Hard-hitting Minnesotan Kaitlin Young earned her fifth knockout victory and first of 2011 on Saturday night in the main event of Freestyle Cage Fighting 49 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Young stopped late replacement opponent Liz Carreiro with strikes at the 4:47 mark of the opening round.
The co-main event of the FCF card did not go as planned, as both Sarah Ward-Maloy and Amanda “Red Fox” LaVoy backed out of their fight and have been indefinitely suspended. Other weekend winners included Darla Harris in Pueblo, Colorado and Shino VanHoose in Tokyo, Japan.
BlackEye Promotions brought female fighters to the forefront at BlackEye Promotions 5: “Breast Cancer Beatdown” tonight in Fletcher, North Carolina. The charity fight card was headlined by a 125-pound women’s bout between Roxanne “The Happy Warrior” Modafferi and Barb “Little Warrior” Honchak.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship made its way to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. tonight for UFC Live On Versus 6: “Cruz vs Johnson.” The event was headlined by a UFC Bantamweight Championship bout between Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
A busy month of MMA in September was notable for two dominant victories. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones retained his title and top spot at 205 by stopping Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Daniel Cormier enters the heavyweight ranks after knocking out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.
Injuries and illness have resulted in a number of late changes to Saturday’s Freestyle Cage Fighting 49 and BlackEye Promotions 5 cards. In Shawnee, Oklahoma, the main event of FCF 49 now features Kaitlin Young taking on local favourite Liz Carreiro, who steps in to replace Jan “Cuddles” Finney.
Sixteen-year-old grappler Shino VanHoose will make her mixed martial arts debut against Nana “Chanchin” Ichikawa at Pancrase Impressive Tour 10 this Sunday in Tokyo, Japan. The bout was announced earlier this month and is now set for the “Pancrase Gate” undercard portion of the event.
Jessica “Evil” Eye was successful in her Bellator Fighting Championships debut on Saturday night at Bellator 51 in Canton, Ohio. Competing in front of friends in her home state, Eye earned a Split Decision win over Casey “KO” Noland in a catchweight bout after Noland came in over the 125-pound limit.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship came to the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado tonight for UFC 135: “Jones vs Rampage.” The card featured a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Jon “Bones” Jones and former undisputed UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.