Official Women's Division Discussion Thread #14

[BigMuffler]

I mean, not many people would really miss Seo Hee Ham, Alex Chambers or even Carla Esparza at SW if they moved to AW.

 

[Thirdpres]

I was looking for the results of the planned fight between Debi Studer of Switzerland and Zarah Fairn of France and noticed something in French MMA sources.

Zarah Fairn appears to be also known as Zarah dos Santos who fought Elina Nilsson. That would make her record 2-1, not 2-0.

Sherdog's fighter profile of Zarah dos Santos.

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The LAST thing I'd worry about is defections from 115. It is by FAR the most stacked WMMA division. It's taken less than a year for Invicta to build it back up and the UFC has competitive non TUF20 talent kicking ass already.

105 could take half the talent from the UFC 115 division and it would rebuild it in a MONTH. I can't say the same about 135 if a 125 division is formed.

The UFC and Invicta 115lbs divisions have largely been built out of 125ers. These are people often cutting 20 to 25 pounds to get to that weight class. Particularly Invicta after they sold their 115ers to the UFC.

XFCi too for that matter.

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Aside from Rodish vs. Skinner and Haga vs. Batara there are supposed to be a few other atomweight fights coming up for those interested.

5-16 105 Rebekah LeVine (0-0-0) US vs. Laura Huizar (0-0-0) MX at Fights Factory: Back to the Cage, Mexico.

(I'm under the impression that the above fight will be at 105 and that is it a pro, not ammy. There might be another female fight on the card too.)

5-16 105 Stephanie Alba (2-0-0) US vs. Nikki Smith (1-0-0) US at X.

This last fight could prove to be important. If Alba gets the win Invicta will likely be looking to pick her up. Probably the same with Smith.

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Another fight that has some signifigance for Brazil's Flyweight or Bantamweight Division.

5-16 135 - Confirmed - Elaine Albuquerque (9-4-0) BR vs. Rosy Duarte (7-2-0) BR at Brabos Combat 1, Brazil. (Title Fight.)

Pretty big fight. This is the kind of fight that could either in Invicta, at least. Albuquerque's last major title fight was a win over Carina Damm if my memory serves.

Albuquerque tends to fight at 125lbs but has some fights and wins at 135lbs. Duarte is more of a 135er but she has and could fight at 125lbs.

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This could be a fairly big bantamweight fight for Europe. Anna Elmose is 2-0 with a nice KO and an MT background. Mara Romero Borella is supposed to be 5-1 (Italian Sources).

Studer was suppose to have had a fight with Zarah Fairn this past weekend.

 

[Better Every Day]

I made a thread about this in the "Heavies" too.

Felice writes (on Instagram):
"Come party with me!! My official after party hosted by @fuel_up !!"

https://instagram.com/p/1USRvUBjNp/a thread about this in the "Heavies" too.

 

[Steve4192]

And I think the 125 lb division in the UFC isn't as far off as people (like Dana) say it is. I mean, he said "Never" and like within that year it happened. Skilled female fighters are popping up out of the woodwork.

I think Dana's primary concern over adding flyweight is that he believes a large portion of the bantamweight division would cut down to the new weight class in order to get away from Rondzilla. They know they don't stand a chance of winning a title at 135 as long as Ronda is around. The UFC is already having enough problems finding viable contenders at bantamweight, just imagine how tough it would be when half of the top 10 decide to move to flyweight. Plus, it would also deplete strawweight, which has been bolstered by a bunch of quality flyweights moving down for a chance to compete in the UFC.

 

[Rox22]

Check out the article I wrote about Raquel Pa'aluhi who's fighting Ediane Gomes in Invicta 12! http://mmasucka.com/2015/04/14/raquel-paaluhi-will-prove-her-heart-is-champion-at-invicta-fc-12/

Raquel Pa’aluhi joined the Invicta FC ranks when she took a fight against Kaitlin Young on eight days notice in November of last year. She pulled off a hard-fought decision win, putting her on a two-fight winning streak. Early on in her career, she has already faced Sarah McMann, Amanda Nunes, and Raquel Pennington, all of who are now in the UFC. Now four and four, she looks to continue her winning streak when she takes on Edaine Gomes in Invicta 12 on April 24th in Kansas City, MO.

Nicknamed “Lion Heart” by her father, Raquel was born into a fighting family with a bloodline tracing back to some of the strongest warriors from Hawaii. Her father is known as a pioneer of MMA in Hawaii. He boxed and was a state champion wrestler in high school, continuing on with karate as an adult. “When the UFC was created, naturally he started fighting MMA,” Raquel said proudly. She described how he won the first ever MMA event held in Hawaii in 1995 – an 8-man tournament with no rules, no time limit, no gloves, and a $1,000 prize for the winner.

“I was pretty much raised around the sport. We were always in the gym watching my dad train, and took class when he taught. I also did karate when I was younger, but I started taking fighting seriously when I started wrestling as a sophomore in high school............”

Click to read more:
http://mmasucka.com/2015/04/14/raquel-paaluhi-will-prove-her-heart-is-champion-at-invicta-fc-12/

 

[battery]

On Cutler, agreed. I hope she goes back to flyweight, gets a win or two, and gets into Invicta.

Agreed on the expression. DOH.

You'll be interested in this:

5-16 105 Kyra Batara (1-2-0) US vs. Celine Haga (6-12-0) NO (US) at Fusion Fight League.

Agreed, Calie can still get picked up by Invicta with win or two. I feel like she is in the same league with KGB or Corso or Cooper - very talented, potentially a title contender at flyweight.

Well, Thirdpres, that is very good news (Yay!). Celine has been in limbo since last summer, so I am very happy to see her get a fight. Do you know how I can watch this one? (Just watch youtube afterwards, I guess?)

Jarl

P.S. [below] Thanks for the info and link, Thirdpres.

that's great to hear about celine! yay!

edit: awesome av, by the way, jarl! deserves an extra yay!

 

[battery]

Check out the article I wrote about Raquel Pa'aluhi who's fighting Ediane Gomes in Invicta 12! http://mmasucka.com/2015/04/14/raquel-paaluhi-will-prove-her-heart-is-champion-at-invicta-fc-12/

Raquel Pa

 

[JarlSkuld]

Nice article, Roxanne. I`ve been watching Raquel since the McMann fight and she has always been a scrapper. But, she really made me a fan in her comeback win over Young. She took such a beating in the first round - part of me didn`t want her to come out for the 2nd round - but she did, and really turned it around. It was inspiring to watch. But, she`ll have her hands full with Gomes. This is a very tough match-up and will test her bjj skills big time. If Pa`aluhi can pick up the win though, it would be her best win to date and could lead to bigger and better things.

Jarl

P.S. Thanks Battery! Maybe only you can appreciate all of this GIF's awesomeness (and maybe Roxanne can too)! (Yay!) (Thanks to the 2nd emperor of Rome for his great GIF making skills)

P.P.S. @Thirdpres, Albaquerque vs. Duarte is a pretty big fight. The winner pretty much has to be brought in to Invicta.

 

[Thirdpres]

Agreed Jarl and battery. 8)

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Thanks for the article share Roxy. Fun read. 8)

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I've been seeing all of the views of old Oplot videos I used to post here. Now there are tens to hundreds of thousands of views on them. DOH. 8)

I started wondering what is going on with a few fighters who fought for Oplot and other regional promotions from that part of the world. I've been able, somewhat, to see what Lily Kazak has been upto, other than the result of what is supposed to be her lastest fight.

Anna Bezhenar came to mind. She's only 1-1 but has a win over a tough veteran in Alyona Rassohyna and a loss to the very solid, in my opinion, Lily Kazak. She has a long history in Pankration, tons of wins. She's been at that over the past two years, getting an award recently in Ukraine for being one of their top athletes with a double world win this past year and a European title. Last year she had some major wins too.

I hope to get news of Kazak's last fight soon but I also hope to see if Bezhenar gets back into MMA.

And see Rassohyna bounce back after two losses.

Been busy since Oct. 8) Congrats.

But still fit ...

And training ...

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I found a bunch of new Ukrainian Featherweights and Flyweights. Plus an Armenian and an Iranian flyweight.

There is some misidentification of the weight of the Armenian and one Ukrainian. In an interview the Iranian mention her opponent fighting her 8kg over the agreed on weight. Other cross references put them all at least as flyweights, maybe one a low end bantamweight.

Lots more work to keep up on these things plus I think the middle flyweight section needs work.

Bunch more updates will be happening before long.


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And Katarzyna Lubonska, 2-0 at flyweight, is getting picked up by KSW. Fights planned for this year.

 

[WallyBear]

XFC signed Sheila Gaff, she wants to fight at Strawweight. According to the article they also signed Claire Fryer (4-1) and Linn Wennergren (2-1).

Source (in German): http://www.groundandpound.de/mma/news/sheila-gaff-unterschreibt-vertrag-mit-xfc/

 

[thatdude21601]

Kinberly Novaes's return is the most interesting non UFC/Invicta strawweight news on the horizon for me. Seems like a younger, better trained version of the girl she is fighting.

I watched Lubonska's first pro fight live, her style seems really violent if she can keep her cardio under control. She went full Shogun/Mark Coleman during that fight.

 

[SeverianB]

More evidence Waterson is going to 115:

She is obviously cultivating mass.

 

[battery]

Nice article, Roxanne. I`ve been watching Raquel since the McMann fight and she has always been a scrapper. But, she really made me a fan in her comeback win over Young. She took such a beating in the first round - part of me didn`t want her to come out for the 2nd round - but she did, and really turned it around. It was inspiring to watch. But, she`ll have her hands full with Gomes. This is a very tough match-up and will test her bjj skills big time. If Pa`aluhi can pick up the win though, it would be her best win to date and could lead to bigger and better things.

Jarl

P.S. Thanks Battery! Maybe only you can appreciate all of this GIF's awesomeness (and maybe Roxanne can too)! (Yay!) (Thanks to the 2nd emperor of Rome for his great GIF making skills)

P.P.S. @Thirdpres, Albaquerque vs. Duarte is a pretty big fight. The winner pretty much has to be brought in to Invicta.

that's awesome, AC is good like that!

 

[leto1776]

Below are my views on the current title picture in UFC straw weight division, quoted from a thread asking how JoJo would fare against Joanna J:

That being said, the title picture in this division is going to be very interesting. Gadelha just dropped out of a fight (for the third time in 5 scheduled matchups), Carla is taking time off to do some traveling and seminars (and people wrote her off way too quickly after the loss), JoJo just lost, and Rose, still ranked high, has no real chance.

Let's not forget, Joanna will be defending her title, and we have no idea how well she does once she's already at the top. Any fighter who has held gold will tell you, it's hard to stay the champ than it is to become the champ.

 

[MayhemMonkey]

just posted this in the old thread by mistake.... can anyone confirm that this is Gabi Garcia? if so she is looking really good nowadays

 

[Thirdpres]

A comparison photo ~

Others ~

 

[JarlSkuld]

Below are my views on the current title picture in UFC straw weight division, quoted from a thread asking how JoJo would fare against Joanna J:

The Moroz match-up is starting to make more sense, I think. There are just no other clear challengers right now. A couple of fighters could step up with a dominant win or two...but it`s so murky currently. Torres beats unranked Hill (by SD or UD) and gets a title shot? Wha..? I would be surprised if Penne finished, let alone beat, Lima. Daly beats Markos (again, probably a SD or UD) and gets a title shot? I think Ansaroff is going to beat down Rose...and neither deserves a title shot anyway. Wha...? Herrig, PVZ - No way! Albu? Need to see her beat someone in the Top 10 first. Gadelha? Mysteriously withdraws from a fight again - so, no!

On the other hand, Moroz generated a little buzz by calling out Joanna after a spectacular performance. Maybe, like Ronda-Bethe, it`s not perfect but it just makes the most sense right now.

What does everyone think? Jedrzejczyk is just sitting on the shelf now, waiting for a fight to be scheduled. She is a rising star and the UFC needs to put her back in the cage as soon as possible...what fight would you book?

Jarl

 

[thatdude21601]

Probably Moroz for the reasons you mentioned. Out of all the options she seems the least likely to just get bludgeoned for five by the champ. She's still sort of a wildcard, in that territory Rose was in before Esparza smooshed her.

I could see them giving it to Herrig or PVZ if there is a spectacular performance on either end, just due to the nature of main card on FOX. Bludgeoned for five by the champ tho.

 

[cybernetics]

Gabi Garcia is 6 foot 1 and super technical. No way ROnda would beat her in any grappling scenerio.

What was rondas excuse after calling all the bjj girls out?

Always an excuse with ronda when it comes time to back up her statements.

 

[Leek]

Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp confirms Catherine Costigan will fight on the promotions July event in Las Vegas

Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp broke the news exclusively to talkingbrawlsmma.com: