During today’s UFC on FOX 5 live pre-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White introduced the promotions latest champion in female fighter Ronda ‘Rowdy’ Rousey (6-0). Rousey has relinquished her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title to become the very first UFC women’s 135-lbs title holder. White also announced Rousey’s first title defense UFC 157 event in […]
Ronda Rousey holding her UFC women's bantamweight title – image via Facebook.com/UFC
During today’s UFC on FOX 5 live pre-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White introduced the promotions latest champion in female fighter Ronda ‘Rowdy’ Rousey (6-0).
Rousey has relinquished her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title to become the very first UFC women’s 135-lbs title holder.
White also announced Rousey’s first title defense UFC 157 event in February, telling the gathered media that ‘Rowdy’ will headline the pay-per-view event versus Strikeforce/Invicta FC fighter Liz ‘Girl-Rila’ Carmouche (7-2).
UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche is expected to take place on February 23, 2013 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Many fans had hoped to see Rousey make her Octagon debut versus former Strikeforce featherweight title holder Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos but according to both White and Rousey, will hopefully be next.
Carmouche was apparently the only worthy opponent to step up to face Rousey when the UFC put the call out for an opponent.
Rousey has won six straight matches, all by first round armbar submission. Five of her six opponents have fallen in under a minute including her last opponent Sarah Kaufman last August. The total time of those five bouts fail to add up to the length of Rousey’s title victory over Miesha Tate last March. Those five victories total 3:12 while her bout with Tate lasted 4:27.
Carmouche has won two straight under the Invicta FC banner, picking up wins at the promotions first two events. ‘Girl-Rilla’ used a rear-naked choke to tap out Kaitlin Young in July while finishing opponent Ashleigh Curry via first round TKO in April. Carmouche had lost two previous matches with Strikeforce, losing by decision to Kaufman and by submission in a Strikeforce title match versus former champ Marloes Coenen.
Press Release – KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Dec. 3, 2012) – Power puncher Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith (4-2-1) of Pleasant Hill, Calif. will square off with submission specialist Raquel “Rocky” Pennington (3-2-1) of Colorado Springs, Colo. in a bantamweight (135 pounds) main card fight at the star-studded 12-bout Invicta Fighting Championships professional women’s Mixed Martial Arts […]
Leslie Smith
Press Release – KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Dec. 3, 2012) – Power puncher Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith (4-2-1) of Pleasant Hill, Calif. will square off with submission specialist Raquel “Rocky” Pennington (3-2-1) of Colorado Springs, Colo. in a bantamweight (135 pounds) main card fight at the star-studded 12-bout Invicta Fighting Championships professional women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City on Saturday, Jan. 5.
“Leslie and Raquel have both proven to be ferocious and determined competitors in the Invicta FC cage, so we are excited to be able to match them up against each other and create what should be a barnburner of a fight,” said Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp.
The 30-year-old Smith performed brilliantly in her last start at Invicta FC 3 at Memorial Hall on Oct. 6, scoring a furious TKO on rival Kaitlin Young with an onslaught of punches from mount position in the second round (2:19) of action. The bout marked a rematch to the pair’s epic, three-round slugfest, which ended in a draw at the inaugural Invicta FC event on April 28.
Smith, who turned professional in March 2009 after compiling a perfect 3-0 record as an amateur, has earned three of her four victories as a pro by way of TKO with her hands. She is product of the Cesar Gracie Academy.
The 24-year-old Pennington, who has competed five times since turning professional just nine months ago, is looking to return to the win column after struggling with undefeated Cat Zingano in an Invicta FC 3 main card matchup that saw Zingano submit Pennington with a rear-naked choke in the second round (3:32).
Prior to the defeat, Pennington had reeled off two straight wins – a unanimous decision over Sarah Moras at Invicta FC 2 at Memorial Hall on July 28 and first round (3:52) submission (guillotine choke) of Raquel Pa’aluhi in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sept. 8.
Pennington amassed a stellar 7-1 record under amateur status between Feb. 2009 and Aug. 2011. She earned five of her seven amateur victories by way of submission.
Tickets for Invicta FC 4: Gadelha vs. Esparza, priced from $25, are on sale at Memorial Hall box office (913-549-4853), online at Ticketmaster.com and InvictaFC.com and by phone at 800-745-3000.
In the main event and first-ever Invicta FC world strawweight (115 pounds) championship bout, Claudia Gadelha (9-0) of Mossoro, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil will face streaking star Carla Esparza (8-2) of Redondo Beach, Calif.
In the bantamweight co-main event, crowd-pleasing submission ace Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler (15-7) of Sioux Falls, S.D. will battle fellow top-ranked star Alexis Davis (12-5) of Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada.
Hard-hitting KO artist Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes (7-2) of Salvador Bahia, Brazil will take on submission specialist Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio (6-3) of San Jose, Calif. at bantamweight.
JEWELS star Hiroko Yamanaka (12-2) of Kisarazu, Japan will battle Invicta FC 3 winner Ediane Gomes (8-2) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in a featherweight (145 pounds) contest.
In the event’s opening main card bout, undefeated Joanne Calderwood (4-0) of Glasgow, Scotland will square off with Invicta FC newcomer Bec Hyatt (4-1) of Brisbane, Australia at strawweight.
After scoring her second consecutive, five-second KO on July 8, Veronica Rothenhausler (0-0) of Reno, Nev. will make her much-anticipated professional debut on the Invicta FC 4 undercard against fellow heavy-handed featherweight competitor Katalina Malungahu (2-1) of Las Vegas, Nev.
The six-bout preliminary card will be capped off with an atomweight (105 pounds) matchup between Stephanie Frausto (4-4) of Cincinnati, Ohio and Cassie Rodish (3-3) of Des Moines, Iowa.
Unbeaten Tamikka Brents (1-0) of Springfield, Illin. will take on Amanda Bell (0-0) of Medford, Ore. at featherweight.
Jodie Esquibel (2-0) of Albuquerque, N.M. and Liz McCarthy (1-0) of Tigard, Ore. will square off at atomweight.
Emily Kagan (2-0) of Albuquerque, N.M. will put her undefeated record on the line against Rose Namajunas (0-0) of Milwaukee, Wis. In a strawweight matchup.
Paige Van Zant (2-0) of Sparks, Nev. will face off with Tecia Torres (1-0) of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. at strawweight.
About Invicta Fighting Championships:
Invicta Fighting Championships (www.invictafc.com) is a world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight series dedicated to providing female athletes with a major platform to hone their skills on a consistent basis. Founded in 2012 by longtime MMA executive Shannon Knapp and sports aficionado Janet Martin, Invicta is committed to pioneering the future growth of women’s MMA by promoting the best possible matchups between female competitors and identifying and developing future superstars of the sport.
Invicta Fighting Championships presents the greatest finishes of 2012.
Invicta Fighting Championships is a world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight series dedicated to providing female athletes with a major platform to hone their skills on a consistent basis. Founded in 2012 by longtime MMA executive Shannon Knapp and sports aficionado Janet Martin, Invicta is committed to pioneering the future growth of women’s MMA by promoting the best possible matchups between female competitors and identifying and developing future superstars of the sport.
Invicta Fighting Championships presents the greatest finishes of 2012.
Invicta Fighting Championships is a world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight series dedicated to providing female athletes with a major platform to hone their skills on a consistent basis. Founded in 2012 by longtime MMA executive Shannon Knapp and sports aficionado Janet Martin, Invicta is committed to pioneering the future growth of women’s MMA by promoting the best possible matchups between female competitors and identifying and developing future superstars of the sport.
Mixed martial arts star Ronda Rousey joins Jim Rome to discuss the pros and cons of sexual activity before a big fight. Watch Rousey explain her own personal preference regarding the intimate subject and don’t miss Jim Rome on SHOWTIME every Wednesday 10PM ET/PT only on SHOWTIME.
Mixed martial arts star Ronda Rousey joins Jim Rome to discuss the pros and cons of sexual activity before a big fight. Watch Rousey explain her own personal preference regarding the intimate subject and don’t miss Jim Rome on SHOWTIME every Wednesday 10PM ET/PT only on SHOWTIME.
Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (6-0) has become the first female mixed martial artist signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. News of her signing surfaced recently and will certainly push the former Judo Olympian’s star even higher with all of the exposure she will receive in the Octagon. On Wednesday night, Rousey had a […]
Ronda Rousey (L) works the armbar submission (R) against Sarah Kaufman – Photo via Facebook.com/Strikeforce
Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (6-0) has become the first female mixed martial artist signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
News of her signing surfaced recently and will certainly push the former Judo Olympian’s star even higher with all of the exposure she will receive in the Octagon.
On Wednesday night, Rousey had a chance to officially comment on the signing as a guest on the Jim Rome show on Showtime.
“There’s so much more that I want to do, that like once it happened I was like “yes this is amazing!” and then right after I’m like now I have to fight, now I have to do this, so I’m very, very excited, but I really didn’t spend that much time dwelling on it because there’s so many more things that I have to get done now that that’s happened,” Rousey stated.
“I need to prepare for my fight coming up. I can’t just sit around and do a little dance about getting signed, I’ve got to win my fight.”
Rousey also addresses a few other questions, which MMAWeekly.com has transcribed as above, concerning recent comments on women’s mma by UFC champ Georges St-Pierre, sex before a fight, and surviving a zombie apocalypse. Be sure to visit the link.
Press Release – KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Nov. 23, 2012) – Just three months after its first world championship bout, women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Invicta Fighting Championships will return to Memorial Hall in Kansas City and crown a champion in its strawweight (115 pounds) division after undefeated sensation Claudia Gadelha (9-0) of Mossoro, Rio Grande […]
Carla Esparza – image via Invicta Fighting Championships
Press Release – KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Nov. 23, 2012) – Just three months after its first world championship bout, women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Invicta Fighting Championships will return to Memorial Hall in Kansas City and crown a champion in its strawweight (115 pounds) division after undefeated sensation Claudia Gadelha (9-0) of Mossoro, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil battles streaking star Carla Esparza (8-2) of Redondo Beach, Calif. for the title in the main event of a 12-bout fight card on Saturday, Jan. 5.
In the bantamweight (135 pounds) co-main event, crowd-pleasing submission ace Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler (15-7) of Sioux Falls, S.D. will go to war with fellow top-ranked star Alexis Davis (12-5) of Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada.
Tickets, priced from $25, for the Invicta FC 4: Gadelha vs. Esparza women’s MMA event, go on sale Monday, Nov. 26 at Memorial Hall box office (913-549-4853), online at Ticketmaster.com and InvictaFC.com and by phone at 800-745-3000.
Following her second round (2:19) TKO (punches) of Kaitlin Young at Invicta FC 3 on Oct. 6, Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith (4-2-1) of Pleasant Hill, Calif. will return to action to face a bantamweight opponent to be determined.
Power-punching KO artist Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes (7-2) of Salvador Bahia, Brazil will take on submission specialist Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio (6-3) of San Jose, Calif. at bantamweight.
JEWELS star Hiroko Yamanaka (12-2) of Kisarazu, Japan will battle Invicta FC 3 winner Ediane Gomes (8-2) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in a featherweight (145 pounds) contest.
In the event’s opening main card bout, undefeated Joanne Calderwood (4-0) of Glasgow, Scotland will square off with Invicta FC newcomer Bec Hyatt (4-1) of Brisbane, Australia at strawweight.
After scoring her second consecutive, five-second KO on July 8, Veronica Rothenhausler (0-0) of Reno, Nev. will make her much-anticipated professional debut on the Invicta FC 4 undercard against fellow heavy-handed featherweight competitor Katalina Malungahu (2-1) of Las Vegas, Nev.
Claudia Gadelha vs. Carla Esparza
Just 23 years old, Gadelha boasts three world championships and seven national titles in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition and has submitted seven of her first nine professional MMA opponents. An injury kept the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt sidelined for the entirety of 2011 but, on April 20, she returned to action, earning a unanimous decision win over Valerie Letorneau in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Gadelha returned to her homeland and scored a first round (1:35) TKO (punches) on Adriana Vieira on Sept. 21.
The 25-year-old Esparza has been gaining momentum, winning her last three fights. Her last two victories – a second round (4:28) TKO (punches) of Sarah Schneider and a first round (2:53) TKO (punches) of Lynn Alvarez – came inside the Invicta FC cage on July 28 and Oct. 6, respectively. To date, three of Esparza’s professional wins have come by way of (T)KO and three by way of submission.
Shayna Baszler vs. Alexis Davis
The 32-year-old Baszler lit up Memorial Hall for the second time on an Invicta FC show on Oct. 6, outworking D’Alelio on the ground and securing a rear-naked choke that forced D’Alelio to tap out at the :37 mark of the second round of their matchup. A fearsome grappler, Baszler has earned the respect of the fight world by earning 14 of her 15 victories with submissions, including her patented hold that she dubbed the “shwing.”
Davis, a 28-year-old black belt in both Japanese Jujutsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, has been ranked as high as the No. 3 bantamweight female fighter in the world by the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings. In her last effort at Invicta FC 2 on July 28, Davis submitted Japanese star Hitomi Akano with a rear-naked choke in the second round (3:41) of their matchup
Amanda Nunes vs. Sarah D’Alelio
Since making her pro debut in March 2008, Nunes has established a reputation as a ferocious power-puncher. The 24-year-old, who began her boxing training at age 16, exploded onto the national MMA scene in The U.S. on Jan. 7, 2011, demolishing Julia Budd with a barrage of punches just 14 seconds into their live, Showtime-televised fight. Nunes made her Invicta FC debut on July 28, submitting Raquel Pa’aluhi with a rear-naked choke in the first round (2:24) of their bout.
D’Alelio has competed on all three Invicta FC cards, thus far. The 31-year-old submission ace, who has earned five of her six wins by way of submission and the sixth by TKO, will look to return to the win column after a valiant performance against Baszler. D’Alelio forced Vanessa Mariscal to tap out from a barrage of punches in the second round (3:19) of their meeting at the historic, first Invicta FC event on April 28, and tapped out Vanessa Porto with a rear-naked choke in the first round (3:16) of their Invicta FC 2 bout.
Hiroko Yamanaka vs. Ediane Gomes
Nicknamed “Incomplete Queen” and “Cat’s Eye,” Yamanaka, is a former open weight champion in Japan’s now-defunct Smackgirl MMA promotion and the No. 7 ranked featherweight according to the Unified Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Rankings. The 34-year-old Muay Thai and submission grappling specialist, put together an eight-fight win streak between Nov. 2008 and July. 2011, and emerged a star in Japanese promotion JEWELS during that span.
Gomes is a 31-year-old submission expert and member of vaunted South Fla.-based fight squad American Top Team. Hardened in her native Brazil where amateur level competition is non-existent, Gomes was victorious in her first five professional fights – four by way of armbar submission and one via TKO (punches). At Invicta FC on Oct. 6, she forced the highly-touted Malungahu to tap out from a rear-naked choke in the first round (4:19) of their undercard bout.
Joanne Calderwood vs. Bec Hyatt
Calderwood is an explosive, 26-year-old national Muay Thai champion in Scotland, who has successfully transitioned to the sport of MMA by going unbeaten in her first four pro starts. On Oct. 6, she reeled off her fourth victory at Invicta FC 3, KO’ing Ashley Cummins with a brutal knee strike to the body in the first round (3:13) of their matchup. Calderwood’s performance earned her “KO of the Night” honors from the promotion.
Since suffering a defeat in her pro debut on Oct. 15, 2011, the 23-year-old Hyatt has been on fire, winning four consecutive fights. In her last start on Oct. 20, Hyatt, the first Australian competitor to sign with Invicta FC, finished Christina Nicole Tatnell just 37 seconds into their matchup with a flurry of punches.
The six-bout preliminary card will be capped off with an atomweight (105 pounds) matchup between Stephanie Frausto (4-4) of Cincinnati, Ohio and Cassie Rodish (3-3) of Des Moines, Iowa.
Unbeaten Tamikka Brents (1-0) of Springfield, Illin. will take on Amanda Bell (0-0) of Medford, Ore. at featherweight.
Jodie Esquibel (2-0) of Albuquerque, N.M. and Liz McCarthy (1-0) of Tigard, Ore. will square off at atomweight.
Emily Kagan (2-0) of Albuquerque, N.M. will put her undefeated record on the line against Rose Namajunas (0-0) of Milwaukee, Wis. In a strawweight matchup.
Paige Van Zant (2-0) of Sparks, Nev. will face off with Tecia Torres (1-0) of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. at strawweight.
About Invicta Fighting Championships:
Invicta Fighting Championships (www.invictafc.com) is a world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight series dedicated to providing female athletes with a major platform to hone their skills on a consistent basis. Founded in 2012 by longtime MMA executive Shannon Knapp and sports aficionado Janet Martin, Invicta is committed to pioneering the future growth of women’s MMA by promoting the best possible matchups between female competitors and identifying and developing future superstars of the sport.
