Contributor: Eriksson Lau
Dec. 6 – Fresquez Productions: Havoc
Bantamweight Bout: #19 Holly Holm vs. Angela Hayes
Holly Holm is quickly becoming “must see TV.” Holm aka The Preacher’s Daughter has victimized all 5 of her opponents via beautiful, technical strikes. She faces perhaps the most submission savvy opponent of her career, but we should see the continued streak of flawless violence. The thought of Holly Holm and Miriam Nakamoto getting it on has me salivating into my briefs.
Dec. 7 – Invicta FC 7 (airs on Invictafc.com and TV PPV check your local listings)
Instead of a long write up for each fight, I’m just gonna say a few words for each fight. But, don’ t get me wrong, this card is absolutely worth your money and time ESPECIALLY if you’re one of the people that buys most UFC cards… this is the best of the best of Women’s MMA, I compare Invicta events to the FOXSPORTS1 debut card, where UFC stacked it from top to bottom. This is the least amount of fights Invicta’s had for an event, but I think 13 fights on a card was unrealistic. I’m perfectly fine if this is just an anomaly, though. Plus, it’s a great chance to check out some of the TOP strawweights that you’ll be seeing in the UFC next year.
#1 Barb Honchak (champ) vs. #2 Leslie Smith (Flyweight title)
Fucking love it when the two best fighters in a weight class fight each other. This is an easy pick for Fight of the Night.
#3 Carla Esparza (champ) vs. #2 Claudia Gadelha (Strawweight title)
It isn’t Esparza’s fault her opponents have pulled out, but Gadelha’s MAULING of Ayaka Hamasaki gives her a better body of work in my opinion. This is the battle of the best strawweight not named Jessica Aguilar (who is incredibly hard to watch, but let’s not get into that).
#10 Lauren Taylor vs. Miriam Nakamoto (Bantamweight title)
This is a chance for Nakamoto to prove she can hang with a top 10 fighter. She’s been blasting girls, but this is a BIG step up, but this is a very winnable fight for her (sort of likeRory MacDonald, back when he was the “Waterboy” and not the Canandian Psycho Serial Killer, fighting Carlos Condit after only 1 fight in the UFC).
all title fights are scheduled for 5 rounds
#6 Felice Herrig vs. #13 Tecia Torres (115lbs)
Oh, and this is has fireworks written all over it. There’s a chance it could be spent a lot in Felice’s guard, but it’s a toss up. Can Tecia Torres vault into the top 10 and stay undefeated? I really, really enjoy watching Felice fight. She get’s a lot of flack for using her sexuality (and honestly, I think she only gets the flack cause people don’t think she’s all that), but her fight style is very technical and she’s fun to watch on the ground and feet. Clean technique.
#7 Joanne BADMOFO Calderwood vs. #5 Katja Kankaanpaa (115lbs)
Honestly, I felt if you ranked fighters based on body of work that Calderwood was to highly ranked (just like Rory was in some peoples top 5’s after destroying to lightweights in Penn and Nate Diaz… what’s with my Rory obsession today?), but this is the fight to prove me and any other doubters wrong. Kankaanpaa is an interesting fighter, I liken her to a Jake Shields-type. She just finds a way to win. Check out Joanne if you aint already know and a interesting interview she did
Julia Budd vs. Charmaine Tweet (145lbs) (total “my parents don’t approve of what I do for a living” name)
I mean, what does this fight really mean. I’m kind of hopeless for this division, at least as long as Cyborg is around. The winner fights gets the honor of being eviscerated by Cyborg Santos. The only fight I want for Cyborg is Fallon Fox (not because I’m calling Cyborg a “man”, but because Cyborg is so dominant, I’m paying her a compliment, that she could hang with someone that was born a man, went through puberty like a man, then got her gender change). That, or fighting bigger girls.
#3 Vanessa Porto vs. #7 Zoila Frausto Gurgel (125lbs)
I long for the Zoila Frausto that victimized Rosi Sexton. But, that might be a Zoila we’ll never get to see again. I’ve been seeing a lot of Twitter activity between Zoila and two Muay Thai KILLERS in Tiff Time Bomb and Miriam Nakamoto, so that gives me hope. Porto has this style, that I’ve come to known from Brazillian fighters, of fighting at her pace, and if she doesn’t get the finish, it’s okay. But, when she hurts you, she’ll go 100% for the finish.
Man, this is an awesome card. Imagine a UFC card where every fight had significant impact on the division?
#11 Sarah D’Aleilo vs. Tonya Evinger (135lbs)
And there you go, the first non-title fight that has a fighter that I don’t have ranked (Tonya was ranked in flyweight, but I removed her for inactivity and going up to bantamweight). Two wrestlers is normally pretty exciting, but otherwise, I’m not really big fans of either of their fighting style.
#8 Munah Holland vs. #15 Nina Ansaroff (125lbs)
Big fight for Nina “The Strina”, I’ve been told it means Aunt in Macedonian, which is badass in itself. Munah hasn’t fought since getting wrestlefucked in Bellator over a year ago, but is a rare female with KO power. Ansaroff is hugely reliant on her kicks to the point she rarely throws punches. Very intriguing style match up, expecting an exciting finish.
Dec. 7 – Taboao Fighting Championship
Featherweight Bout: Talita Noguiera vs. Michelle Oliveira
Talita is one of the RARE girls that I’m actually excited for at Featherweight (the other being Veronica Rothenhausler). She took 3 years off from MMA, and was quite successful in the BJJ scene. From BJJHeroes:
“Her progress in Jiu Jitsu was astounding, and withing 4 months she was handed her blue belt, and 6 months after that she received her purple, this fast progress is rarely seen in BJJ, but Talita Nogueira proved her worth on the mats with important tournament wins. She was graduated a brown belt in 2009…”
She won “the most coveted medal in BJJ”, the Mundial de Jiu Jitsu (World Championship) in 2011 and was giving her black belt on that day. Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to find one of her fights and that was in 2010, and it was difficult to watch, but I’m hopeful, and at 5 ft 10, she is someone to watch at 145.
Dec. 7 – Cage Warriors 62 (airs on Facebook… fuck yeah)
Bantamweight Bout: Agnieska Niedwiedz vs. LJ Adams
Poland’s top bantamweight prospect is back with her 3rd fight since April 2013. She now has a nickname, according to Sherdog, “Kuma”, which is a Tekken (video game) character, and means “bear” in Japanese, according to Wikipedia. I don’t know if that’s why she chose that nickname, but anyways. I, for one, still prefer the nickname “Needs Weeds”. Agniesska is only EIGHTEEN, born in 1995, and although her striking (standing and grounded) is rudimentary at best, her willingness to really work for the finish will bode well for her in the future, in terms of fan excitement, getting fights, more money, etc.
Also, on Facebook is Emma Delaney vs. Laura Howarth. You may recognize Howarth from losing her “get in the house” fight for TUF to Jessamyn Duke.
Angela Hill vs. Amy Davis
Angela Hill is an undefeated Muay Thai fighter 14-0 ammy, 1-0 pro, making her MMA debut. She has shown a very aggressive “push the pace” style, and of course that leaves her open for a takedown. She doesn’t have the accolades or the level of a Nakamoto or Holm…
Check this highlight of hers to see what I mean, the last 30 seconds has some gorgeous right crosses.
Amy Davis filled in on short noticed as an injury replacement, she submitted Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc in Invicta FC, but has lost to the higher tier atomweights (eg. Stephanie Frausto and Lisa Ellis both in the 1st round). This is a good risk and reward for Hill, who could see a quick rise of atomweight.
Dec. 31 – Cage Warriors (airs on MMAJunkie.com and Facebook)
It’s not known at this time which fights will be on MMAjunkie and which on Facebook. Keep in mind there are already two men’s title fights on the MMAJunkie main card.
I’m not terribly interested in any of these fights, but they’re free and showcase Europe’s best. Daly and Benitez are veterans of the sport, while Costigan is undefeated as an atomweight, which is good news. Slavka Vitaly is also undefeated, but has only two fights, one in 2011 and one in 2012.
Strawweight Bout: Aisling Daly vs. Karla Benitez
Atomweight Bout: Catherine Costigan vs. Elodie Pug
Flyweight Bout: Amanda English vs. Slavka Vitaly
UFC:
On December 6th Julie Kedzie looks to get her first UFC win (not to mention her first major promotion win) against undefeated Brazillian newcomer Bethe Correia. Correia trains with Bellator’s “Pitbull” brothers, Patricky and Patricio, but has nowhere near the finishing ability they have shown. Kedzie can be outright reckless when she fights whereas Correia has a very measured pace, almost like a sparring match.
-Eriksson can be reached @ErikssonLau or at WMMAnalyze.tumblr.com.
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