Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez has suffered a shoulder injury and has withdrawn from his bout with Pat “Bam Bam” Healy this Saturday in Sacramento, California. Strikeforce officials announced late Sunday night that the entire event has been cancelled as a result.
Melendez was set to defend his title against Healy in the Strikeforce main event, but the promotion’s television partner, Showtime, was unwilling to air the event once Melendez was removed from the card. Strikeforce has not yet announced whether the remaining nine bouts will be rescheduled.
Competing on short notice, “12 Gauge” Paige VanZant posted her second professional victory of the year tonight at Premier Fight Series 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. VanZant defeated local favourite Amber “The Apex Predator” Stautzenberger by Unanimous Decision in an action-packed bout.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship came to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada tonight for UFC 152: “Jones vs Belfort.” The event featured a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between champion Jon “Bones” Jones and former titleholder Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort.
Top Jewels stars Mika “Future Princess” Nagano and Shizuka Sugiyama both picked up stoppage victories tonight at Jewels: “21st Ring” in Tokyo, Japan. Nagano submitted Jewels newcomer Tomo Maesawa, while Sugiyama finished Yurika Tanaka with a barrage of punches in round two.
Japan’s all-female Jewels promotion returned to Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo tonight for Jewels: “21st Ring.” The event was headlined by a Muay Thai bout between Jewels kickboxing veteran Kozue “Azuma” Nagashima and South Korean challenger Mi-Jeon Chan, who made her promotional debut.
Decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha kept her unbeaten MMA record intact with a quick victory tonight at Shooto Brazil 34 in Brasilia, Brazil. Gadelha stopped late replacement opponent Adriana Vieira with a barrage of punches for a TKO win in just over 90 seconds.
I guess I’ll rewind this blog back to my first opportunity to fight for Invicta Fighting Championships, which was at their second show on July 28th. The show turned out great, and I had the opportunity to see some amazing ladies in action. Armed in my hot pink singlet, I fought Sarah Schneider.
Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup 53.5kg Champion Mizuki Inoue returns to action on Saturday night at Jewels: “21st Ring” in Tokyo, Japan. The 18-year-old Inoue will face off against Yukiko Suzuki in one of four grappling matches announced for the event today. The card is now complete with 15 bouts.