Women's divisions pioneer meets Olympian at Invicta 2

Sara McMannThere aren’t many holdovers from the dawn of the women’s divisions and there aren’t many Olympic athletes in those divisions however Saturday, July 28th two such semi-legends square off with Shayna Baszler taking on Sara McMann.  Invicta 2 takes place at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City with a live free webcast on http://invictafc.com.

Shayna BaszlerDebuting in MMA almost nine years ago Shayna Baszler has fought in just about every notable US show from Ring of Fire to Strikeforce, has fought most “names” from Tara LaRosa to Sarah Kaufman.  Now on a four-win streak “The Queen of Spades” steps into the Invicta cage with thirteen of fourteen career wins coming by submission, most recently defeating Elaina Maxwell by kneebar in November 2010.  2004 Olympic Silver Medalist  Mcmann started MMA in May 2011, six months after Baszler’s last fight however the wrestling standout has dominated every opponent in her 5-0 career most recently winning a unanimous decision o0ver Hitomi Akano in ProElite’s January show.  McMann of course is mainly known for her wrestling, Baszler her submissions so expect this to be a ground war.

Alexis DavisHitomi AkanoThe co-main event also looks like a ground war in the making as18-9 Hitomi Akano faces 11-5 Alexis Davis.  Davis lost to Baszler, Tara LaRosa, and in her most recent fight Sarah Kaufman but holds wins over Julie Kedzie and Amanda Nunes which brought her Strikeforce record to 2-1 Akano is the women’s divisions’ equivalent of a gatekeeper with wins in Japan but in the US a 1-5 record, her sole win on American soil being in the semifinals of the one-night Strikeforce tournament before losing to Miesha Tate.  Expect Davis to have the striking edge but Akano the grappling with the fight probably going the distance.

Liz CarmoucheThe card isn’t all about grappling as Kaitlin Young and Liz Carmouche are both known for their striking.  Young turned around her 2008-11 losing record to go 2-0-1 over the past year with the draw being her most recent, Leslie Smith in Invicta 1.  Carmouche had a bad 2011 with two losses in Strikeforce however those were against former champions Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen, definitely a higher level of opponent than Young has faced.


Invicta 2 card:

Jessica Philippus vs.Liz McCarthy
Jocelyn Lybarger vs.Cheryl Chan
Jessamyn Duke vs.Suzie Montero
Sarah Moras vs.Raquel Pennington
Angelica Chavez vs.Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc
Carla Esparza vs.Sarah Schneider
Julia Budd vs.Elina Nilsson
Barb Honchak vs.Bethany Marshall
Sarah D’Alelio vs.Vanessa Porto
Amanda Nunes vs.Leslie Smith
Akaya Hamasaki vs.Lacey Shuckman
Liz Carmouche vs.Kaitlin Young
Alexis Davis vs.Hitomi Akano
Shayna Baszler vs.Sara McMann