This weekend is one of the rare ones that does not feature a UFC event. However, there are still eight top-ten fighters in action across three different events: Invicta FC 16, World Series of Fighting 29 and Pancrase 276.
Invicta FC 16
#1 Atomweight Ayaka Hamasaki vs. #7 Atomweight Amber Brown
On Friday night, live on UFC Fight Pass, Hamasaki will defend her Invicta FC atomweight title against Brown. Hamasaki won the belt in her last outing with a split-decision victory over veteran Herica Tiburcio. She is currently riding a three-fight winning streak also including wins over Naho Sugiyama and Mei Yamaguchi under the Deep banner. Hamasaki’s lone career defeat came against Claudia Gadelha at Invicta FC 6.
Brown fights out of the Albuquerque-based FIT NHB team. She has won four straight bouts since suffering her only defeat against Emi Fujino at Pancrase 247. In her last fight, Brown submitted Shino VanHoose at Invicta FC 15.
#9 Strawweight DeAnna Bennett vs. #3 Flyweight Roxanne Modafferi
Bennett began her run in Invicta as a flyweight. However, she recently dropped down to 115 pounds. On the promotion’s last show, she challenged Livia Renata Souza for the promotion’s title but failed to make it out of the first round. The 31-year-old is 8-1 and holds victories over Katja Kankaanpää, Colleen Schneider and Julianna Peña.
Modafferi is a long time veteran of the sport who made her debut back in 2003. She challenged Sarah Kaufman for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title in 2010. Modafferi was also a competitor on the 18th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Since falling at the TUF 18 finale, she has cut back down to flyweight and once again experienced success. Modafferi has gone 3-1 since the change with her only defeat coming against Vanessa Porto last April
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