{"id":18671,"date":"2012-04-24T00:02:15","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T05:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=18671"},"modified":"2012-04-24T00:02:15","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T05:02:15","slug":"king-mo-breaking-mma-news-ufcstrikeforce-shocker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=18671","title":{"rendered":"KING MO \u2013 Breaking MMA News \u2013 UFC\/StrikeForce SHOCKER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>SHOWTIME Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) voice Mauro Ranallo, light heavyweight superstar \u201cKing Mo\u201d Lawal and women\u2019s star Julie \u201cFireball\u201d Kedzie will call the action cageside at the first-ever Invicta Fighting Championships all-women\u2019s professional MMA event, live on InvictaFC.com, from Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. on Saturday, April 28.<\/p>\n

Ranallo, the lead commentator for Strikeforce on Showtime as well as for Canada\u2019s The Score Fighting Series and a former commentator for Japan\u2019s Pride Fighting Championships, will serve as the play-by-play announcer during the live stream of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always been a huge advocate of female MMA and I am very excited to be a part of the inaugural Invicta show,\u201d said Ranallo. \u201cThe ladies have a history of stealing the show from the guys, so it\u2019s nice to see them get a show of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawal is a former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion who burst onto the fight scene four years ago with four straight victories in Japan\u2019s World Victory Road MMA series and has since amassed a career record of 8-1 (1 NC). A former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler for Oklahoma State University, the 31-year-old has gained recognition for his technical knowledge of MMA and his meticulous attention to fighters\u2019 styles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to be a part of this event with some of the top women\u2019s fighters in the world,\u201d said Lawal. \u201cThe growth of women\u2019s MMA is going to soar even more now, thanks to what Invicta is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Lawal, Kedzie brings a wealth of MMA fight experience with her to the show. A student of famed trainer Greg Jackson, the 31-year-old has been competing as a professional since 2004 and holds a career record of 16-9.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Invicta show is a landmark moment in the history of women\u2019s MMA and I\u2019m very excited and honored that I was asked to be a part of it,\u201d said Kedzie.<\/p>\n

The live stream on InvictaFC.com will begin at 8 p.m. EST\/5 p.m. PST with the event\u2019s five-bout preliminary card and continue with the six-bout main card.<\/p>\n

The first-ever Invicta Fighting Championships event will be headlined by a long-awaited featherweight (145 pounds) rematch between superstar Marloes Coenen (19-5) of The Netherlands and Romy Ruyssen (5-1) of France. Coenen was the victor of their first meeting on Aug. 2, 2008 by way of submission (rear-naked choke) in the second round of action.<\/p>\n

In the co-main event, two 29-year-old submission specialists – Jessica Penne (8-1) of Laguna Hills, Calif. and Lisa Ellis-Ward (14-7) of Lacey, Wash.- will square off with one another at strawweight (105 pounds).<\/p>\n

Strikeforce bantamweight star and United States Marine Liz \u201cGirl-Rilla\u201d Carmouche (5-2) of San Diego, Calif. will square off with unbeaten prospect Ashleigh Curry (1-0) of Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n

Another Strikeforce bantamweight competitor, Sarah D\u2019Alelio (4-2) of San Jose, Calif., will face undefeated former Royce Gracie student and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt Vanessa Mariscal (2-0) of El Segundo, Calif.<\/p>\n

Leslie Smith (3-2) of Pleasant Hill, Calif. will meet Kaitlin Young (7-5) of St. Louis Park, Minn. at bantamweight and Sally Krumdiack (9-4) of Bellingham, Wash. will duke it out with Sarah Schneider (5-5) of Kansas City, Mo. at flyweight (115 pounds).<\/p>\n

Making her MMA debut on the preliminary card will be 2008 Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Randi Miller (0-0) of Denver, Colo. Miller will face unbeaten Mollie Estes (1-0) of Lake Lotawana, Mo. at featherweight.<\/p>\n

In preliminary card action, Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc (7-5) of Tulsa, Okla. will take on Amy Davis (2-2) of Idaho Falls, Idaho at strawweight. Sarah Maloy (2-2) of Ada, Okla. will meet Michele Gutierrez (3-2) of Las Vegas, Nev. in a super flyweight (125 pounds) tilt. Unbeaten Ashley Cummins (2-0) of St. Louis will battle Sofia Bagherdai (4-1) of Upland, Calif. at flyweight. Cassie Rodish (1-3) of Waukee, Iowa will face Meghan Wright (1-3) of Cincinnati, Ohio in a strawweight matchup.<\/p>\n

All bouts have been approved by the Kansas State Athletic Commission.<\/p>\n

About Invicta Fighting Championships:<\/p>\n

Invicta Fighting Championships is a world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight series dedicated to providing female athletes with a major platform to hone their skills on a consistent basis. Founded in 2012 by longtime MMA executive Shannon Knapp and sports aficionado Janet Martin, Invicta is committed to pioneering the future growth of women\u2019s MMA by promoting the best possible matchups between female competitors and identifying and developing future superstars of the sport.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHOWTIME Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) voice Mauro Ranallo, light heavyweight superstar \u201cKing Mo\u201d Lawal and women\u2019s star Julie \u201cFireball\u201d Kedzie will call the action cageside at the first-ever Invicta Fighting Championships all-women\u2019s professional MMA event, live on InvictaFC.com, from Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. on Saturday, April 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2776,510,1051,736],"class_list":["post-18671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-king-mo","tag-mma","tag-strikeforce","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}