If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
A Gold medalist at the 2021 IMMAF Youth Championship in Bulgaria, Hannah Wagstaff is a second generation martial artist trained by her father Christopher at Kihon MMA in Desert Hot Springs, California. Along with coach Eddie Bates, Hannah made a quick impression on the world stage at flyweight.
If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
Coming off a bronze medal finish in the IMMAF World Youth Championships in Bulgaria, 14 year old Allison Keenan is providing a vision of where USA’s female athletes are heading. She is training out of Kihon MMA in Desert Hot Springs, California under coach Eddie Bates.
A special event at this year’s Olympics has been the addition of the home country’s sport of Karate.
It is a demonstration sport and isn’t a permanent sport as of yet. The action is high paced in the kumate portion with the artistic and technical side showing in the kata portion.
Taekwondo has been in the Olympics since 1988 and is the oldest hand to hand combat sports in the Olympics.
Two time Gold Medalist Jade Jones of Great Britain will be looking for her third Olympic championship, while 2016 medalists Tijana Bogdanović (Silver; Flyweight), Panipak Wongpattanakit (Bronze; Flyweight) and 2012 medalist Paige McPherson (bronze; welterweight) will be looking for their first.
Photo: Team USA’s Naomi Graham courtesy “Stars and Stripes”
We were delayed a year but no shortage of enthusiasm as we head into our third Olympics with the women’s divisions of boxing.
Several veterans from 2016 including middleweight Silver Medalist Nouchka Fontijn (NET), flyweight Bronze Medalist Ingrit Valencia (COL), lightweight Bronze Medalist Mira Potkonen, and a return 2012 flyweight Bronze Medalist Mary Kom.
This year adds two weight divisions with welterweight (64 kg/141 lbs) and featherweight (54 kg/120 lbs).
The past few fight camps for Arlene Blencowe has been a trek. Having to fly from her native Australia to the United States has been daunting but a worth wild effort in her title match with Cris Cyborg this past October.
After the loss to the champion, Blencowe made the decision to split her camp between her home gym and one of the most famous ones in MMA – Jackson/Winkeljohn in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been at Jackson’s for eight weeks ahead of her fight with Dayana Silva, which will take place at Bellator 262 on Friday live on Showtime. There was a specific motivation for Blencowe to go to Albuquerque.
It was a major move for Shannon Knapp as her creation InvictaFC was sold to Anthem Sports and Entertainment.
Knapp told us in a phone interview she didn’t come into this decision lightly. Her biggest priority was seeing her athletes get a bigger stage. After a lot of research and negotiation, signing with Anthem was the best possible deal for all involved.
Anthem itself partly owns AXS-TV – Invicta’s new broadcast home. AEG, which is known for it’s event venues and live event productions is also a partner in AXS-TV as is billionaire Mark Cuban.
While Invicta is under the Anthem umbrella, the fans will be getting more of what they have come to love.
As the Olympics were delayed a year, so many stories have changed in the women’s divisions of freestyle wrestling.
Saturday night, six women punched their ticket to the Tokyo Games and will wrestle from August 1-7 to hopefully become Gold medalists.
Two familiar faces will be returning to the Olympics: 53 kg Gold Medalist in the 2016 Games Helen Maroulis (who qualified a weight up at 57 kg) and Adeline Gray at 76 kg, who looks for her first medal. Joining them are Sarah Hildebrandt (50kg), Jacarra Winchester (53 kg), Kayla Miracle (62 kg), and Tamyra Mensah-Stock (68 kg).
Wombat Sports 