Amanda "The Lady Killer" Bell vs Tamikka "Boom Boom" Brents

On Saturday January, 5 At Invicta Fighting Championship 4: "Esparza vs. Hyatt" at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas 

Amanda "The Lady Killer" Bell (0-0-0) will go up against #24 ranked 145 pound fighter Tamikka "Boom Boom" Brents (1-0-0) in a 145 pound professional MMA match.

Amanda is a 5'8 twenty-four year old MMA fighter from Medford, Oregon. She trains at Fabian's MMA where she is coached by Jose Montufar, Lotus Club BJJ where she is coached by Pistol Pete Loncarevich and at Leparis Sports and Fitness where she is coached by Charles Leparis.

I asked Amanda what got her started into MMA here is her response, "I got started when I took an interest in the sport after I watched my first event. I use to not be in to cage fighting very much but when I was offered to build the cage up for a local event and see one first hand I was hooked. I come from a martial arts background so when I was exposed to it I felt like it was something I could really excel in and learn from."

She who is coming off a very successful amateur career that saw her go 6-1 and end her amateur career as the #1 ranked amateur fighter at 145 pounds.

Amanda has not fought since November, 19 of 2011 when she defeated Jessamyn Duke for the AAMMA 145 pound amateur title. This however is no fault of Amanda's who can not count the number of times she thought she had an opponent only to see the fight not happen for some reason. She also holds victories over Paige Grider, Anna Folkesson, Tina Hayes and Kathy Jones.

Her only loss came against Taylor Stratford in March of 20011.

Tamikka is a 5'3 twenty-four year old MMA fighter from Springfield, Illinois who trains at Warrior Concepts and 5 knuckle MMA. Tamikka would like to thank all her coaches: Her Head coach is Scot Ward, her wrestling coach is Curt Bee, Muay Thai coach Jared Rusk, her AJJ & BJJ Coaches are Scot Ward & Lex James, Boxing Coach is Hunter Ansell, Strength & Conditioning: Dave Utinske of The Body Quest Store & Trevor Ward of Beast Mode Crossfit.

Here is Tamikka's response to my question of why she began in MMA, "I started training in MMA in 2006 when I graduated high school at Team Warrior Concepts when my brother, pro fighter Bobby Brents brought me in to see what I could do and to get in shape for the military. After that first initial practice I loved it and kept coming back until I went to U.S. Navy boot camp. After graduating boot camp I found an MMA gym when I was sent to my first duty station in San Diego, CA called Undisputed Gym to continue training. I was honorably discharged 2 yrs later due to an injury from playing basketball in the Navy. As soon as I was healed up I got back in the gym at Warrior Concepts. During the injury I gained a ton of weight but after dropping 50+lbs I competed in my first MMA fight and never looked back."

Tamikka just recently made her pro debut after sitting on top of the 155 pound amateur rankings for over two years with an (11-0-1) record the long awaited pro debut came on November, 10 when she defeated the very formidable veteran Jessica Halverson by first round TKO due to ground and pound.

She holds amateur victories over Nikita Netjes, Tori Adams, Jessica Zomcick twice and Sara Allen. All of whom are highly ranked amateurs, some who have beaten Tamikka to the pro ranks.

In seven of Tamikka's amateur matches, she finished her opponent and six of those finishes came by way of TKO. 

This is the perfect match of two ladies nobody wanted to fight. The #1 female amateur at 145 Amanda Bell vs the former #1 amateur at 155 pounds Tamikka Brents have a combined record of 17-2, this should be a good one.

 You can watch Invicta FC on pay-per view  for $7.95 at 6pm CST at Invictafc.com

Jodie Esquibel vs. Liz "Lightning" McCarthy

On Saturday January, 5 at Invica Fighting Championship 4: "Esparza vs. Hyatt" at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas


#19 ranked 105-pound fighter Jodie Esquibel (2-0-0) will take on #23 ranked 105-pound fighter Liz "Lighting" McCarthy (1-0-0) in a 105-pound professional MMA match.

Jodie is a 5'1 26 year old MMA fighter and Boxer from Albuquerque, New Mexico where she trains at Jackson's/Winkeljohn's MMA. She is coached by Mike Winkeljohn and Greg Jackson.

She has trained to fight since she was fourteen years old, when she joined Mike Winkeljohn’s AKKA, along with teammates Holly Holm, Heather Jo Clark and Nohime Dennisson, primarily to stay in shape.  Esquibel had no aspirations to fight at that time; however, nine months after joining, Winkeljohn convinced her to take her first amateur kickboxing match, which she won, and “the rest is history.”
She took whatever kickboxing or boxing fights she could, but, as difficult as it is now for females to find amateur fights, whether boxing, kickboxing or MMA, it was even more difficult, several years ago.

For a fighter with a reputation for winning, as well as the rarity of fighters in her weight class, the difficulty of finding a fight forced Esquibel to travel, and eventually, the glaring reality of travel and fighting costs, which are the responsibility of each individual amateur fighter, pushed her, with the guidance of Coach Winkeljohn, to make the choice to go professional boxer in 2005.

Jodie is coming off of a January, 21st victory against Amy Riehle (0-2) by unanimous decision.

Her pro MMA debut was on April, 9th 2011 when she faced Brittany Horton (0-1) by TKO due to a kick and punches. Brittany had never fought in a cage before this fight and she has yet to return to one since.

Jodie did have one amateur fight back in September of 2004 when she defeated Jessica Thompson (0-1) by unanimous decision.

Jodie has never faced a fighter with a single win in all of her three MMA matches.

The story however is very different when you start talking boxing.

Jodie made her professional boxing debut on June, 24 2005, this meant she could no longer fight MMA as an amateur, and we in turn would not see Jodie fight MMA for almost six years, when she decided to turn pro in MMA.

Her boxing career started off very promising in 2005 with three straight wins. She would lose her first boxing match in September of 2006 by unanimous decision. After a win against a debut boxer she would face defeat for the second time when she was again defeated by unanimous decision. She added another win and a draw before going on a three fight losing streak all of which were championship matches. She would win her next fight before losing her most recent fight in December of 2011 for the IFBA Minimumweight Championship. Her professional boxing record currently stands at (6-6-1) (0-4-0) in Championship matches.

Liz is a 5'2 26 year old fighter from Oregon City, Oregon. She trains at Team Quest Tualatin where she is coached by Scott McQuary and Jamie Huey.

I asked Liz why she started in  MMA, she replied, " I got into MMA because I had friends that were starting to get into it."

Liz is currently on a seven fight win streak, she ended her amateur career as the #2 ranked fighter at 105 pounds with a record of (6-0) 

On July, 28th 2012 Liz would make her professional debut at Invicta FC 2 when she took on the fighter who was ranked above her in the amateur 115 pound rankings Jessica Philippus (7-1) the fighter who I had ranked ahead of her at 105-pounds. Well Liz proved me wrong when she won very impressively over Jessica with a first round TKO due to a doctor stoppage from a huge hematoma forming over the eye of Jessica.

Her amateur victories came against Elizabeth Kelly (0-2) Crystal Jewell (0-4), Shawnee Merrell (2-4) Sarah Lagerstrom (3-4) Jordan McDonald (5-3) and Liz Tracy (1-1) for a combined opponent record of (11-18)

You can watch Invicta FC on pay-per view  for $7.95 at 6pm CST at Invictafc.com

Emily Kagan vs. Rose "Thug" Namajunas

On Saturday January, 5 at Invica Fighting Championship 4: "Esparza vs. Hyatt" at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas

Emily Kagan (2-0-0) will battle Rose "Thug" Namajunas (0-0-0) in a 115-pound professional MMA match.

Emily is a 5'3 31 year old fighter originally from Bangor, Maine now living and training out of Albuquerque, New Mexico at Jackson's MMA.

When Emily was asked why she started in MMA this was her response, "As a small girl surrounded by boys and picked on by brothers, I had a dream of developing physical prowess “dedicating myself to a life of disciplined training, growth and self-betterment.”

At eighteen, she began in traditional Jujitsu with the American Jujitsu Association, and four years later received her black belt in 2003. That year, she moved to Israel where she continued her training with the World Ju-Jitsu Federation, a local Muay Thai gym, and a few other Gi and no-Gi grappling dojos. When she returned to the US in 2006, she joined Team Irish MMA Academy of Bangor, ME training under Marcus Davis.

 Emily says, “My goal is to become another successful female pro-fighter out there, helping to pave the way for future female fighters and take part in this revolution of women in MMA”

Emily’s fighting career began on March of 2010 where she won her first amateur match by unanimous decision over Jessica Martinez. Her following fight in May of 2010 came against Autumn King who she defeated by TKO.

Next came the first loss of her career when she was defeated by Ashley Weakley.

She would bounce back with a split-decision victory over T.J. Cunanan in August of 2010 in the opening round of the Tuff-N-Uff 125 pound tournament. Emily however would suffer an injury and have to pull out of her rematch with Ashley Weakley. She was replaced by the fighter she beat T.J Cunanan who would go on to beat Ashley Weakley and become the Tuff-N-Uff 125 pound champion.

 .Emily would return to the cage on February of 2011 to face T.J Cunanan for her Tuff-N-Uff 125 pound title only to lose by first round armbar.

Emily would end her amateur career with two straight wins, one over Valle Rae Mead by unanimous decision and the last win of her amateur career came on January, 21st 0f 2012 against now #3 ranked 125pound amateur Courtney Casey by split-decision. Emily would end her amateur career as a top 5 fighter at 125 pounds with a (5-2) record.

Her pro career started off on September, 8 2012 when she took on Lynae Lovato (0-2) and defeated her by unanimous decision.

On October, 13th of 2012 Emily would get her biggest win to date when she defeated former #1 ranked 115-pound fighter Glena Avila (2-1) by split decision in a 120 pound catch weight match.

This will be the very first time that Emily cuts to 115 pounds, she should be a beast.

Rose is a 5'5 20 year old fighter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she is coached by her boyfriend UFC heavyweight fighter Pat Barry and famed coach Greg Nelson at The Academy. She is also coached by Matt Miller for strength and conditioning and Trevor Wittman who she will be  training with for her last week and a half in Denver.

I asked Rose what made her want to become a fighter, she responded, "My childhood growing up I was surrounded by Dragon Ball Z, WWE, action movies, and if I wasn't at karate or Taekwondo practice I was practicing fighting with my friends in the neighborhood. We had a lot of imagination so that's where my fascination with martial arts began."

Rose has had a meteoric rise up the amateur ranks, she is currently the #4 ranked 115 pound amateur with a perfect record of (4-0)

She made her amateur debut in August of 2010 against Melissa Pacheco (0-1) who she defeated by TKO due to punches in the first round. Melissa once thought to be a promising fighter has yet to enter a cage since.

She would have her second fight in December of 2011 after almost a year and a half since her first fight and face a much more experienced fighter in Heather Bassett (4-2) who was favored to win. Rose however would win that fight by unanimous decision.

On March, 17 2012 Rose would get in the ring with yet another opponent who had twice the amount of fights as her when she faced off against Moriel Charneski (5-2) She would go on to defeat Moriel by unanimous decision.

Her final amateur fight came on June, 30th of 2012 against the very experienced Jen Aniano (6-7-1) who he defeated by TKO due to referee stoppage in the first round of thier fight.

You can watch Invicta FC on pay-per view  for $7.95 starting at 6pm CST at Invictafc.com

Paige "12 Guage" Van Zant vs. Tecia "Tiny Tornado" Torres

On Saturday January, 5 at Invica Fighting Championship 4: "Esparza vs. Hyatt" at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

Paige "12 Guage" Van Zant (2-0-0) will take on Tecia "Tiny Tornado" Torres (1-0-0) in a 115-pound professional MMA match.

Paige is a 5'4 18 year old fighter originally from Reno, Nevada now training in Las Vegas Nevada at The House of Ryu Gym where she is coached by Ron Frazier, who she says is, "Amazing and I am lucky to work with him,"

I asked Paige what got her started in MMA, "My dad was the one who got me started into MMA. He was a wrestler all his all through high school and some of college but he always had a love of MMA. He took me to a class once and I fell in love with it!!".

Paige has been a quick sensation after only one amateur fight, a fight that took place in April of 2012. She defeated Morgan Hunter by first round rear-naked choke.

Only two months after her amateur debut, Paige would make the leap to the pro ranks against a very successful amateur Jordan Gaza who was also making her debut. Paige won a razor thin split decision that many people felt Jordan won.

Just three weeks later Paige would dispatch another very experienced amateur fighter when she defeated Amber Stautzenberger by Unanimous decision.

Now she has had her longest break between fights since she began just eight short months ago and she is with a new Gym and plans to be a much better fighter than ever before.

Tecia Torres is a 5'1 23 year old fighter originally from Massachusetts now fighting out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida where she has lived most of her life. She trains at American Top Team.

"My mom put me Karate when I was five 1995 and I fell in love with it. I got my Black Belt when I was thirteen and stopped training when I was seventeen to begin college. Then when I was eighteen, I found Muay Thai and fell in love again. I had my first fight at nineteen."

Tecia is fresh off of her pro debut at Invicta FC 3  where she defeated Kaiyana Rain by unanimous decision.

She had one of the most successful runs as an amateur in history and is the favorite to win amateur fighter of the year as she ended her amateur career as the #1 fighter at 115 pounds with a perfect 7-0 record not to mention her extensive amateur Muay Thai record of (24-4)

Her wins as an amateur have come against top tier competition including Amber Stautzenberger, Ashley Greenway, Jamie Moyle, Sarah McLeod, Jill Valenzuela, Rebecca Gruitza and Ivey Turner.

The amateur records of all of Tecia's opponents combined is (18-15) a very good level of competition many of which were much taller than her.

She is the holder of  7 titles. (4x Amateur World Kickboxing Champion & 3x Amateur MMA Champion.

 You can watch Invicta FC on pay-per view  for $7.95 starting at 6pm CST at Invictafc.com

Katalina Malungahu vs. Veronica Rothenhausler

 

On Saturday January, 5 at Invica Fighting Championship 4: "Esparza vs. Hyatt" at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas

#20 ranked 145-pound professional fighter Katalina Malungahu (2-1-0) will take on Veronica Rothenhausler (0-0-0) in a 145-pound professional MMA match. 

Katalina is a 5'8 31 year old fighter who was born in Tonga and lived there ten years before moving to Utah, where she began training with former UFC fighter Jeremy Horn and his Elite Performance Fight Team. She now fights out of Las Vegas Nevada where she trains at  Xtreme Couture, where she is coached by Denis Davis (Head Coach) Eric Nicksick (Grappling) Kyle Griffin (Wrestling) Tim Lane & Kui Gonsalves (Kickboxing) Neil Melanson & Rich Castro (Jiu Jitsu)

"I started training just to get fit. My uncle Tony Fulilangi was my very first personal striking coach. Then I got a little comfortable with Jiu Jitsu after training with Jeremy Horn and his team, so I decided to go into fighting MMA. Before I had my first fight, I knew once I get started, I had to go all the way to become a champion and turn it into a "career". "ALL or NOTHING." After a year of putting in work with Jeremy Horn's Team, I decided to move to Las Vegas to further my career with Xtreme Couture in MMA. I give all my great trainers credit for the knowledge and skills that I've gained along with great teammates that I  have currently or in the past had the chance to train with who have invested time and blood into my preparations in fight camps."

This will be the second straight time that Katalina fights for Invicta FC, in her last fight at Invicta FC 3 on October, 6 2012 where she lost to #2 ranked 145-pound professional fighter Ediane Gomes by rear-naked choke in the first round of their match.

Before that loss Katalina was on a five fight win streak, which included her first two professional fights as well as her three amateur fights. Her last pro win was on July, 28 2012 when she defeated formerly undefeated and #1 ranked 145-pound fighter Ericka Newsome in Ericka's pro debut.

She made her pro debut in October of 2011 when she defeated undefeated at the time professional fighter Valerie Barney (5-1) by TKO in the first round of their fight.

Katalina had a very successful amateur career that saw her go (3-0) versus Samantha Mosqueda, Kari Lichtenwalner and Jennifer Raff, all of whom she defeated by KO or TKO due to punches.

Veronica is a 5'11 23 year old fighter originally from Reno, Nevada , now fighting out of Sacramento, California at Uriah Faber's Team Alpha Male.

She started MMA two and a half years ago with Battle Born Fight Team, where she was coached by Rich Montoya.

Veronica is currently the #7 ranked 145-pound amateur fighter in the world with an undefeated record of (3-0).

In her last amateur fight on July, 6 2012 she defeated #8 ranked 145-pound amateur Ashlee Evans Smith (5-4) by five second KO in the first round of their Tuff-N-Uff 145-pound championship match. That however as rare as it was was not the first time Veronica has knocked out an opponent five seconds into the fight. On November, 4 2011 Veronica defeated Noelle Cherry by five second first round KO. Although her first amateur fight in September of 2011 was not a five second knockout, she still managed to KO her opponent at the two minute mark.

These are two fighters who will be looking to take eachother's heads off, with a combined eight KO's or TKO's in thier nine professional and amateur MMA fights.

You can watch Invicta FC on pay-per view  for $7.95 at 6pm CST at Invictafc.com

Laura Sanko vs. Cassie Robb

On Saturday January, 5 at Invica Fighting Championship 4: "Esparza vs. Gadelha" at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas

Laura Sanko (0-0) will battle Cassie Robb (0-0) in a 105 pound professional MMA match.

This will be the debut professional MMA fight for both fighters.

Laura is a 5'5 30 year old fighter from Kansas City, Missouri who trains at Grindhouse. She is coached by Brian Davidson, James Krause, Austen Ford, and UFC fighter Tim Elliot.

I asked Laura what got her started in MMA and this was her response, "I got into MMA because I was going through some turmoil in my personal life. I got married young and it was a disaster. the marriage only lasted six months and I felt like a complete failure. I had grown up doing karate and realized I miss having a physical outlet and a place where I could forget about my stress and worries for a while. I loved the training so much that I eventually wanted to try to compete."
.
Laura is currently #5 in the Women's amateur 105 pound World Rankings with a record of (4-1). She has won three fights in a row dating back to March of 2011, when she defeated last minute replacement Emily Reed (2-1) by second round rear-naked choke. Emily, has yet to enter a cage since.

The second win on that streak came against #7 ranked 105- pound fighter Kyla Slaughter (5-4) in September of 2011 when Laura submitted Kyla in the first round by armbar.

Most recently in March of 2012 she defeated #6 ranked 105-pound fighter Nadia Nixon (5-4) in a great match by unanimous decision for the Blue Corner 105-pound amateur title.

The only loss of her career came against now inactive fighter Leslie Lockwood (2-3) by TKO.

Laura made her amateur debut on September, 11 2010 when she defeated  115-pound amateur Amanda Hein (2-3) by TKO due to Amanda submitting to punches.

Cassie is a 5'5 22 year old fighter originally from Casper, Wyoming now living and training in Denver, Colorado at Advantage Martial Arts with the Serial Boxe Killers, where she is coached by Benjamin Schissler and professional MMA fighter Diana Rael.

Much like many female MMA fighters, Cassie is an openly gay fighter, who is engaged to fellow professional fighter Stephanie Skinner.

I also asked Cassie why she began to train in MMA and this is what she said, "I used to go to Steve Alley's local fights in Wyoming and thought it would be cool to try it. I used to want to be a boxer so I started boxing and took an MMA fight about two weeks later."

 Cassie is currently the #9 ranked 105-pound amateur in the world with an amateur record of (3-2-1) She is currently on a one fight winning streak, a win that came in October of 2012 against Lilian Orozco (1-1) who she defeated by rear-naked choke in the first round to win the Kick Down MMA 105-pound amateur championship.

The fight before that on August, 17th 2012 Cassie fought Ali Kistler (0-3-1) to a draw. This was an opponent Cassie had previously defeated in February of 2012 by triangle choke.

She also holds a victory over Star Polley (0-1) who she defeated by rear-naked choke. She  lost in her amateur debut to Kiele Lewis (1-1) who caught her in a guillotine choke in the second round of thier fight, a fight that Cassie took after only two weeks of training in boxing.

The combined record of all of Cassie's amateur opponents is (2-6-1) while her opponent Laura Sanko has fought against opponents with the combined record of (16-15).

Laura Sanko would like to thank her sponsor, Century 21 All Pro--Kansas city's leading residential real estate group. Grab their free app by texting C21 to 87778 and get thousands of listings at your fingertips.

You can watch Invicta FC on pay-per view  for $7.99 at Invictafc.com