Weekly Women’s MMA Wrap-Up

Zoila Frausto

Welcome to the Weekly Women’s MMA Wrap-Up: Irreverent Edition–with random thoughts and comments added. (I mean, it IS MMA *Opinion* after all.)

FIGHT RESULTS

Zoila Frausto (5-0) defeated former boxing champ Jessica Rakoczy (0-2) by armbar at 1:17 of the second round at Tachi Palace Fights 3: Champions Collide. You can watch the fight on Daily Motion. This win sets the stage for a grudge match between Frausto and Miesha Tate (8-2).

At M-1 Global: Europe Edition, Cindy Dandois (2-0) defeated Maria Hougaard (1-2) by 1st round knock-out. (Dandois is best known for her startling upset win vs. Marloes Coenen (17-4) and has her eyes set on making Gina Carano (7-1) her next victim.) Because I was so impressed with Rory “Outburst” Singer’s expert commentating for Frausto’s fight, I asked him for his thoughts on this bout, which is available on youtube courtesy of MMA Rocks in Poland. Singer said, “It’s hard to have any real thoughts on that fight as I believe it was prematurely stopped. Cindy had a nice takedown and established some good top position as she defended the leg attack well. Maria ate a few punches but was clearly moving her hips and looking to further attack the leg. The ref made a bad call (as many refs before him have) and definitely stopped the fight too soon. He might have had a bias since it was two women fighting but I believe female fighters should be treated no differently than their male counterparts.” Hear, hear!

On the Shark Fights 8 roster, Jessica Miramontes (2-0) scored a first round knockout win in her bout against Yadira Anzaldua (0-2).

The bout between Aisling McLarnen and Amanda English did not take place.

UNIFIED WOMEN’S MMA RANKINGS

In case you missed it, the February women’s MMA rankings have been posted.

145 STRIKEFORCE TOURNAMENT

Coker keeps talking about this 8-woman tournament, which will be taking place sometime this summer. Although Strikeforce was available for comment, they didn’t give me any real information. Thanks for nothing, guys. Stay tuned for our list of best guesses of top contenders in this division.

GO WISCONSIN GO

Just months after I set foot in the state, Wisconsin has decided to legalize MMA. Now if I can just get press passes to UFC (and an oft-coveted interview with Forest Griffin) I’ll know I’ve made it as an MMA journalist.

WE LOVE KELLY, YES WE DO

Just wanted to say how excited I am to see Kelly Kobold (16-3-1) vs Jessica Kinnetz live at the end of the month. I got to roll with Kobold once, and she totally kicked my ass. Without blinking. While going easy. And after lending me her spare shorts.

“FAST EDDIE” MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP STILL AVAILABLE

As I wrote last week, Trinity BJJ is offering a FULL Scholarship for a female student to train with Lana Stefanac in MMA and BJJ for a year in memory of Fast Eddie Constantine. Tussle Fight Gear is providing gear. So if you are a woman who wants to train in Oakland for free for a year with one of the best, e-mail Sam at pow203@sbcglobal.net.

SOME PEOPLE ARE INSPIRING

I could write about the great jits seminar I attended (with so much patience and attentiveness evident, and so much respect for the art) and about why my coach and our guys rock, but I don’t think they want the publicity. So I’ll just say that I’m not sure how I managed to land in the Middle of Nowhere, WI and find such a high quality  gym, but there it is.

OTHERS, NOT SO MUCH

I’m going to be nice and not publish the name of the  UFC fighter who keeps hitting on me on chat.  I’m even sitting on my hands to avoid posting the transcript. But I will say this much. If you ask someone that you have never met what she’s wearing (“and what are you wearing under that? and under that?”) and the response ends up being something like “Long underwear. And striped pajamas over that. And my gi. I sleep in my gi,” then perhaps bringing up thongs isn’t entirely appropriate.  Though there is a bit of humor in me  lecturing a BJJ black belt about priorities. (As in, BJJ > what complete strangers in cyberspace who live far far away might be wearing). Also, don’t fuck with the media.

UPCOMING FIGHTS

Maria Johnson will be making her MMA debut against Shana Olsen (2-0). Olsen is coming off of an upset win in a bout against Kaitlin Young (4-4). Maria Johnson holds a 5-0 amateur record and trains with Travis Fulton in Rudd, Iowa. She usually fights at a much lower weight. I will be live tweeting from this fight (@treelizard).

Ro Califano is making her MMA debut vs. Michelle Waterson (6-3) at Extreme Beatdown 6 in North Dakota. Don’t make me give my record-padding speech.

And in Denmark, Maiju Kujal (1-1) is fighting Celine Haga (0-2) at Adrenaline 4: The New Generation.

Seven women’s bouts will be taking place at Valkyrie 4 in Tokyo. Yuka Tsuji (22-1) is defending her 115-lb Title against Megumi  Yamaguchi (5-2). Yamaguchi earned the title shot by defeating Emi Fujino and Kyoko Takabayashi. Other fights on the card include Naoko Omuro (10-7-3) vs Yuko Takagi (0-1) and Fukuko Hamada (5-3) vs. Yasuko Tamada (9-4-3) in the first leg of a 4-woman 105-lb. tournament. Rin Nakai (5-0) is fighting Mizuho Sato (5-3), Sachiko “Sachi” Yamamoto (6-4-1) is facing Emi “Sakura” Okada (0-1-1), and Megumi Morioka is making her MMA debut vs. Mamiko Mizoguchi (2-3-1).

See you next week with the results.