Smith is coming off of an impressive second-round TKO victory over Kaitlin Young in a rematch at Invicta FC 3. She has tasted defeat just once in her past five fights. Pennington defeated Sarah “Cheesecake” Moras in her Invicta FC debut in July and now looks to rebound from a loss in October.

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A planned rematch between Michele “Diablita” Gutierrez and Felice “Lil’ Bulldog” Herrig will no longer take place at Bellator Fighting Championships 84 on December 14th in Hammond, Indiana. Gutierrez withdrew from the bout this past weekend and Herrig will instead face “Little” Patricia Vidonic.

MMARising.com confirmed the fight change with multiple sources today following announcements from both fighters on Sunday. The revised bout is also a rematch, as Herrig earned a dominant Unanimous Decision victory over Vidonic at XFC 17 in April. She has won four of her past five fights.

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Erika Kamimura successfully reclaimed the vacant WPMF Women’s Mini Flyweight Championship tonight with a commanding stoppage victory at RISE/M-1MC: “Infinity” in Tokyo, Japan. Kamimura knocked out 16-year-old opponent Loma Lookboonmee, a veteran of 121 fights, in the third round.

In other action on the card, former Shoot Boxing Japan Women’s Flyweight Champion Ai Takahashi rebounded from a loss to Mizuki Inoue in August by stopping Itsuka Yokose under kickboxing rules. Takahashi overwhelmed Yokose with punches in round three to earn an impressive TKO victory.

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UFC Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre made a triumphant return to action this past month at UFC 154 in Montréal. St. Pierre defeated interim champion “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit to reclaim the top spot in the 170-pound welterweight division following a lengthy injury layoff.

St. Pierre’s next title challenger could be hard-hitting wrestler Johny “Bigg Rigg” Hendricks, who was also victorious on the UFC 154 card. Hendricks knocked out perennial contender Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann in just 46 seconds and he now occupies the number three spot at 170 pounds.

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Rin Nakai kept her undefeated record intact and became the inaugural Bantamweight Queen of Pancrase Champion tonight at Pancrase Progress Tour 14 in Tokyo, Japan. Nakai earned a competitive decision victory over Danielle “The Honey Badger” West in a rematch from September 2011.

West was unable to make weight at yesterday’s weigh-ins and was deemed ineligible to win the title if she defeated Nakai in the rematch. It was Nakai who walked away with the belt, however, as she displayed improved striking and controlled the ground battles to take the win on all three scorecards.

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Three middleweight bouts have been added to the upcoming Strikeforce: “Champions” event on January 12th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza looks for his third straight win when he faces rising star Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin.

In other 185-pound bouts on the card, multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Roger Gracie takes on Anthony “Lionheart” Smith, while former Strikeforce title challenger Tim Kennedy battles Trevor “Hot Sauce” Smith. All three fights were officially confirmed by the promotion earlier today.

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Japan’s top female prospect, Mizuki Inoue, will make her strawweight debut at Jewels: “22nd Ring” on December 15th in Tokyo. Inoue is set to face Hyo Kyung Song in one of four bouts announced for the card today. The event will take place inside a cage for the first time in Jewels’ four-year history.

Also confirmed for the card is an atomweight bout between title contender Kikuyo Ishikawa and Tomo Maesawa. Ishikawa’s four-fight winning streak was snapped in December by Jewels champ Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama, but she rebounded with a victory in May under the Pancrase banner.

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Hard-hitting Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal has stepped in to replace injured Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez at Strikeforce: “Champions” on January 12th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Masvidal will face Pat “Bam Bam” Healy in a bout first reported by MMAjunkie.com.

The January Strikeforce event was originally scheduled to feature three title fights, but middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was also forced out of his bout with Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin due to an injury. Nate “The Great” Marquardt defends his welterweight belt against Tarec “Sponge” Saffiedine.

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