Top Female Fighters Star in So Cal

LOS ANGELES, April 3 -- Many stars have been born at the Shrine Expo Center and undoubtedly a few more were unveiled Thursday night as the ladies of Fatal Femmes Fighting put on an exciting show for those in attendance.

After nearly a year layoff, Tokyo-based American fighter Roxanne Modafferi (Pictures) returned to action to defend her FFF lightweight title against Brazilian Vanessa Porto (Pictures). She did not skip a beat in finishing her game challenger with 53 seconds expired in the third round.

Despite admittedly being worried about how well her cardio would hold up, Modafferi came out and took the fight to the tough Brazilian from the outset, scoring with punches and kicks. Porto would not back down and managed to take Modafferi to the floor.

Modafferi remained on offense from her back and nearly secured an armbar before Porto escaped and took back-control. The FFF champ kept working, however, and was able to twist into Porto's guard, where she landed punches until the round ended.

In the second Modafferi picked up the pace and attacked with sharp punch and kick combinations that backed Porto to the fence. Porto immediately shot and grabbed hold of Modafferi's leg before taking her down with a hard slam. Porto proceeded to land strikes from side-mount until Modafferi kicked her legs over Porto's head and locked up a triangle choke, which she then attempted to turn into an armbar. Neither was working but it did help Modafferi win the round.

Again Modafferi came out swinging to start the third round. Modafferi immediately went for a Thai clinch and after some well-placed elbows, she began unloading knees to Porto's head, which froze her in a defensive posture until referee Herb Dean (Pictures) stepped in and stopped the fight.

"I wasn't perfect, but I wanted to show what I learned in striking," said Modafferi afterwards.

Brazilian Carina Damm unseated Sofie Bagherdai from the ranks of the unbeaten in impressive fashion with an armbar at the 1:52 mark of the second round.

Damm stalked Bagherdai from the beginning with an expressionless demeanor, not unlike another Brazilian, Rickson Gracie (Pictures).

When she would finally get within range the "Brazilian Barbie" unleashed a destructive assault of spinning backfists and punches that barely missed. To her credit, Bagherdai did an excellent job of sticking and moving to try and stay away from Damm's attacks.

In the second Bagherdai continued with the stick-and-move strategy. Damm eventually caught up to her again and unleashed another combination, which Bagderhai only defended with a combination of her own. After holding her off, Bagderhai circled to the other side of the cage, but Damm caught her again with another salvo.

Bagderhai managed to smother with a clinch but Damm simply changed levels and slammed her foe with a double-leg. Damm wasted no time in mounting her opponent. And after softening her up with some ground-and-pound, Damm saw an opening and cinched in an armbar. Bagderhai fought it off for a moment but Damm stayed with it causing Bagderhai to tap.

Damm's performance left an impression on everybody, including EliteXC brass in attendance, as she secured a date on an upcoming ProElite card.

FFF heavyweight champion Lana Stefanac (Pictures) made short work of Teyvia Reed submitting her with an armbar just 36 seconds into their fight.

Smack Girl champion Takayo Hashi (Pictures) out-pointed Amanda Buckner (Pictures) to earn a unanimous decision. Scores were 30-37 and 29-28 twice.

Hashi and Buckner displayed a wide range of standup skills as they put on a show for the crowd. Buckner's only problem was that her specialty is on the ground and it showed more and more as the fight went on as Hashi slowly took control with her striking.

"She scored more but I did more damage," said Buckner afterwards. "I got too stuck on just stand-up."

Canadian Alexis Davis (Pictures) outworked Liz Carriero to earn the unanimous decision. Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28.

With an entertaining and aggressive style Ashley Sanchez won over the crowd but lost the fight to Sarah Schneider by unanimous decision. Sanchez shook off a several well placed spinning backfists by Schneider and displayed aggressive striking but was unable to defend the takedowns. That flaw ultimately swayed the judges against her. The score was 29-28 on all judges' cards.

Sally Krumdiak (Pictures) won a hard earned unanimous decision over the game Jamie Lynn by the score of 29-28 on all three judges' cards. Lynn took the first round as she controlled Krumdiak on the ground. Krumdiak's approach got more aggressive after that as she used crisp striking to set up takedowns, which she turned to ground-and-pound that won her the last two rounds.

Emily Thompson put a hurt on Breanne Vickers, who took the fight on just one day's notice. Referee Larry Landless (Pictures) stepped in and stopped ground-and-pound onslaught with 57 seconds gone in the third round.

It took Albuquerque native Jenna Babcock just over a minute to take down Tammie Schneider (Pictures), secure her back and pound her into submission. The official time of the stop was 1:05 of the first round.

Michelle Roody won her professional debut when she landed a left kick-right hand combination that dropped Franita Gathings (Pictures). On the ground, Gathings just buried her face in her hands, and referee Mike Beltran stopped the bout at 2:54 of the first round.

Tamara Parks defeated Lina Koukov at 2:24 of the first round with an armbar.

Tierra Arnold won a split decision over Veronica Locurto (29-28 twice and 28-29).