Over two years ago, Lynn Le had a vision: to make female fight gear that actual fit and was more reliable.
Le soon began her journey giving creation to Society Nine, a company that will change the combat sports world as a whole. Her kickstarter found huge support, garnered her some awards, and got needed funding to get started.
It wasn’t easy though. Pressure to deliver a completed and well working product is a monumental task. Le and the company had to deal with delays due to find more appropriate vendors for materials, dealing with factories that need to manufacture the products just right, and finally getting the gear in the hands of the individuals who paid good money for a high quality product. Society Nine was able to pull through the hurdles and deliver their product as promised.
UFC Tonight announced Wednesday that Justine Kish will make her long awaited UFC debut against Nina Ansaroff January 2nd in Las Vegas at UFC 195.
Kish (4-0) was a part of TUF 20, but didn’t fight because of a knee injury. She has a notable win over top contender Randa Markos. This will be her debut at strawweight.
Ansaroff (6-4) is coming off a decision loss to Juliana Lima, after winning five straight.
The match will air on the preliminary matches on Fox Sports 1.
After being passed up for a title shot, Miesha Tate says she doesn’t know what is next for her.
Tate was on “The MMA Hour” this past Monday to comment about her situation. Tate hasn’t been in touch with the UFC directly since the announcement or Ronda Rousey taking on Holly Holm, having her management handling communications. She stated she refused the fight with Amanda Nunes not because of Nunes, but because it would be a Fight Pass card, which would mean less money. Tate’s opinion is she is undervalued for facing tougher opponents. Nunes would be a great match for her according to Tate.
Tate’s other point was there is no clear path for her to get another title shot. After being promised the title shot after her win against Jessica Eye and having that taken away, she is weary of if she wants to continue fighting; stating a move onto the Fox analyst desk or into movies as an option out of fighting.
Tate and UFC President Dana White will discuss Tate’s future in the next few weeks in Vegas.
Bellator adds another female match for their 146th card in Thackerville, OK, on November 20.
Arlene Blencowe will look to rebound after her loss to Marloes Conene taking on Gabrielle Halloway, who is coming off a loss to Julia Budd.
Blencowe (6-5) won four straight before her loss to Coenen and is a world boxing champion. Halloway has a notable win over Andria Wawro and will fight for the fourth time this year.
The match joins Julia Budd versus Roberta Rovel on the card, which will stream on the prelims on Spike.com.
OneFC announces three female bouts for their upcoming cards.
Coming off her KO win over Ann Osman, Irina Mazepa (1-0) will take on boxing world champion Ana Julaton (2-1) at OneFC: Spirit of Champions in Manila, Philippines December 11th.
The OneFC card in Phnom Penh, Cambodia December 5th has a pair of atomweight bouts: Tharoth Sam (2-1) takes on Jeet Toshi (2-2), while Vy Srey Chai (0-1) battles Eh Ya Nut (pro debut).
Rena
Shootboxing champion Rena Kubota will make her official transition to MMA on New Years Eve Rizin card. Kubota will face Italian kickboxer Jleana Valentino.
Kubota is a four time shootbox champion and is now training at AACC in Tokyo with InvictaFC champion Ayaka Hamasaki. Valentino has won several regional titles in kickboxing and looks to continue what has been a wave of Italian talent making moves on the world MMA stage.
The match joins Gabrielle Garcia facing a yet to be named opponent. TNA Wrestling star Lei’D Tapa, who is training at American Top Team at present, is being considered for the fight.
World amateur wrestling champion Kanako Murata is also being consider for the card to make her MMA debut.
Part of the Rizin card will air New Years Eve on Spike TV in the U.S.
Speaking of making the transition to MMA, Mackenzie Dern has been training at the MMA Lab in Phoenix, Arizona with RFA champ Jocelyn Lybarger and UFC fighter Lauren Murphy to get ready for her first fight in the cage. No word on when that will be.
InvictaFC star Sharon Jacobson is going to try to qualify for the 2016 US Olympic wrestling team. The qualifying trials are in December with the team trials being in April. Randi Miller has also expressed interest in trying for the team again as well.
Immortal FC has announced two matches for their “Road to Invicta” strawweight tournament.
Caroline Silva vs. Adriana del Vigna
Morgana Silva vs Nicolle Caliari
The matches will happen in Paranagua, Parana, Brazil November 11th. Winner of the tournament will get a contract with Invicta.
A few more matches announced this past week:
Leah Nidas looks for her first pro win as she takes on Shaena Cox November 14th at Pure FC in Wisconsin.
Andy Nguyen looks for her second win and first pro title as she takes on Melissa Karagahnagis for the CUFF atomweight title in Trinidad.
International Fighting Evolution has announced a tournament that will focus on striking and the art of stand-up fighting.
“The Circle” is a team tournament in which fighters from 16 different countries compete in what is a combination of kickboxing and shootboxing. The participants compete in a circular 23 foot ring with three 3 minute rounds. The gloves are lighter than boxing gloves: 6 ounce gloves for lighter divisions and 8 oz for the heavier ones.
Each team will consist for three male and one female fighter. The females will be fighting at 121 pounds/55 kg. In a unique twist, fighters can’t gain more than 3 kg (6.6 lbs) between weigh-ins and the fight.
The first event is slated for Barcelona, Spain September 12th. It will see Team Spain versus Team Australia and Team Thailand versus Team Italy. The matches themselves see:
Chomanee Sor Taehiran (Thailand) vs. Donatella Panu (Italy)
Eva Naranjo (Spain) VS Sam ‘Nanu’ Brown (Australia)
Among other announced participants:
Samanta Allevato (Argentina)
Iman Ghbalou Chairi (Morroco)
Christi Brereton (Great Britain)
Sofia Olofsson (Sweden)
Valeria Drozdova (Russia)
Samantha Van Doorn (Holland)
Countries who haven’t announced their female participants: Brazil, China, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, and the USA.
The September 12th event will be broadcast on Fox Sports Europe and Africa, but no streaming or broadcast details as of yet for North and South America.
There has been many films that have covered female fighting in one form of another for the past fifty years; from documentaries to major motion pictures.
The new millennium and the increase of female participation in combat sports has saw growth in to many of these stories being told.
The Artemis Film Festival is looking to highlight these stories as they are currently working their first event for April 2015.
We talked to the organizers Sean Newcombe and Melanie Wise about their inspiration for the festival and how women’s combat sports have been a big part of it.
Wombat Sports: How did the idea of the Artemis Film Festival come about?
Artemis Film Festival: The idea came about through inspiration, really. We have all been devoted to female action films from the standpoint of the sheer joy we have for physically strong female characters, but also from the standpoint of our passion for having a positive effect on the image of women in film and culture. We’ve all been completely focused on writing and creating female action films. We thought that having a film festival focused on female action heroes would allow for people who share our passion for strong female characters to celebrate this genre. We also felt it would be an opportunity to spotlight the power of women in our culture.
We wanted the festival to be a place where the legions of fans who love female action heroes could go and enjoy a array of great films in one place and at one time. (Female action films are a $3 billion industry, so this is not a niche.) The fact that such a festival had never been done before boggled our minds.
By showcasing such films, we could also draw attention to women as heroes, fighters and leaders, rather than as long-suffering wives, dutiful assistants and victims. We hope that we could help change the narrative of how women are portrayed in film.
Lastly, film often reflects and influences how we see ourselves, and celebrating these films, we hope, will help positively influence how women and girls perceive their power and status in culture.
Wombat: Can you tell us about the festival?
Artimis: We plan to show both classic female action films such as “Aliens” and “Kill Bill” and also showcase new films by unknown filmmakers in our festival competition. We want to be a venue that encourages new and unknown filmmakers to make female action films. If there’s an outlet for such films, they are more likely to be made.
We are also going to have an awards ceremony for films in competition and give awards to the women who are both pioneers and stars in female action films made by Hollywood. We have sent many invites to well-known female action stars and expect to hear from them soon. Also, we want to honor stuntwomen, athletes (women’s mma, of course) and female first-responders, such as military women.
W.S.: The culture has shifted in both entertainment and sports in term of female roles. What are you thoughts about the societal change?
AFF: There’s has been a shift in reality, in our everyday lives, but there has not necessarily been a shift in how that reality is portrayed in the media. While Hollywood has recently realized the power of the female action film market, they’ve been slow to broaden their portrayals of women to reflect the dynamism and power that can be seen in women in every aspect of our culture. We hope that our festival will help prod a faster shift to not only more roles for women in film (right now less than one out of every three speaking characters in a Hollywood movie, on average, is female), but to stronger, better roles for women.
W.S.: What kind of reaction have you seen among the female fight community?
AFF: The response from women, generally, has been extraordinary! The women we’ve heard from both in social media and in daily life has been completely positive, passionate and vocal.
With respect to the women’s mma community, we have not heard a lot, unfortunately. We’d love to hear more from them because we are huge supporters of womens mma! We love the sport and we’d love to celebrate it at our festival. Women’s mma is at the forefront of positively shifting societal images of female physical power. (Invicta FC and Tuf 20 are just two examples of that positive shift.) We want to honor that.
AFF: They can expect to see a festival which will properly honors the female action genre in a manner it deserves. We’d like our festival to have as broad a reach as possible so that we can include as many of the great films and as many of the women who are part of this cultural gender shift as possible.
Our crowdfunding is intended to allow us to show more classic films, more films from new, unknown filmmakers in the competition and offer a chance to honor the kind of women we mentioned above. We’d also like to make sure that the experience of the people who attend the festival is as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.
By crowdfunding we feel that we can offer a broader, bolder festival.
W.S.: Anything you want to add?
AFF: We want this festival to be fun, but we also want to open minds. The empowerment of women is at the center of what this festival is about. It’s the soul of it, in fact.
Also, we’d like to say that we love your blog and are big supporters of women’s combat sports!
Thank you for allowing us to talk with you about our festival!
As I explained in my open letter, I am looking to change Wombat Sports to what it was initially meant to be. I can’t do this on my own, and that;s where you come in.
We are looking for contributors to help with writing articles and covering certain combat sports. You would also get to interview talented athletes in those sports.
The main contributors we are looking for is in women’s boxing, Muay Thai, freestyle wrestling, and BJJ. (We already have some people interested in covering the WMMA portion of the site). The cool things is I have the tools to gain news and info for these sports, just not the time to write it up. You can “learn on the job” if you aren’t an expert on these topics; but being curious is the key thing.
Cage Warriors has announced three female bouts for their upcoming cards.
Undefeated featherweight Pannie Kianzad (5-0) will make her Cage Warriors debut as she faces Alexandra Buch (8-3) in what will be an important match in the 145 rankings on August 22nd in Amman, Jordan. Kianzad is ranked #3 in the Unified rankings and a win could solidify her as a top contender for what could be a vacant InvictaFC 145 title. Buch is looking to crack the top 10 and make her way to the top of the ladder.
Also on the card, Lina Akhtar Länsberg meets Laura Howarth in a bantamweight bout.
Cage Warriors will head to Newport, Wales on September 13. Paulina Bonkowska will face Kate Jackson in a flyweight bout on the card.
Longtime Thailand resident and British born fighter Helen Harper will return to her home soil to take on Simona Soukupova at the MMA Showdown card in Windsor, England September 6..
Harper tried out for the “Ultimate Fighter 20” but was not selected. She is 2-0 in MMA and has a solid striking base having trained the past few years at Phunket Fight Team. Harper has recently moved back to England, and planning to train with Miesha Tate in the near future.
Soukupova is a vet of Invicta and had back to back submission wins before losing to Karolina Kowalkiewicz last September. She has never been finished.
Boxing champion Lindsay Garbatt will make her long awaited MMA debut as she faces Calie Cutler at WXC in Soughtgate, Michigan August 15.
Garbatt (8-7) is the former WIBA featherweight (126 lbs) champion and has been for a while looking to make the crossover to MMA.
Cutler went 7-1 in amateur MMA before making her pro debut in May, defeating Brittany Dugas.
Following the bout, Garbatt’s next MMA bout is ready set, as she will face Lynell House at Hard Knock Fights 38 in Calgary, Canada October 3rd.
House (2-2 MMA) is looking to get back on the winning track, and has a boxing background.
Also on the card, Kayla Matton will take on Coralie Dixon in a 110 catchweight bout.
The match will most likely stream on GoFightLive.tv for $12.
Amy Montenegro will look to come off her first pro loss by taking on InvictaFC vet Kathina Catron September 6th at XFI’s card in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Montenegro (3-1) bad back to back submissions before losing to Katie Howard by decision last month. Catron (4-3) is looking to rack up a second win in a row since last fall.
Rena
The Girls S-Cup happened this past weekend, which brought some of the best fighters out to test their Shootboxing skills.
For those not familiar with shootboxing, it’s kickboxing with takedowns. After being taken down, the fighters are immediately stood up. It also allow standing submissions.
A 50kg/110 lbs tournament took place, with multi-time champion Rena took home the title and remains undefeated in the sport. She beat Ticha in the finals. Fighters from Brazil, Netherlands, Korea, and Australia also came in for the tournament.
Also a 48 kg/106 lbs tournament that featured MMA star Mei Yamaguchi.
Here are the complete results:
50 kg tournament finals
Rena def. Ticha by TKO round 2
50 kg tournament semi-finals
Ticha def. Jiwaen Lee by unanimous decision
Rena def. Christina Jurjevic by unanimous decision
50 kg tournament quarterfinals
Jiwaen Lee def. Lorena Klijn by split decision
Ticha def. Eduarda Lima by unanimous decision
Christina Jurjevic def. Kill Bee by unanimous decision
Rena def. Simone Dommelen by unanimous decision
48 kg tournament finals
Yukari Yamaguchi def. Mio by split decision
48 kg tournament semi-finals
Yukari Yamaguchi def. V.V Mei Yamaguchi by majority decision
Mio def. Momi by unanimous decision
Single bouts
Ai Takahahi def. Nong Em by KO round 2
Union Akari def. Yuki Kira by Majority Decision
Michi Nakamura def. Tomomi Souda by Unanimous Decision
InvictaFC champion Cyborg Justino is in Thailand training and slimming down for her fight in December. You can watch her working out here.
We are happy to announce our logo will be appearing on Ediane Gomes’s banner as she takes on Tonya Evinger at InvictaFC 8 September 6 in Kansas City. This is a first for us, and something we are honored to be on it.
The CJ Report put together a great highlight video of Japanese MMA stars V.V. Mei Yamagunchi. If you don’t know her name, you will after you watch the video.
Rumors
Muay Thai Fighter Madeleine Vall has decided to change her focus to MMA. The veteran of 70 Muay Thai fights, the Swedish fighter is going to train with UFC’s Alexander Gustafsson and Ilir Latifi for her MMA debut sometime next year.
Scheduled Match Results
Sattelmeyer Courtesy MMA Super Heroes
Pro MMA
MMA Super Heroes held their fifth card in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Aline Sattelmayer improves to 7-5 and hands Renata Baldan her first loss, getting the rear naked choke at 2:40 of round 3.
Also on the card:
Luciana Treze def. Ariane Fajoli by TKO (retirement) round 2
Daiane Firmino def. Mariana Leonardo by unanimous decision
Andressa Rocha def. Amanda Torres Sardinha by unanimous decision
Shreiweis vs Mangakahia
Fighters World Cup headed to Nerang, Australia this past weekend. In what was a fierce featherweight bout, Kenani Mangakahia defeated Zoie Shreiweis by TKO 1:29 of round 3 after Shreiweis injured her arm.
In amateur action, Alexandra Muir took only 23 seconds to dispatch Katie Moran by TKO
Ammy MMA
Courtesy Silton Buendia
A trio of bouts happened at Tuff-n-uff in Las Vegas, NV this past Friday.
Aspen Ladd handed Roma Pawelek her first loss, getting the guillotine at 2:45 of round 1. Ladd had missed weight and the bout was set at 127 pounds.
In other bouts on the card:
Danielle Alfapada def. Chloe Woodie by split decision
Kristen Maaranen def. Kalecia Weisbarth by split decision
In other amateur action:
At the IT Fight Series in Lima, OH, Crystal Ceaser defeated Chelsea Herring by split decision
Hanna Cox submitted Mariah Smith by rear naked choke round 1 at Battle in the South in Wilmington, North Carolina
In a pair of bouts at Bull City Brawl in Durham, North Carolina, Kortney Singleton submitted Dominique Smith by rear naked choke round 3 and Amanda Lee defeated Katie Holloman by unanimous decision decision
At Rumble at Raxx in Port Allen, Louisiana Rachelle Dupont TKOed Emmy Wheeler in round 1
Sarah Scott defeated Avril Murphy by split decision at UXC in Toomebridge, Northern Ireland
At Warrior Nation XFA in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Lina Soto submitted Katlynn Szafarowicz by rear naked choke at 1:27 of round 2
Jackie Micale submitted Amanda Trevail by rear naked choke at 1:55 of round 1 at Gladius Fights in Liverpool, New York
At Destiny MMA in Honolulu, Hawaii, Angela Lee submitted Monica Franco by armbar round 1
Boxing
Naoko Shibata retained her IBF light flyweight title for the first time, getting the TKO over Ana Arrazola by TKO in round 9 in Tokyo, Japan. Shibata extenders her win streak to four and improves to 13-3.
Also on the card, Momo Koseki defeated Denise Castle by TKO round 8.
In Berlin, Germany, Jennifer Retzke gains the vacant IBO welterweight title by getting a split decision over Florence Muthoni. The two fought to a draw the first time around for the belt a year ago. Retzke remains unbeaten on her past 4 fights and snaps Muthoni’s three fight win streak.
In other boxing bouts:
At Ciudad Neza, México, Nancy Gonzalez defeated Maria Padron by unanimous decision
In a trio of bouts in Puerto Armuelles, Panama, Yaditza Perez defeated Jojahiny Ortega by TKO round 2, Nataly Delgado TKOed Kelly Patino in round 1, and Zuliana Mendoza defeated Veronica Taylor by TKO round 3
Carolina Marcela Gutierrez defeated Anahi Yolanda Salles by unanimous decision in Cordoba, Argentina
In Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, Tania Enriquez KOed Ana Perez by round 1
Noemi Bosques TKOed Yolaine Lin De Lauf in round 3 in Tampa, Florida
One of the top pound for pound boxers on the planet was in negotiations with the promotion since the beginning of the year. Having started her career undefeated with six finishes, Holm will have a big step up in competition in the UFC.
No word on when she will debut with the promotion.
Sufficed to say the possible match between her and boxing champion Cecilia Braekhus for the fall is now got going to happen.
Justino has hired Tony Aponte to help with the cut. Aponte has helped BJ Penn and Heath Herrig in their weight cuts. No word on an opponent as of yet.
Justino was set to defend her featherweight title against Ediane Gomes, but both have decided to drop to 135. Knapp is not sure of the status of the title. If all goes to plan, Justino will fight again next year at 135.
With Justino out for the promotion’s 9th card, it looks like Barb Honchak will defend her title and main event.
We will have more information next week. Wombat Sports will have live coverage of InvictaFC 8 in Kansas City the first week of September.
The match bewteen Shayna Baszler and Bethe Correia has been moved to UFC 177 on August 30 in Sacramento, CA after cancellation of UFC 176. The fight is expect to be on the Fox Sports 1 prelims.
InvictaFC vet Duda Yankovich is in stable condition after suffering a stroke this past Wednesday in Brazil. Her coach, Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, was there when the stroke happened and rushed her to a hospital after doctor’s advice. They found her middle cerebral artery was obstructed.
She is currently in the ICU hooked to machines, but conscious. She is doing much better according to her US manager and thanks the fans for their thoughts and prayers via text with him.
We hope for a complete recovery.
Experienced martial artist Kirstie Gannaway has signed to OneFC. Currently residing in Singapore, the Australian native has over eight years of training, but has yet to step foot in a cage competitively. She won a contract OneFC at an open tryout and is training at Evolve MMA, OneFC’s training facility. She is the third female to sign to OneFC. No word on when she will debut.
Before she stepped into the octagon this past Sunday, the UFC let Sarah Moras know that with a win or not she would have another UFC match due to Alexis Dufresne not making weight. No word on if this is another one fight contract.
Finland’s Eeva Siiskonen will face France’s Isabelle Pare in a bantamweight match at Carelia Fight 10 in Imatra, Finland Sept. 6.
Yamaguchi
The Girls S-cup is set for August 2.
The tournament, which combines kickboxing with standing submission, is an annual event and has sparked the careers of many Japan fighters.
This year they will have two tournaments with some highly touted prospects and vets of the Japanese fight scene.
In the 48 kg tournament will be 16 year old Yukari Yamaguchi, two time Shootbox high school champ Mio Tsumura, and MMA veteran Mei Yamaguchi. A fourth participant has yet to be named. Yamaguchi is training partners with InvictaFC vet Mizuki Inoue.
Multi-time champ Rena Kubota will look for another title as she takes on international talent in an eight women “World S-Cup” torunament. Among those announced for the bracket are Lorena Klijn and Christina Jurjevic.
More fighters are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Congratulations to Amanda Lucas. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Felix, Thursday at 8 pounds 3 oz.
Griffith
This Sunday at 1 p.m. pst/4 p.m. est we will talk to MMA fighter Hadley Griffith. The Oregion native is looking to make her mark against the undefeated Emily Corso.
There has been no doubt that Ronda Rousey is open to fight with Cyborg Justino. Her coach, Edmond Tarverydyan, told Ariel Helwani he likes the match-up, but only if they do it at 135.
Undefeated Brazilian Talita Nogueira (6-0) is in talks with the UFC. She is currently the #8 featherweight in the Unified rankings. The BJJ blackbelt has finished in all her wins, including four submissions.
UFC president Dana White told reporters this week that Felice Herrig got into a fight on set of TUF 20. He failed to mention who was the other person involved, but our guess is Heather Clark. You can read why here. Herrig is still on the show.
With Cyborg set for InvictaFC 10, expect Barb Honchak to defend her 125 belt at InvictaFC 9.
High touted amateur prospect Taylor Stratford is looking to make her pro debut by the end of the year. Having been sidelined for over a year due to injury, her only loss was to Ronda Rousey. Rousey stated in interviews she feels Stratford is the top prospect at 135.
After her loss to Takayo Hashi, DEEP-JEWELS fighter Shizuka Sugiyama has decided to move to flyweight.
Scheduled Fights
Pro MMA
In a very rare event, there is no pro WMMA fights this weekend.
Ammy MMA
Legacy Amateur Series will feature three female bouts in Austin, Texas.
The main event will feature Colbey Northcutt (3-1) taking on Amy Coleman (5-1) for the bantamweight title. In a pair of strawweight fights, Ashley Milligan battles Bi Nguyen and Sijin Kurian faces Jordan Carmona.
In other amateur action:
At 24/7 Entertainment in Midland, Texas, Shyann Farmer fights Kenia Rosa
Jamie Mix takes on Cindy Benitez at RCWC in Garden City, KS
At Caged Warrior Championship in Larose, Louisiana, Takara McGilbra battles Jamie Blanton (155)
Amanda Pack fights Jesse Brennan at BFL in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
At Archangel Worldwide in Riverside, CA, Kelly Vanhoy takes on Elizabeth Rodriguez
Anna Dempster faces Kola Shippentower at Rumble at the Roseland in Portland, OR
At Premier FC 16 in Agawam, MA, Lisa Blaine fights Sarah Click
Paola Ramirez battles Michelle Motter at Fight Club OC in Costa Mesa, CA
Boxing
Maureen Shea will be looking for a second weight class title as she takes on Angel Gladney in Oxnard, CA for the vacant IFBA super bantamweight title.
Shea (23-2) was a sparring partner for Hillary Swank on “Million Dollar Baby” and racked up 11 KOs in her career. She is currently the NABA featherweight champion and on a ten fight win streak.
Gladney (8-9-1) is looking to snap a two fight losing skid. She went on a seven fight unbeaten streak to start her career.
In Indio, California, Chantel Cordova and Patricia Alcivar will battle for the vacant NABF super flyweight title. Both coming off losses, Cordova (12-5-1) and Alcivar (7-2) will be looking for their first Continental title.
In other boxing action:
In a pair of bouts in Sofia, Bulgaria, Teodora Bacheva takes on Ivana Yaneva and Kremena Petkova battles Galina Gumliiska
Jennifer Hamann faces Ariel Beck in Shelton, Washington
In Grand Forks, North Dakota, Sonya Three Fox fights Concha Ross
Over two years ago, Lynn Le had a vision: to make female fight gear that actual fit and was more reliable.
Wombat Sports 