Everywhere you look, chicks are headlining fight cards these days. February had Rounda Rousey defending her world title in a UFC pay per view main event and now Invicta FC has announced their latest main event – a rematch between Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Dutch Marloes Coenen Pretty sweet, if you ask us.
Invicta always has a women’s bout as their headliner, of course, because they are an all Women’s MMA organization. As such, they’ve created new opportunities for female fighters to make a living and show how the females are not just the fairer sex, they might also be the fiercest.
Just as cool as what Invicta is doing, the formerly all-male MMA organization, the UFC, now has one women’s division and title, with more hopefully on the way. Last week, Meisha Tate and Cat Zingano tore down the house with their fight of the night on the UFC’s last Fuel TV card. That was on the heels of February’s UFC pay per view main event title bout between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche.
Everywhere you look, chicks are headlining fight cards these days. February had Rounda Rousey defending her world title in a UFC pay per view main event and now Invicta FC has announced their latest main event – a rematch between Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Marloes Coenen Pretty sweet, if you ask us.
Invicta always has a women’s bout as their headliner, of course, because they are an all Women’s MMA organization. As such, they’ve created new opportunities for female fighters to make a living and show how the females are not just the fairer sex, they might also be the fiercest.
Just as cool as what Invicta is doing, the formerly all-male MMA organization, the UFC, now has one women’s division and title, with more hopefully on the way. Last week, Meisha Tate and Cat Zingano tore down the house with their fight of the night on the UFC’s last Fuel TV card. That was on the heels of February’s UFC pay per view main event title bout between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche.
It was a one-round barn-burner that made the UFC a ton of money and got organization President Dana White singing a different tune about women’s MMA. With the rematch between Cyborg (aka. The woman we really want to see face Rousey in the UFC, thanks a lot, career-managing-hands of Tito Ortiz) and Coenen, we’ll at least get to see the former women’s MMA Queenpin Santos back in action again right away and against another dangerous kickboxer who at least has proven she can last more than 30 seconds against the Brazilian.
Who ya got, nation? Also, check out MMA Fighting for the full Invicta FC6 card thus far.
Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler: Competing professionally since 2003, you’d be hard pressed to find a WMMA fan who hasn’t heard of Baszler. The Strikeforce, EliteXC, and InvictaFC veteran is currently 15-8 and 3-2 in her last 5 and holds notable victories over Sarah D’Alelio, Alexis Davis, and Julie Kedzie. Baszler most recently suffered a third round submission loss in her rematch with Davis at Invicta FC 4.
Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler: Competing professionally since 2003, you’d be hard pressed to find a WMMA fan who hasn’t heard of Baszler. The Strikeforce, EliteXC, and InvictaFC veteran is currently 15-8 and 3-2 in her last 5 and holds notable victories over Sarah D’Alelio, Alexis Davis, and Julie Kedzie. Baszler most recently suffered a third round submission loss in her rematch with Davis at Invicta FC 4.
Tara Larosa: 21-3, with notable victories over Baszler, Kedzie, Davis, and Carina Damm. A two-time ADCC silver medalist (2005, 2007), Larosa is on the heels of a unanimous decision loss to Vanessa Porto at Invicta 3 — just her second in her past twenty contests.
Also on the list of potential housemates were Invicta FC standouts Sarah Moras, Jessamyn Duke, Raquel Pennington and Jocelyn Lybarger.
As previously announced, TUF 18: Rousey vs. Zingano is set to premiere on September 4th on Fox Sports 1, which will host all of the UFC’s cable-offerings moving forward. After milling over the credentials of a few potential participants, do any of you think Larosa or Baszler should be favored to win the season, or will a completely unknown underdog shock the world yet again? And will Couture serve as next season’s Junie Browning?
Invicta FC put on its fifth event last night, closing out a very successful first year for the promotion. A thirteen-fight card at Kansas City’s Ameristar Casino highlighted Invicta’s swelling roster of talented fighters and solidified the promotions reputation for delivering entertaining MMA bouts. The show featured debuts of three champs from Strikeforce and Bellator, plus a pair of Invicta championship matchups. And it fucking rocked.
The card started with a pair of quick submissions, including CagePotato’s own Rose Namajunas, who set the internet on fire with a twelve second flying armbar victory. According to initial reports, that is the 5th fastest victory in MMA history, and fastest in the women’s division. Namajunas was understandably jubilant in her win, saying later that she would like all of her fights to be of the blink-and-you-missed-it variety. She also pointed out that she was still a prospect just starting out at 2-0, and that title talks could wait until she gained more experience.
Obligatory. PicProps: Patrick Walters, CP OG
Invicta FC put on its fifth event last night, closing out a very successful first year for the promotion. A thirteen-fight card at Kansas City’s Ameristar Casino highlighted Invicta’s swelling roster of talented fighters and solidified the promotions reputation for delivering entertaining MMA bouts. The show featured debuts of three champs from Strikeforce and Bellator, plus a pair of Invicta championship matchups. And it fucking rocked.
The card started with a pair of quick submissions, including CagePotato’s own Rose Namajunas, who set the internet on fire with a twelve second flying armbar victory. According to initial reports, that is the 5th fastest victory in MMA history, and fastest in the women’s division. Namajunas was understandably jubilant in her win, saying later that she would like all of her fights to be of the blink-and-you-missed-it variety. She also pointed out that she was still a prospect just starting out at 2-0, and that title talks could wait until she gained more experience.
Also on the preliminary card was a bout between Miriam “The Queen of Mean” Nakamoto and Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke, a matchup between relative newcomers to MMA with extensive striking backgrounds. Nakamoto scored a KO victory in the first round with a pair of blistering knees, but there was some controversy when the second knee strike landed on a downed Duke. Shannon Knapp explained at the presser that the first (legal) knee that landed was considered the knockout blow, but said she would review the fight later. Nakamoto earned Knockout of the Night honors, adding insult to Duke’s injury and keeping her up on Twitter into Saturday morning.
Kicking off the main card was a matchup between popular Australian fighter Bec Hyatt and Austrian striker Jasminka Cive. The two had brought some personal heat to the matchup, including a pre-fight facedown with Invicta commentator Julie Kedzie. Hyatt squashed the beef with an armbar victory in the first round, and will look to rebuild momentum for another shot at Invicta’s 115 pound title.
And then came the upsets. First out was Kaitlin Young, a seasoned pro whose 7-7-1 record belies a career fighting top-ranked women, including Miesha Tate, Gina Carano, Julie Kedzie, and Liz Carmouche. Young dropped a decision to surging Lauren Taylor, and now carries a losing record for the first time in her career.
Zoila Frausto-Gurgel fell victim next, losing a decision in her Invicta debut against Brazilian Jennifer Maia. Frausto-Gurgel was visibly frustrated with the decision and the question marks surrounding her. Zoila competed successfully at 115 pounds under the Bellator banner, but the weight cut was notably difficult. 125 was supposed to be her playground, with a clear shot toward title contention, and that path is no longer so straight and easy.
The upset parade almost continued into the next fight, between former 135 pound queenpin Sarah Kaufman and Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith, a three round war that went to the judges and resulted in a razor-thin split decision for Kaufman. Smith, who was a virtual unknown training under Ceasar Gracie a year ago, is now perhaps the most dangerous opponent a bantamweight woman can accept. On the other hand, taking a fight with Smith guarantees a crowd-pleasing war and a potential Fight of the Night bonus. The controversial decision (which the crowd loudly disagreed with) brought a bit of awkwardness to the press conference after the fights. Smith, while not willing to directly criticize the decision, pointed out that the UFC could rightly lose confidence in one of “their” fighters (Kaufman), if she had such a narrow decision win over a mere “Invicta fighter” like herself. (For the record, Smith would have won under Stockton Rules.) Meanwhile, Kaufman held a frozen smile, too polite to argue in a civilized setting like a press conference. A rematch between the two was discussed (and literally applauded by the gathered media), under either the UFC’s banner or Invicta’s.
There would be no upset for Cris Cyborg’s Invicta debut. Matched up with Aussie tough Fiona Muxlow, Cyborg put on a blazing display of aggression that lasted a shade over three and a half minutes, at which point Big John McCarthy decided that, no, this Australian lady is not going to crack Cyborg’s fists with her skull, and called the fight. It was announced at the post-fight that Cyborg will move on to compete in Invicta’s inaugural 145 pound title fight against Marloes Coenen in July, while Muxlow works on regaining hand-eye coordination and vowel sounds. She did not attend the press conference after the fights.
Speaking of inaugural titles, Invicta held its first 125 pound title fight between Vanessa Porto and Barb Honchak. After the public execution of Cyborg’s fight, the crowd got a bit restless with the more technical striking exchange. Honchak looked to counter Porto’s vicious leg kicks with combinations, and built up a commanding lead on the cards for a unanimous decision win and the Strawweight Championship.
Closing out the night was Jessica Penne’s first title defense of her Atomweight belt, against Jackson’s MMA fighter Michele Waterson. In interviews leading up to the fight, Penne downplayed the importance of the title and any sense of ego about being the champ, but her enjoyment of her status as queen of the 105ers was as blatant as the #firstever hashtag she used to describe her reign. Not that Penne was resting on her laurels: she was a hard-training, well-rounded, athletically-gifted champ, and she’d earned the belt. Waterson, while an exciting fighter that has a bigger kicking repertoire than Hwoarang and Baek Doo Son combined, looked to be smaller and incapable of fending off Penne’s solid grappling attack.
Oh, how wrong we were. Waterson was quite capable, thank you, and proved it by gutting out an armbar attack from the champ that appeared to snap Waterson’s arm. Waterson would go on to pull out a sneaky-fast armbar transition of her own in the fourth round, earning a quick tap and a shiny new belt as the #secondever Atomweight Champion.
All in all, it was another soaring success for Invicta. While there were complaints about unstable streaming, they were a tiny percentage of the problems Invicta faced in its first iPPV venture. More and more people are realizing that, yes, there is depth of talent in the ladies’ division. All you have to do is showcase it. Invicta’s first year has proven that the athletes are ready for a bigger stage, and the promotion is ready to provide it. While there may be growing pains, like adjusting to a television deal that’s looking increasingly likely to happen. Like it or not, Invicta FC is here to stay.
Of all the attempts to exploit female MMA fighters for their looks, the above photo of Alexis Davis might be the most confusing. I mean, she’s clearly an attractive woman to those of us with non-Internet standards, but did the photographer responsible for this realize that WMMA is not Foxy Boxing? If you want to do a sexy photo shoot showcasing the “feminine” side of a female fighter (makeup, hurr did, etc.), then do a sexy photo shoot. If you want to showcase your female fighter as a female fighter, then have her throw on the gloves and maybe hit some heavy bags like you would with anyone else. Combining the two just seems…impractical and kind of counterproductive to the whole “we are more than just a pretty face” WMMA ideology, does it not?
Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox to pass along the news that Davis has just been booked to take on wrestling powerhouse and qualified osteopathRosi Sexton at UFC 161 in June. According to the UFC, the fight will air on the pay-per-view portion of the card that already features Shogun vs. Lil’ Nog II and Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson (man, Hendo appears to just be rolling in it these days).
Of all the attempts to exploit female MMA fighters for their looks, the above photo of Alexis Davis might be the most confusing. I mean, she’s clearly an attractive woman to those of us with non-Internet standards, but did the photographer responsible for this realize that WMMA is not Foxy Boxing? If you want to do a sexy photo shoot showcasing the “feminine” side of a female fighter (makeup, hurr did, etc.), then do a sexy photo shoot. If you want to showcase your female fighter as a female fighter, then have her throw on the gloves and maybe hit some heavy bags like you would with anyone else. Combining the two just seems…impractical and kind of counterproductive to the whole “we are more than just a pretty face” WMMA ideology, does it not?
Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox to pass along the news that Davis has just been booked to take on wrestling powerhouse and qualified osteopathRosi Sexton at UFC 161 in June. According to the UFC, the fight will air on the pay-per-view portion of the card that already features Shogun vs. Lil’ Nog II and Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson (man, Hendo appears to just be rolling in it these days).
A veteran of the sport since 2007, Davis is riding back-to-back submission victories over Hitomi Akano and Shayna Baszler at Invicta 2 and Invicta 4, respectively. Her battle with Sarah Kaufman at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey easily ranked among the top 10 fights of 2012, if not the top 5, so expect her to put on a show against Sexton, who has collected three straight victories under the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship banner dating back to 2010.
Featuring a headlining interim bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland, UFC 161 is scheduled for June 15th in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Invicta’s production values have been a consistent strong point, and this latest preview video from Esther Lin and E. Casey Leydon is no exception. It’s beautiful work, and does a fantastic job setting up Friday night’s main event, between Invicta’s Atomweight (105) Champion Jessica Penne and challenger Michelle Waterson.
Highlights:
– Some of you may remember Jessica Penne from an interview we did with her in August 2010 (I haven’t asked, but I’m pretty sure Penne still hates you assholes), but this is not the same fighter. She looks about ten pounds stronger and ten pounds lighter at the same time.
– In general, there’s a decent amount of footage of Penne beastin’ all over the gym.
– While talking about fitting in at the Jackson-Winklejohn camp, Michelle Waterson lets slip that Jackson calls her “peanut”. Awwwwwwww.
– Jon Jones says after a long day of working out, sometimes he likes to cool down and watch the Karate Hottie kick it like Tae Bo. Then he mumbles something about stealing techniques, like that makes it any better.
Invicta’s production values have been a consistent strong point, and this latest preview video from Esther Lin and E. Casey Leydon is no exception. It’s beautiful work, and does a fantastic job setting up Friday night’s main event, between Invicta’s Atomweight (105) Champion Jessica Penne and challenger Michelle Waterson.
Highlights:
– Some of you may remember Jessica Penne from an interview we did with her in August 2010 (I haven’t asked, but I’m pretty sure Penne still hates you assholes), but this is not the same fighter. She looks about ten pounds stronger and ten pounds lighter at the same time.
– In general, there’s a decent amount of footage of Penne beastin’ all over the gym.
– While talking about fitting in at the Jackson-Winklejohn camp, Michelle Waterson lets slip that Jackson calls her “peanut”. Awwwwwwww.
– Jon Jones says after a long day of working out, sometimes he likes to cool down and watch the Karate Hottie kick it like Tae Bo. Then he mumbles something about stealing techniques, like that makes it any better.
– There’s also a fair amount of footage of Waterson beastin’ all over the gym, including beating the absolute dogshit out of 125er Tara LaRosa. Sarah Kaufmann also vouches for Waterson’s power, in her polite Canadian manner.
– Waterson compares working through adversity in a fight with dealing with contractions during labor. Like you hear from EVERY FIGHTER EVER, GAH, think up new analogies, geez.
Backing up the Penne-Waterson title scrap, Vanessa Porto and Barb Honchak will vie for the Strawweight Championship, Cris Cyborg faces a scary Australian lady (after her original opponent, Scary Brazilian Lady, was injured), and Sarah Kaufman and Leslie Smith are primed for a knockdown-dragout affair. PLUS: Zoila Frausto-Gurgel, Kaitlin Young, Bec Hyatt, Jessamyn Duke, friend of the Tater Cassie Rodish, and of course Her Thuggishness, Rose Namajunas.
If George Shunick’s piece on Fallox Fox and transgender athletes in MMA proved anything to me, it’s that – regardless of whether you agree with Joe Rogan’s stance on the issue (or how he chose to express that stance) – Fallon Fox vs. Cris Cyborg is a fight that FANS NEED TO SEE DAMMIT. One fighter is arguably the most devastating female in MMA, yet is also constantly accused of being a man. The other fighter is undefeated, used to literally be a man, and now calls herself “The Queen of Swords” because of course she calls herself that. In fact, I’m willing to write that Fallon Fax vs. Cris Cyborg – if it were to happen – would go down as the single greatest superfight in the history of MMA, because hyperbole is a pretty rad figure of speech that we don’t use nearly enough around here.
“She wants to be a girl. I don’t agree,” said Santos, who for the first time in almost a year and half will return to fighting on April 5. “I think you’re born a girl, you’re a girl. You’re born a guy, you’re a guy. But I don’t choose opponents. The commission needs to check and make sure she doesn’t have testosterone.
If George Shunick’s piece on Fallox Fox and transgender athletes in MMA proved anything to me, it’s that – regardless of whether you agree with Joe Rogan’s stance on the issue (or how he chose to express that stance) – Cris Cyborg vs. Fallon Fox is a fight that FANS NEED TO SEE DAMMIT. One fighter is arguably the most devastating female in MMA, yet is also constantly accused of being a man. The other fighter is undefeated, used to literally be a man, and now calls herself “The Queen of Swords” because of course she calls herself that. In fact, I’m willing to write that Cris Cyborg vs. Fallon Fox – if it were to happen – would go down as the single greatest superfight in the history of MMA, because hyperbole is a pretty rad figure of speech that we don’t use nearly enough around here.
“She wants to be a girl. I don’t agree,” said Santos, who for the first time in almost a year and half will return to fighting on April 5. “I think you’re born a girl, you’re a girl. You’re born a guy, you’re a guy. But I don’t choose opponents. The commission needs to check and make sure she doesn’t have testosterone.
“I’m not going to judge other people. If the commission says she can fight, why not?”
The 27-year-old Strikeforce champion tested positive for steroids following her 16-second demolition of Hiroko Yamanaka in December 2011, so that quote will inspire contempt in some people. But that’s nothing new for Santos. Because of her muscular build and aggressive fighting style, she’s been subjected to cruel, crude name calling throughout her career. She said she understands what Fox must be going through in a world in which everyone with an opinion can have access to the people they’re opining about via social media.
“People tell me on Twitter: ‘I think you have a d—.’ A lot of bad things, they say. I think people have a small mind,” Santos said.
“They don’t think a girl can punch hard like a man. I think people are ignorant. People are stupid. I don’t want to be the same as people who do that.”
Far be it from me to try to make sense out of the “make sure she doesn’t have testosterone” comment. My small mind was blown at the very notion that Cris Cyborg vs. Fallon Fox may totally happen, provided that everyone can agree on a weight class. Considering that they both fight at featherweight, this shouldn’t be too hard.
Naturally, once Cyborg expressed her willingness to fight The Queen of Swords, she returned to her regular schedule of wrestling, sparring and accusing Ronda Rousey of being protected from her by the powers that be. As she told Bleacher Report:
“I don’t want to talk trash about somebody, I want to prove it inside the cage. When she was in my weight class she said ‘I want to fight Cris Cyborg’ and when I had my last fight against Hiroko (Yamanaka) I talked to Sean Shelby, the matchmaker at Strikeforce, and I said ‘I want Ronda next.’ He said ‘no, she’s not ready for you’ and after that fight she’s talking bad about me but you guys protected her,” Santos revealed in an interview with Bleacher Report
“Because after my fight I told them I want to fight her and they said no she’s not ready for you.”
…
“She fought at 154 (pounds) in Judo, and I think who is running? It’s not me. I fight at 145, she fought at 145, who’s running from this fight? Not me,” said Cyborg. “People need to see the fact to see who’s running.”
The woman who refused to sign with the UFC is the person not running from this fight. Sure, why not? Normally, I’d mean that in the most sarcastic way possible, but since Cyborg vs. Fox would never, ever happen in the UFC, I’ll just accept those comments at face value and move on.
Now the only question is whether or not Fox is willing to step up and fight Cyborg. Will that happen or not, Potato Nation? And who would win this hypothetical superfight?
