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WMMA December Recap - Two FOTY Candidates

I already covered week 1 here, which includes Invicta FC 7. This has been an overly hectic month for me, and it felt like the these past 3 weeks were drawn out over 2 months,,,,,,,,, but anyways

... This recap was going to have the hook/sub-title of "uneventful", however, the Jungle Fight Bantamweight Championship put a stop to that.

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Irene "Robles" Aldana vs. Larissa Pachecho

Both these girls put on a hell of a fight and... well, you might as well watch it before I spoil it

.Spoiling

spoiling

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spoiler

First thing non-MMA related, these girls have last names I've never heard of. And I don't know why, but the fact I was so unfamiliar with both their names (MMA and real life) turned me off from really paying attention to them. As you'll see in the next 10 days, Aldana and Pacheco will probably be in my "Fights of the Year" article and Aldana also has a "Knockout of the Year" in another fight. Big shout out to Guicruzzzzzzzzz over at MMAFighting for his (much overdo) coverage of the Brazilian MMA scene.

Brazilian Leslie Smith anyone? First impression Larissa is less wild, but a little more varied in her boxing. Although Pacheco improves to 9-0, she really needs to step up her competition, this Aldana was a decent win, but maybe she's going for a Renan Barao marketing strategy. I like that she's finished all her opponents. "Robbles" (I believe it means 'oaks') opened up her career with three wins recorded as "KO", though I'm not sure of the validity of the first two fights, but KO via 'knee to body' and 'knees and punches' looks pretty badass. Check this out

I'll be following both these girls much more closely as bantamweight can definitely use more depth.

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Cage Warriors 63

I love that CW is sort of trying to be the "European Invicta", this card had 3 female fights, which is almost unheard of for promotions to have at most TWO female fights other than Invicta/other-all-girl promotions. I don't even think the UFC has had a card with 3 female fights.

115lbs: Aisling Daly def. Karla Benitez via round 2 submission

Two of Europe's most seasoned and best fighters went at it, but it was clear Daly brought he "A" game. Speaking for myself it was a surprise, since the only fights I've seen of Aisling are against Barb Honchak and Sheila Gaff... but she looked good. Like she really put in the extra work with this UFC strawweight news, and snapping her 3 fight losing streak in the process. Benitez has shown she's pretty much a gatekeeper. I'd like to see Aisling try out for the TUF house. Especially if they do a "get into the house fight" for the remain 5 spots. Very impressed by this performance.

105lbs: Catherine Costigan def. Morgane Delagnau via round 3 submission

Let's just get this out of the way. I'm not a fan of Costigan's appeal/personality persona. So, if I sound a little bitter talking about her, I apologize, HOWEVER, she can fight. Her striking needs work, but in round 3 she seemed to get more comfortable, and I absolutely love it when a fighter can transition from striking into a takedown. And she was always working, staying active when it hit the ground. A good girl to watch for the atomweight division.

125lbs: Amanda English def. Slavka Vitaly via unanimous decision

At the end of the second round, I was thinking that... I really hope Cage Warriors knows that these girls aren't very good, but one of them is Irish (the event was held in Dublin), so were gonna get her on the card for the fans and feed her a mediocre opponent. As long as CW is just appealing to the local crowds, I'm cool with these, fights, but depending on the direction they're going (European Invicta sounds best to me), this isn't a fight I'd like to see on any other card not in Ireland or Italy (Vitaly's home country according to Sherdog). English ended the fight really working for the finish and I admired her heart, but seriously the attempts were pitiful, and she should have gotten the finish.

The fight (a really good "fancam") other fights should be available online shortly

Looking forward to seeing this Cage Warriors women divisions develop European talent for UFC/Invicta etc.

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115lbs: #22 Livia Renata Souza def. Bianca Reis via round 1 submission

Can't find video, but Souza stays undefeated with yet another submission. This time by triangle choke.

115lbs: #23 Aline Sattelmayer def. Vanessa Guimaraes by unanimous decision

Not a terribly exciting fight by any stretch of the imagination. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJBHneIWuA

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UFC:

Please. If you haven't, I'm imploring, watch Ronda vs. Miesha. If you actually enjoy Mixed Martial Arts, this ones for you. That's the 2nd FOTY candidate that I reference in the title. I'm sure you can find it if you tried.

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I can be reached at @ErikssonLau on Twitter