Saori “Shooting Star” Ishioka was victorious in her Pancrase debut tonight at Pancrase Progress Tour 3 in Tokyo, Japan. The Jewels star submitted long-time veteran striker “Windy” Tomomi Sunaba early in the second round of Sunaba’s retirement bout following a 13-year combat sports career.
Also on the Pancrase card tonight, 16-year-old grappler Shino VanHoose earned her third mixed martial arts victory with a first-round submission of Kimie “Sakura” Okada. The unbeaten VanHoose returned to the Pancrase ring for the first time since a 51-second win in her October MMA debut.
Brazilian star Vanessa Porto needed a mere 41 seconds to knock out late replacement opponent Luana Teixeira in the main event of the all-female Pink Fight MMA 2 card on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The quick victory earned Porto the vacant Pink Fight 132-pound women’s title.
A near-riot and a number of late changes marred an otherwise entertaining set of fights at Revolution Fighting Champion 1 on Friday night in Beirut, Lebanon. Among the bouts scrapped from the card was a planned women’s matchup between Maiju “Mai” Kujala and Juliana “Thai” Carneiro Lima.
Long-time pound-for-pound standout Tara LaRosa at last has an opponent for Resurrection Fighting Alliance 2: “Yvel vs Alexander” on March 30th in Kearney, Nebraska. LaRosa is set to square off against former NAAFS title challenger Kelly Warren in a featured 125-pound bout on the card.
Two more heavyweight bouts have been added to the upcoming UFC 146: “Dos Santos vs Overeem” card on May 26th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Former UFC Heavyweight Champions are set to collide as Cain Velasquez looks to rebound from his first professional setback when he battles Frank Mir.
Unbeaten rising star Cat “Alpha” Zingano will move up to the bantamweight division to face Anita “El Tigre” Rodriguez at Invicta Fighting Championships 1 on April 28th in Kansas City, Kansas. MMARising.com confirmed the latest addition to the all-female card with the promotion earlier today.
An untimely knee injury has forced veteran light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira off of the upcoming UFC on Fuel TV 2 card on April 14th in Stockholm, Sweden. In his place, Thiago Silva has stepped in to face Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson in the night’s main event.
Russian prospect Yana “Foxy” Kunitskaya posted her fifth straight win on Saturday night at Lion’s Fights 1: “The Beginning” in Saint Petersburg. Kunitskaya earned a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory over fellow striker Anna Melikhova in an action-packed Fight of the Night battle.