TESS VALMORE


The June PPV was on the light side as many of the top fighters took the month off Only seventeen of the sixty top twenty fighters in the flyweight, bantam, and lightweight divisions were in action. There was only one fight in those divisions between top ten fighters other than the title bouts. I know managers consider each fight important, but in this card, other than the title fight, there were only a couple fights that would cause a stir in the upper rankings.

There were three title bouts with the title changing hands in one. Amanda Righetti continued her win streak beating Prinsloo to nobodies surprise, Taylor Swift took the lightweight title from Ambrosio. That really irritates me. I said Ambrosio was an unlikely champion and predicted the she would lose the title fight to Winstead. She won. Then I predicted she would lose the next three fights. She won. This time, I predicted she would win. She lost. To me, Swift like Ambrosio is another unlikely champion. She has less than two weeks to prepare to defend the title against Katy Perry on the FNL PPV on July 12. In the bantam title fight. Lovato turned back Dennings.

In the welters, the big win was Kostek beating Freeman. That should get Kostek a title fight, while being Freeman’s ticket out of the top ten. Kostek’s win while Decker sat out the PPV probably cost Decker the next title fight. Upton’s win over Flair will put her ahead of Flair in the rankings. The rubber match between the two should be coming up shortly. Ferguson was impressive in a one round KO of Cole.  In a bout between former top ten fighters. Lawrence came from being to beat Kloss. The result is that they will probably changes positions in the top twenty.

In the only fight between top ten fighters. Sagra defeated Winstead. Sagra put herself in line for another title match. She just lost a title fight in the May PPV, but now we have a new champion. I know there is some feeling about a fighter getting two title fights in a short time, but she is there and can’t be overlooked In another lightweight bout of note Peregrym won the second fight in her “comeback” by beating Cuoco. The worst thing happening to Cuoco was joining the Hall Of Fame. She has lost six of eight and dropped of the top twenty lightweights. It should be noted that DiDonato continued her march to the top ten by beating Lively.

The only top ten bantam in action was Elizabeth Olsen who lost to Ratajkowski. That should end Olsen’s stay in the top ten and should boost Ratajkowski, but probably not enough to get her in the top ten. In another bantam bout Lind popped Hunter KIng’s bubble with a eight round TKO breaking Kings sixteen fight win streak.

In the flyweight the only top ten members in action were Olivia Holt and Hayden Panettiere and Megan Fox. Holt and Panettiere faced dangerous opponents and both won. Foxes fight was a gimme against an opponent who had little chance of beating her and didn’t.