Top Contenders Solidify Their Dominance, New Ammy Champs Crowned Plus More MMA News

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Welcome to the Fightergirls column brought to you by your source for women’s mma gear and clothing Fightergirls.com. Here is the news for this week.

Kaufman (blue) & Yabushita (red) courtesy Shu Hirata

Former Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman (13-1) came back after a tough loss to Strikeforce champ Marloes Coenen this past fall and got a dominate win over Megumi Yabushita (19-18) Saturday night at AFC 5 in her hometown of Victoria, BC.

Kaufman used striking and kicks to wear down Yabushita until finally in the third round, Yabushita slipped and Kaufman hit a barrage of strikes to end it at 3:34. It is suspected that Kaufman will be facing former Strikeforce title contender Liz Carmouche sometime in the near future.

Yamaguchi (top) pounds Tomomi (bottom) Courtesy GBring.com

Also in action, Pancrase MMA in Japan made history as it held its first female main event as Mei Yamaguchi (7-2-1) defeated "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba (16-13) via Majority Decision. Yamaguchi had a dominate first round striking – from standing to ground, but was unable to finish off Sunaba. The second was a closer for the two, with two judges scoring the round a draw. In the end, it was Yamaguchi getting the majority decision (20-20, 20-18, 20-19) after two rounds. The fight received a "Fight of the Night" bonus.

Yamaguchi will face Akiko “Betiko” Naito at the Pancrase Impressive Tour 4 on May 3rd at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan.

AAMMA Champ Jessamyn Duke (right)

In amateur action from this past weekend: Absolute Action MMA had a trio of female matches in Florence, KY.

Jessamyn "The Gun" Duke (decked out in a Fightergirls Purple Athletic top and Violet and Camo Vale Tudo Short ) defeated Sarah Cook via submssion (rear nbaked choke) at :52 of round 1 to become the AAMMA Female Champion.

Jindriska Skees defeated Alisa Houschild via submission (armbar) at 1:48 of round 3 in a very competitive fight.

And Gina Begley defeated Trinity Jostmeyer via submission (rear nakes choke) at 1:16 of round 1.

All of these fights are available for viewing at GoFightLive.tv

In St. Louis, Glena Avila def. Brittany Anic via unanimous decision to becomes the Shamrock MMA ammy champion.

Alicia Haag goes to 3-0 with a decision win over Rachel Sazoff in Xtreme Caged Combat: "Primal Fury" in Oaks, PA. 

Young (left) & Kedzie (right) duke it out in New Mexico

It will be a big weekend for women’s MMA, as two legends of the sport collide for the first time at Jackson’s MMA Series 4 in Albuquerque, NM.

The #9 ranked 135 pounder Julie Kedzie will face Kaitlin Young in what will be a barn burner. The two are vets of the GFight/Bodog cards, but yet never faced each other. Young is back after a year absence to shake a four fight losing streak, while Kedzie is on a three fight win streak and fighting in front of her hometown crowd.

Also featured on the card will be 43 year old grandmother and NAGA grappling competitor Beckie Lobb. Lobb beat out 250 other would be fighters in a local radio contest and tryout to earn a match on the card. We will have her story and comments on Fightergirls.com this week.

Also on the card, Tuff-n-uff MMA vet T.J. Cunanan makes her long awaited pro debut verse Kelley Renee and Jodie Esquibel will face Brittany Horton.

The card will be streaming on the Jacksons MMA Series website for $10.

Toughill (left) & Sanchez (right) return to the cage Saturday

Erin Toughill makes her very long return to the cage as she faces Ashley Sanchez at the Freestyle Cage Fighting card in Shawnee, OK this weekend. It has been two years since Toughill saw the inside of a cage for competitive purposes, which is the same for her opponent Sanchez. No official weight class is listed at this time for the fight.

Also in action, Amanda Lucas takes on Heather Martin and  Sarah Maloy takes on Avery Vilche.

Champ Cummins (left) takes on challenger Lybarger (right) 

Ashley Cummins will make her first defense of her 115 pound title when she takes on the undefeated Jocelyn Lybarger at the Tuff-n-uff event at the Orleans arena in Vegas Friday.

Cummins won the title back in May defeating Gabriella Lakoczky. Since then, Cummins won a one night tournament at Hook’n’shoot in Evansville, IN. Fightergirls news editor MarQ and The Ultimate Female Fighter creator Katrina Belcher talk to Cummins about the match and her very bright future on the Fightergirls podcast on Sunday. You can listen to it here.

The Fightergirls podcast will interview her challenger Jocelyn Lybarger on Wednesday at 1 p.m. pacific/4 p.m. eastern – you can listen to the interview here.

Also on the card, Jocelyn’s twin sister Jillian Lybarger takes on Maylee Rahn, and in a battle of 145 pound amateur contenders, Samantha Mosqueda takes on Rachael Millard.

The Tuff-n-uff card will be streamed live on GiFightLive.tv for $10 on Friday.

Jessica Aguilar (left) & Carla Esparza (right) agree to fight in June

Top 115 pounder and fan favorite Jessica Aguilar and Carla Esparza have verbally agreed to face each other at Bellator in June according to MMA Rising. Esparza and Aguilar both have stated they were interested in fighting each other, but it wasn’t until this past week when the fight was announced. It will tenatviely take place at the June 25 at Bellator’s event at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL. It will be a non-tournament match.

In pro matches this weekend –

Angela Magana faces Elsie Henri at Mixed Fighting Alliance in Miami

Valérie Létourneau faces Julie Malenfant at Ringside MMA 10 in Montreal

and

Ariane Monteiro faces Alessandra Silva at Arena Gold Fight 3 in Sao Paulo, Brazil

That is all for now. Please check out Fightergirls for all your women’s mma news and interviews. Plus follow us on twitter @fightergirls with the most up to the minute breaking news stories in women’s mma.

Also check out the Fightergirls store of all your mma gear and clothing. We also carry Everlast and Cleto Reyes boxing and mma gear.

Until next week.

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