Three months ago, former Smackgirl Middleweight Champion Hitomi Akano stepped into a Strikeforce cage to take part in the promotion’s inaugural 135-pound women’s tournament. What few observers knew was that the “Girlfight Monster” planned to retire if she lost her first-round matchup.
Though she was unable to win the tournament, the AACC standout earned an impressive submission victory over Carina Damm in the opening round before dropping a competitive decision to Miesha Tate in the finals. Like Damm, Akano is now considering a return to her former weight class.
Olympic silver medallist Sara McMann will once again have to wait to make her professional mixed martial arts debut. The wrestling standout had been scheduled to face late replacement Monique Henry for Caribbean Gladiators on Sunday in Jamaica, but the entire card was scrapped at the last minute due to safety issues with the cage that was to be used for the event.
A lingering knee injury has forced Amanda Buckner out of a planned fight against Brazilian Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes on February 4th. The bout was set to take place in Buckner’s home state of Maine for the Global Fight League, but Buckner will instead undergo surgery on her knee.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship made its return to Germany today with UFC 122: “Marquardt vs Okami” at the König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen. The card was headlined by a middleweight contender’s bout between Nate “The Great” Marquardt and Yushin “Thunder” Okami.
Two of the four semi-finalists in the Tuff-N-Uff 145-pound amateur women’s tournament were decided tonight on an excellent MMA card in Las Vegas, Nevada. Olympic Judo Bronze Medallist Ronda Rousey and unbeaten teen prospect Tay Stratford both advanced on with quick submission wins.
World Extreme Cagefighting came to the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight for WEC 52: “Faber vs Mizugaki.” The promotion’s second-to-last event was headlined by a bantamweight bout between former 145-pound champ “The California Kid” Urijah Faber and Takeya Mizugaki.
As one of the very best female fighters in mixed martial arts for close to a decade, Tara LaRosa has faced a who’s who of the sport and has emerged victorious in all but two of her 20 career bouts. She will face Takayo Hashi in a five-round title fight for DaMMAge Fight League on November 24th.
A seventh bout has been added to the upcoming all-female Valkyrie 8 event in Tokyo, Japan. Former top contender Emi Fujino will look to end her recent losing streak when she rematches Fight Chix representative Anna Saito on the November 28th card. The bout will be Saito’s first in over three years.