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By Rob Sargent - MMARising.com

Russia’s Yana “Foxy” Kunitskaya will make a quick return to action when she faces Anna Melikhova at Lion’s Fights 1: “The Beginning” on March 3rd in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The women’s bout, along with the remainder of the promotion’s inaugural fight card, was first reported on Mixfight.ru.

Kunitskaya is already scheduled to compete three weeks earlier in a bout with Ekaterina Saraykina at Verdict Fighting Championship 1 in Moscow. The 22-year-old has won three straight fights by first-round TKO. Melikhova makes her MMA debut in the fight after capturing titles in Muay Thai.

Kunitskaya (5-1-0) earned victories in three of her first four fights before taking on her toughest test to date at an M-1 Challenge event in December 2010. Kunitskaya passed the test with flying colours and vanquished the previously unbeaten Cindy “Battlecat” Dandois, who holds a win over former Strikeforce champion Marloes “Rumina” Coenen, in just 34 seconds. Kunitskaya split her time between kickboxing and MMA in 2011 and fought only once in the mixed martial arts ring. That bout came in the form of a quick victory over Arune Lauzeckaite in a Bushido women’s title fight in November.

Melikhova (0-0-0), much like Lauzeckaite and Saraykina, brings a solid background in kickboxing into her fight with Kunitskaya, but she gives up a significant experience edge to her younger foe. Melikhova has won titles in Thai boxing and now looks to make a successful transition to mixed martial arts by upsetting Kunitskaya in March.

Lion’s Fights 1: “The Beginning” takes place on March 3rd at the CDC Aurora in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The event is expected to stream live online.

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