Fresh off of her second-place finish on Dancing With The Stars, popular strawweight star “12 Gauge” Paige VanZant steps back into the Octagon on August 27th at UFC on FOX 21 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. VanZant is set to face “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings in a featured matchup.

VanZant announced the fight today on ESPN SportsCenter. The 22-year-old had her four-fight winning streak snapped in December when she was submitted by “Thug” Rose Namajunas in the UFC Fight Night 80 headliner. Rawlings is coming off of a contentious decision win over Seo Hee Ham.

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Undefeated strawweight rising star Alexa Grasso makes her long-awaited return to action on July 29th at Invicta Fighting Championships 18 in Kansas City, Missouri. Grasso is set to face off against The Ultimate Fighter 23 contestant Jodie Esquibel in the featured 115-pound main event.

Grasso has been sidelined due to injuries and has not fought since scoring her biggest victory to date over Deep Jewels champion Mizuki Inoue at Invicta FC 11, while Esquibel has won back-to-back bouts. In the Invicta FC 18 bantamweight co-feature, Irene Aldana takes on unbeaten Taila Santos.

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Former Deep champion Hisae Watanabe was fortunate to escape with a Majority Draw in a competitive atomweight matchup on Sunday night at Vale Tudo Japan: “VTJ In Osaka” in Osaka, Japan. Watanabe faced off against 19-year-old South Korean prospect Jeong Eun Park in the co-main event.

Sunday’s bout appeared to belong to Park, who kept Watanabe on the defensive with a varied arsenal of kicks and quick punching combinations. Watanabe’s best success came in the form of right hooks, and a brief knockdown late in round one was enough to even the fight on two cards.

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Following a pair of close decision defeats, Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey seeks her first Octagon victory on July 13th at UFC Fight Night 91 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Casey is set to battle once-beaten Romanian prospect Cristina “Barbie” Stanciu in strawweight action on the preliminary card.

UFC officials announced the fight this past weekend. Casey came up just short in competitive UFC bouts against Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood and Seo Hee Ham this past year. Stanciu put on a strong showing in her April UFC debut, but dropped a narrow decision to Maryna “The Iron Woman” Moroz.

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Hometown fan favourite Jessica “Evil” Eye faces a must-win situation when she competes in front of a partisan crowd on September 10th at UFC 203: “Miocic vs Overeem” in Cleveland, Ohio. Eye is expected to face off against Bethe “Pitbull” Correia in a bantamweight showdown on the card.

Globo.com first reported on plans for the matchup earlier this month. Eye has dropped three straight fights inside the Octagon including a decision loss to Sara McMann this past month. Former UFC title challenger Correia also seeks redemption after suffering her second consecutive defeat in April.

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Following an 11-month hiatus from competition, Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood made a triumphant return to the Octagon tonight at UFC Fight Night 89: “MacDonald vs Thompson.” Calderwood stopped former strawweight title challenger Valérie “Trouble” Létourneau in round three of a flyweight bout.

Tonight’s performance was arguably the best of Calderwood’s career. She floored Létourneau with a spinning back elbow in round one and finished her with a kick to the body in the final round. Earlier tonight, Randa “Quiet Storm” Markos earned a key win over Jocelyn “Lights Out” Jones-Lybarger.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship came to TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada tonight for UFC Fight Night 89: “MacDonald vs Thompson.” The event was headlined by a welterweight contender’s bout between Rory “Red King” MacDonald and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

In tonight’s co-main event, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone took on Patrick “The Predator” Côté at 170 pounds. Steve “The Boss” Bosse battled Sean “The Real OC” O’Connell and Valérie “Trouble” Létourneau met Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for the card.

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Veteran contender Kate Jackson capped off her team’s remarkable run through the quarterfinals with a competitive decision victory during tonight’s ninth episode of The Ultimate Fighter 23: “Team Joanna vs Team Claudia.” Jackson defeated Team Joanna’s Ashley Yoder in a close two-round fight.

Jackson’s win moved Team Claudia to a 7-1 final tally over Team Joanna in the quarterfinal round. Her ground and pound and a late offensive onslaught on the feet were just enough to propel her to a narrow Unanimous Decision victory. Following the fight, all four semi-final matchups were announced.

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