Multi-time Muay Thai champ Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie looks for her third UFC victory when she competes at home on May 8th at UFC Fight Night 87: “Overeem vs Arlovski” in Rotterdam, South Holland, The Netherlands. The Dutch star meets UFC newcomer Anna “Panda” Elmose.

UFC officials announced the bantamweight battle early this morning. De Randamie is coming off of an impressive second-round stoppage win over Jungle Fight champion Larissa Moreira Pacheco at UFC 185. Denmark’s Elmose has knocked out all three of her professional opponents to date.

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Former UFC women’s strawweight champ Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza makes her long-awaited return to action on April 23rd at UFC 197: “Cormier vs Jones 2” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Esparza steps in on short notice to face Juliana “Ju Thai” Lima. The L.A. Daily News confirmed the matchup today.

Lima was originally slated to face Jessica “Jag” Aguilar on the card, but Aguilar was forced to withdraw from the fight after suffering a torn ACL in training. Lima has won back-to-back UFC bouts, while Esparza competes for the first time since losing her UFC title more than one year ago.

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Invicta FC Featherweight Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino makes her Octagon debut on May 14th at UFC 198: “Werdum vs Miocic” in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Justino is set to face off against former Invicta FC flyweight title challenger Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith at 140 pounds.

UFC officials announced the catchweight contest earlier today. Justino has campaigned for a spot on the UFC roster for many years, but her inability to make 135 pounds repeatedly scrapped plans for a fight against “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey. She now competes in her hometown against Smith in April.

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Former UFC title challenger Sara McMann looks to rebound from a pair of tough defeats when she returns to the Octagon on May 29th at UFC Fight Night 88: “Almeida vs Garbrandt” in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Olympic silver medallist squares off against Jessica “Evil” Eye in a bantamweight bout.

UFC officials confirmed the fight earlier today following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. McMann suffered a first-round submission loss to top contender Amanda “Lioness” Nunes in her most recent fight in August. Eye also seeks redemption after dropping back-to-back decisions this past year.

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WPMF Women’s Pinweight Champion Saya Ito retained her title with a five-round decision victory on Monday night at “M-ONE” in Tokyo, Japan. Ito earned her second win over former champion Ayaka “Little Tiger” Miyauchi, whom she first defeated for the 100-pound WPMF title in September.

Ito, who turned 17 in January, has become one of Japan’s most popular female Muay Thai fighters since her initial bout with Miyauchi. She solidified her spot atop the pinweight rankings with another impressive performance in Monday’s title rematch that ended in a Majority Decision victory for Ito.

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Undefeated strawweight rising star Karolina Kowalkiewicz makes her return to action on May 8th at UFC Fight Night 87: “Overeem vs Arlovski” in Rotterdam, South Holland, The Netherlands. The popular Polish standout is set to face off against TUF 20 contestant “Hurricane” Heather Clark.

UFC officials announced the matchup earlier today. Former KSW champion Kowalkiewicz made a successful Octagon debut in December when she defeated Randa “Quiet Storm” Markos at UFC on FOX 17. Clark defeated “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings in her most recent fight at the TUF 20 Finale in 2014.

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Hometown star “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings picked up a close decision victory in featured strawweight action on Sunday afternoon at UFC Fight Night 85: “Hunt vs Mir” in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Rawlings narrowly edged out Seo Hee Ham in a bout that was closer than the scores suggested.

Elsewhere at UFC Fight Night 85, Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith earned a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory over Queen of Pancrase Rin Nakai, who nearly finished the fight with a second-round arm-triangle choke. Smith did just enough to take a razor-thin win on the official scorecards.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship came to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on Sunday for UFC Fight Night 85: “Hunt vs Mir.” The event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between Mark “Super Samoan” Hunt and former UFC champion Frank Mir.

In the co-main event, former Bellator champ Hector “Showeather” Lombard took on Neil Magny in a middleweight contender’s bout. Jake “The Celtic Kid” Matthews battled Johnny “Hollywood” Case in a featured lightweight matchup. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for UFC Fight Night 85.

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