As the promotion prepares to begin its long-awaited 135-pound women’s tournament later this summer, MMARising.com can exclusively reveal four of the participants in the eight-woman bracket. Among them are Brazilian star Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm and former Strikeforce title challenger Marloes “Rumina” Coenen.
Verbal agreements are in place with multiple fighters and official bout agreements may be distributed as early as next week. Strikeforce representatives would not comment on the ongoing negotiations.
Fractured ribs have forced former long-time PRIDE champ Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva out of his featured middleweight bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116. MMAFighting.com was first to report on the injury, which takes Silva out of the highly-anticipated July 3rd event.
World Extreme Cagefighting travelled north of the border tonight for WEC 49: “Varner vs Shalorus” at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The event was headlined by a lightweight contender’s bout between former champ Jamie “The Worm” Varner and Kamal “Prince of Persia” Shalorus.
Picking up his third straight first-round knockout victory, Marlon Sandro at last captured the Sengoku Featherweight Championship tonight with a destruction of Masanori “Kin-chan” Kanehara. The title bout headlined a stoppage-filled Sengoku Raiden Championships 13 card that also featured the opening round of the Sengoku Welterweight Grand Prix.
Season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter wrapped up tonight at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada. This season’s finale was headlined by the Middleweight final between Court “The Crusher” McGee and Kris “Savage” McCray, while Matt “The Hammer” Hamill took on “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine in a pivotal co-main event.
Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney has big plans for his promotion’s women’s division in the coming year. Speaking exclusively with MMARising.com today, Rebney outlined plans for the upcoming Bellator 115-pound women’s tournament in August, as well as the potential for an additional women’s tournament in 2011.
Greatest Common Multiple’s all-female Valkyrie division crowned its first Flyweight (100-Pound) Champion today in the main event of “Valkyrie 6.” In a rematch after a November 2008 draw, Yasuko Tamada defeated Naoko Omuro by Unanimous Decision to capture the title.
Seven fighters are now set for the August Bellator 115-Pound Women’s Tournament, as the promotion announced tonight that Lynn “Lights Out” Alvarez and Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly have both signed on to compete. One spot in the eight-woman bracket remains to be filled after Elena “Babydoll” Reid was forced to withdraw due to injury.