Two fights have been announced for Jewels: “Twelfth Ring” on March 11th in Tokyo, Japan. Promotional postergirl Mika “Future Princess” Nagano faces Emi Murata, while Miyoko Kusaka squares off with Yuka Okumura. Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki will compete as well.
It was also confirmed that another top Jewels star, Shizuka Sugiyama, will be taking a year away from the promotion to study abroad in Australia. The popular Sugiyama most recently faced a larger opponent, Esui, at Jewels: “Eleventh Ring” in December, but suffered a second-round TKO defeat.
Fresh off of her Ring of Combat title victory this past weekend, top prospect Jessica “Evil” Eye is expected to make her Strikeforce debut against tough veteran Jan “Cuddles” Finney on March 5th. The targeted matchup would be contested at 135 pounds on the undercard of Strikeforce: Columbus.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight with a stacked card at UFC 126: “Silva vs Belfort.” The event was headlined by a UFC Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort.
Strong Style Fight Team prospect Jessica “Evil” Eye kept her unblemished record intact tonight when she stopped Ashley “No Limit” Nee in round one at Ring of Combat 34. The win earned Eye the vacant ROC 130-Pound Women’s Championship; the first title of her professional MMA career.
Making use of a unique variation of a Brabo Choke, rising amateur prospect Jessica Philippus submitted rival Sarah “Piranha” Goodlaxson in a featured 105-pound women’s title bout tonight at Ultimate Blue Corner Battles in Kansas City, Missouri. The end came at the 1:20 mark of round two.
An April 9th Strikeforce event featuring two quarterfinals in the promotion’s eight-man heavyweight grand prix is no longer targeted for Japan. A source close to the promotion confirmed to MMARising.com today that plans to hold the event in Japan have been scrapped, and a U.S. location is likely.
Bellator 115-pound women’s champ Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto will indeed return to action at Bellator Fighting Championships 35 on March 5th in Lemoore, California. The kickboxer, who captured Bellator gold last year, is expected to rematch rival Karina Hallinan in a non-title bout on the card.
As a result of a leg injury suffered in training, middleweight prospect Luke Rockhold has been forced to withdraw from his bout with decorated military veteran Tim Kennedy on March 5th at Strikeforce: Columbus. Kennedy is now rumoured to be facing knockout artist Melvin “No Mercy” Manhoef.