This Week in Women's MMA - November 21

Promoted to the Front Page by Beth

A week of MMA has come and gone and with that, it’s time to look forward to a new batch of women’s fights!  We don’t have the benefit of any Strikeforce or Bellator shows this week, but we still have some good bouts to look forward to.  The North American Allied Fight Series, better known as the NAAFS, is putting on the two most notable fights of the week at their Night of Champions event.  Pancrase also has a 105 pound fight taking place at their twelfth Impressive Tour event.

I’ll also be taking a look at the fights I previewed last week and filling you guys in on the results.  I don’t want to spoil anything but here’s a hint: I’m apparently very good at picking WMMA winners.  I didn’t say I wasn’t going to brag, I’m pleased as punch to be able to brag.  I’m just not spoiling anything.  Unless you remember my picks from last week.  Then I’m spoiling it.  But these fights have already happened so whatever.

So after the jump, read all about a terrible arm injury, successful professional debuts, and the week ahead of us for women’s MMA!

Strikeforce Challengers 20 (11/18/2011) - 145 pounds: Ronda Rousey d. Julia Budd (Submission – Round 1, 0:39)

It seems that I gave Julia Budd more credit than I should have as she fell to Ronda Rousey much like her previous opponents.  Rousey quickly secured an armbar that Budd was surprisingly able to survive for quite some time.  This came as a detriment to Budd, whose elbow was properly dislocated by Rousey.  Pat Miletich called Budd’s injury a "flamingo leg", which I think is Iowa slang for "that girl got fucked up."  Rousey then called out Miesha Tate after the fight, thinking she’s somehow done enough to earn a title shot by submitting four lower-to-middle tier fighters at 145 pounds.

I feel like Rousey is maybe one fight away from a title shot at 145 pounds, but two away from a shot at 135 pounds.  If she could beat a fighter like Kelly Kobold or Amanda Nunes at 145 pounds, she should get a shot at the winner of Cyborg vs. Hiroko Yamanaka.  Otherwise, she would likely need to defeat Alexis Davis and then the loser of Tate vs. Sarah Kaufman for a shot at 135 pounds.  Then again, Rousey is a unique combination of scary and pretty that might accommodate a more immediate title shot.

via s8.postimage.org

XFL – Xtreme Fight Night (11/18/2011) - 115 pounds Title: Ashley Cummins d. (c) Chelsea Colarelli (Submission – Round 5, 1:41)

In what was apparently a title fight, Ashley Cummins was successful in her MMA debut by defeating veteran Chelsea Colarelli.  This fight was, by all accounts, a submission war with both fighters working frantically to finish the fight.  Cummins was in control early in the fight while Colarelli fought back and came close to finishing the fight in the later rounds.  Colarelli eventually succumbed to a rear naked choke, dropping to 6-4 in her career.

Battle Under the Tower (11/19/2011) - 145 pounds: Hatice Ozyurt d. Lena Buytendijk (Unanimous Decision)

In another successful debut, Hatice Ozyurt was able to take a unanimous decision victory over Lena Buytendijk, who is now without a win in her first two professional fights.

Bellator 58 (11/19/2011) - 116 pounds: Jessica Aguilar d. Lisa Ellis-Ward (Unanimous Decision)

Originally scheduled to be fought at 115 pounds, the fight was bumped up a pound due to Aguilar coming into the fight heavy.  Her fight weight of 117 pounds exceeded the one pound allowance given to fighters.

I can’t imagine that single pound had very much impact on the outcome of this fight.  The contest was all Jessica Aguilar, who got the better of the stand up and worked for submission when she was able to bring this fight to the ground.  Both girls fought very hard and put on a great show, but Aguilar took a clear unanimous decision victory.

This fight was fortunately promoted to the main card of the event after Bjorn Rebney polled Bellator fans on Twitter about which fight they would like to see.  Though some complained that a Brett Cooper vs. Jared Hess battle should have been shown on the main card, this fight did not disappoint.

After the bout, Jessica Aguilar issued a challenge of her own to Megumi Fujii, who she called the number one fighter at 115 pounds.  Aguilar seems to be in the camp of those who feel that Zoila Frausto-Gurgel’s win over Megumi Fujii was far from definite, as this was quite the shot at Bellator’s reigning champion.  As I said last week, there really needs to be a tournament in season six to determine the next challenger for Zoila’s title.

Bushido – Hero’s World GP Lithuania (11/19/2011) - 145 pounds Title: (c) Yana Kunitskaya d. Arune Lauzeckaite (TKO – Round 1, 1:35)

This also ended up being a title fight, though I’m not sure how you can defend a title against an opponent with a record of 0-1.  Nonetheless, Kunitskaya secured the first round win after the referee called off the fight.  Kunitskaya was successfully able to bring Lauzeckaite to the mat, throwing heavy leather from the mount before the fight was ended.

Cage Fight Series 6 (11/20/2011) - 118 pounds: Jasminka Cive d. Lilla Vincze (TKO – Round 2)

In similar fashion to their first fight, Cive was able to pull off a second round victory over Lilla Vincze, who is still looking for her first win in MMA.  Cive remains perfect at 4-0, though she’s yet to fight anybody of note.  By that, I mean her opponents are a combined 0-6, meaning she’s accounted for 67% of her opponents’ losses.  We’ll have to wait and see how Cive does against stronger competition before determining her true place in the rankings.

This Week’s Picks: 6-0
Overall Total: 6-0

I compile my picks almost solely to brag.  My status as a bit of a braggart did lend to the decision probably more than anything else, but I encourage you all to pick against me if so inclined!  Certainly, some of this was luck so I’m sure I won’t be quick to mention it when my picks are inevitably miserable.  Still, for this week, I am a WMMA picks success!  Now let’s check out the fights for this coming week.

NAAFS Night of Champions (11/23/2011) - 125 pounds Title: (c) Aisling Daly (12-2, No. 9 WLW) vs. Kelly Warren (3-0)

Aisling Daly is probably one of the top female fighters out of the UK and is surely the top Irish women's MMA fighter.  She's compiled a great record in her career thus far, her only two losses coming at the hands of Sheila Gaff and Lisa Ellis-Ward, the latter of the two losses coming at Bellator.  She's an extremely fan friendly fighter having finished ten of her twelve wins and having done so in the first round six times.

Kelly Warren is a talented submission artist with kickboxing experience who fights out of Greg Jackson's submission camp.  Though she's at 3-0, Warren's opponents only have a combined record of 6-11.  Warren is probably best remembered for an unfortunate incident in August, when she missed weight for her fight with Felice Herrig by almost eight pounds.  The fight ended up being scrapped because of the weight difference and Warren has wisely returned back to 125 pounds.

Unfortunately, I don't think Warren's return to the weight class will be very successful.  Aisling Daly is a tough fighter and a rising star at 125 pounds.  She also has short pink hair and girls with short pink hair are bad ass.  Except for Pink herself, she's kinda obnoxious.  I wish Aisling Daly would beat up Pink like she's going to beat of Kelly Warren.

NAAFS Night of Champions (11/23/2011) - 125 pounds: Jessica Eye (4-1) vs. Jennifer Scott (2-1, 1 NC)

Most of the fighters I cover have some sort of boxing, Muay Thai, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background that leads to MMA success.  Not so, in the case of Jessica "Evil" Eye and Jennifer Scott.  Eye and Scott both got into MMA for fitness purposes and assumed the sport professionally from there.  Scott also used to be a Hawaiian Tropic bikini model before getting into MMA.

Both fighters are more of strikers, focusing on their boxing more than anything else.  Eye has experienced more success in her career, compiling an impressive amateur record before starting her pro career with an impressive 4-1 record.  Eye's only loss is to the aforementioned Aisling Daly, while her last fight was a win over Casey Noland at Bellator 51.  Scott has still yet to have a lot of professional success and has lost her last two fights, though one of those losses was overturned due to a positive drug test by Jessica Rakoczy.

I think we'll see a lot of fireworks in this contest and I think we'll see Eye take a TKO victory.  She has quite a bit more experience than her opponent and has fared well against fairly good competition.  There's a chance we'll be seeing more of Eye in Bellator, especially if she's willing to drop down and compete at 115 pounds.

Rumble of the Kings (11/26/2011) - 125 pounds: Hanna Sillen (4-1) vs. Katrina Teer (0-0)

The Swedish Hanna Sillen is probably one of the best unranked fighters in all of WMMA.  Unlike many of the fighters I've already discussed, Sillen has taken on a really strong group of fighters and has done exceedingly well with good striking and a decent ground game.  Her only loss is to Sheila Gaff while she has wins over Finnish standout Maiju Kujala and the previously undefeated Kate Jackson.

Katrina Teer may only have an average amateur record at this point, but I've heard lots of good things about this up and coming fighter.  She has good Muay Thai and BJJ and is a very strong 125 pound fighter.  Teer has competed as high as 140 pounds so she might be able to out muscle other fighters at her weight class.

I'm not sure that Teer will have enough to challenge Sillen, but I think she will be competitive in this fight.  I think we'll see Sillen take a unanimous decision, but I don't expect it to be a very one-sided affair.  Teer will get in her offense, but I don't think she's quite at the point where she can challenge a veteran fighter like Sillen.

Pancrase Impressive Tour 12 (11/27/2011) - 100 pounds: Fukuko Hamada (7-6, No. 15 WBW) vs. Kayo Nagayasu (7-6-3, No. 12 WBW)

I've only recently added rankings for the 105 pound division on my site since the weight class is pretty shallow at this point.  Blackeye Promotions is starting to expand upon their division, while Pancrase and Jewels both consistently promote fights at that weight.

Here we have a battle between two ranked 105 pound fighters when Fukuko Hamada takes on Kayo Nagayasu.  The fighers share very similar records with Nagayasu's three draws being the difference.  The fighters have actually squared off before with Nagayasu taking a majority decision victory in April 2010.  After defeating Hamada, Nagayasu was inactive for quite a while before fighting to a majority draw against sixth ranked Naoko Omuro in September 2011.  Hamada has since won two fights against opponents with a combined 2-8-2 record.

These fighters are pretty evenly matched, as they've had better luck against lower level competition while struggling against the upper tier at 105 pounds.  More often than not, you'll see these fighters end up going to decisions.  Hamada has gone to the judges' scorecards 10 out of 13 times compared to 13 out of 16 for Nagayasu, so odds are we'll be going to the scorecards once again in this contest.  If I had to pick one of these fighters to win, it would probably be Kayo Nagayasu but I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up going to a draw.

So those are the big fights for the week.  Definitely not as star-studded as last week, but these are definitely some fighters you should check out.  In closing, a fun fact for you to consider.  Ronda Rousey competed in her seventh fight this past Friday (four professional, three amateur).  She's won each of these seven fights by armbar and has spent a grand total of 4:02 fighting during these bouts.  Simply amazing.