Resisting the tide - The History and Future of DCF

Donners · February 7, 2015

<div style="text-align:center;"> DCF 53: Wu v Backlund

Undercard

Jill Horn (2-2) d Julie Dillon (4-7) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Serra Clementi (7-3) d Asako Fukumitsu (3-1) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Kyoko Hishikawa (2-0) d Irene McFly (11-3) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Terri Frehley (7-2) d Megan Foster (0-4) – TKO, R2, Good

Dana Kowalski (9-4) d Kryssa Tau (15-4) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Paula Sanz (7-2) d Yuma Umeki (6-2) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Sanz was well on top here, with nine power punches. Umeki did well to go the distance.

Co-main event

Maureen Chase (12-3) d Lee Chang (22-1) – Submission, R2, Fantastic

Really good fight. I’m disappointed that Chang’s unbeaten record is gone, because she looks like a really talented fighter, but it’s good to see Chase pull back a win.

Main event

Courtney Backlund (8-1) v Michelle Wu (16-1) – KO, R2, Fantastic

Another really good fight. It was pretty even early on, but once Backlund got Wu down and rained down punches, it was all over.</div>

Show overview

Critical: 82%

Commercial: 76%

Attendance: 2,945

US Popularity: +2.8%

Profit: $10,919,799

After a flat start to the show, probably not unexpectedly given the weak undercard, the main and co-main blew the roof off. I was sad to see the two undefeated records end, but it’s great to have Chase back as a potential contender and Backlund just keeps rising up the ranks. The show was another commercial success, only falling just short of last month’s record breaking results.

Donners · February 9, 2015

Preview - DCF 54: Ryland v Tenshan

Date: Tuesday, Week 4, October 2010

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

Another newcomer thrust into a main event. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is going to work as well as the previous show. This one is going to hurt us – there are just no decent draws on the card. It’s taken a few months, but the weakening of the Bantamweights has really bit hard here. It’s going to get a bit worse; Lucy Sims, who is in the co-main, has signed with XCC.

Main event

Virginia Ryland (#4, 14-6, 9-3 DCF) v Hitomo Tenshin (#8, 10-0)

Much like the previous show’s main event, I wish I could protect the new signing in her first match, but I had to cling to the minimal draw she offers. Tenshin is one-dimensional but hits hard. Hopefully the more balanced Ryland can continue her good form.

Co-main event

Saya Ikegami (#10, 23-5-1NC, 1-0 DCF) v Lucy Sims (#25, 6-3, 4-3 DCF)

Ikegami has just arrived and Sims is on the way out. Ikegami looks the better fighter, so fingers crossed she can send Sims out with a loss.

Undercard

Fawnia Mercier (#13, 8-9, 4-4 DCF) v Darcelle Bergeron (#11, 8-5, 6-5 DCF)

Destan Bartlett (-, 5-3) v Eiko Shiokawa (#17, 10-4, 0-1 DCF)

Bartlett should finish the veteran early with her powerful kick boxing.

Jill Peak (#18, 15-5) v Charlene Eilers (#23, 5-2, 2-1 DCF)

Peak was briefly WEFF’s Flyweight champion, which doesn’t mean much these days. Eilers should win.

Lillian Kyle (-, 5-3-1NC, 2-1 DCF) v Sybylla Van Der Capellen (#21, 7-1, 1-1 DCF)

Patricia Horn (-, 0-3, 0-3 DCF) v Ambre Martin (#15, 11-5, 0-1 DCF)

Alicia Koscheck (-, 5-11, 3-6 DCF) v Andrea Jones (#19, 10-7, 5-7 DCF)

Can’t get much worse than these two. Jones last won in October 2006, Koscheck in 2005. At least one of them will finally come out on top!

Annie Terkay (-, 5-3) v Ryo Ashi (-, 3-0)

Both are new signings, but Ashi is the only one to possess any real ability. Her powerful strikes should end this quickly.

WEFF 72 results for DCF fighters:

Winners

Faun Vidal (10-7) to retain the Bantamweight title

Diana Robert (12-7)

Coletta Tremblay (12-6)

Losers

Zuria Cote (10-11)

Nicole Henderson (9-7)

Claudia Bailey (10-8)

Donners · February 11, 2015

DCF 54: Ryland v Tenshan

Undercard

Annie Terkay (6-3) d Ryo Ashi (3-1) – TKO, R2, Good

Oops. I certainly didn’t pick that.

Andrea Jones (11-7) d Alicia Koscheck (5-12) – Submission, R1, Good

Patricia Horn (1-3) d Ambre Martin (11-6) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Poor

Looks like Martin wasn’t a good signing. She was dominated by the previously winless Horn.

Lillian Kyle (6-3-1NC) d Sybylla Van Der Capellen (7-2) – KO, R3, Great

Not a good day at all for the international signings – every one of them has lost so far!

Charlene Eilers (6-2) d Jill Peak (15-6) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Very Poor

Eiko Shiokawa (11-4) d Destan Bartlett (5-4) – Submission, R1, Good

Well, another of my predictions was well off. Bartlett didn’t get a single hit in, losing in under a minute.

Darcelle Bergeron(9-5) d Fawnia Mercier (8-10) – TKO, R1, Great

Co-main event

Lucy Sims (7-3) d Saya Ikegami (23-6-1NC) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Damn. Not what I wanted when Sims is leaving.

Main event

Virginia Ryland (15-6) d Hitomo Tenshin (10-1) – Tech Submission, R1, Good

An arm injury to Tenshin ended this quickly.

Show overview

Critical: 71%

Commercial: 56%

Attendance: 2,391

US Popularity: Unchanged

Profit: $6,626,064

Definitely not one of our better shows, in terms of draw, results or spectacle. There were several upsets, with our new international signings on the receiving end of them. Perhaps unfamiliarity with cages as opposed to rings is the reason.

On the bright side, Ryland keeps pushing into title contention – that’s six straight wins, albeit with some in WEFF.

In order to fight off bids from XCC, I signed Faun Vidal and Rhonda Levesque to exclusive contracts. That robs poor WEFF of two champions, but at least I keep a couple of our increasingly few Bantamweights. I let XCC take Deborah Hughes (6-3), though, and they outbid me for Fawnia Mercier (8-10).

Donners · February 12, 2015

Preview - DCF 55: Wright v Evergood II

Date: Thursday, Week 4, December 2010

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

The final show of the year thankfully sees the return of some familiar names to the main event. The Featherweight division is rather overcrowded, so every fight on the card is important to help settle the pecking order.

Main event

Alice Wright (#4, 12-2, 12-2 DCF) v Piper Evergood (#2, 21-5, 10-1 DCF)

These two fought way back at DCF 25, with Evergood retaining the title by TKO. Since then, of course, Evergood lost the title at DCF 48 but came back with a win at DCF 51. Wright’s only two losses have been to the two champions, Evergood and Clean. Evergood is 34 now and seems to have lost some ability, so this could be close.

Co-main event

Li Chao (#6, 25-0) v Karen Hinkle (#13, 4-0, 4-0 DCF)

Unfortunately, someone will lose their undefeated record here. Hinkle looks like being a superior fighter, particularly as Chao has a weak chin.

Undercard

Laura Nikolic (-, 10-0) v Claudia Fraser (#16, 11-4, 4-4 DCF)

Nikolic is a Russian Lightweight who is making her DCF debut here. She’s nothing special, but nor is Fraser, so this could go either way.

Judy Phillips (#14, 8-4, 6-4 DCF) v Victoria Death (#10, 24-1, 2-1 DCF)

Death’s last fight was a submission loss to Lorin Poirier over a year ago. She has the capability to end this one quickly, but if Phillips can avoid a big hit then she might be able to make Death submit again.

Virginia Robinson (-, 6-3, 1-3 DCF) v Nancey Vidal (#21, 9-7, 7-3 DCF)

Vidal won her first five DCF fights, with three KOs in a row, then lost three straight. Robinson is terrible but can at least take a beating, so Vidal will need to be on her game all the way through.

Pascala Grenier (-, 13-9, 0-1 DCF) v Susan Gilbert (-, 6-1, 1-3 DCF)

Kishi Matsukata (#24, 4-0, 1-0 DCF) v Nellie Lashley (-, 16-9, 1-1 DCF)

Darlene Chase (-, 1-0, 1-0 DCF) v Aubina Levesque (-, 4-9, 2-6 DCF)

Chase won DCF Path to Stardom, and her first fight against an established fighter is one of the easier match-ups. Levesque has lost three in a row.

Lauren Turcotte (#25, 3-0, 2-0 DCF) v Asako Fukumitsu (-, 3-1, 0-1 DCF)

Both are new signings, but Ashi is the only one to possess any real ability. Her powerful strikes should end this quickly.

Donners · February 13, 2015

DCF 55: Wright v Evergood II

Undercard

Lauren Turcotte (4-0) d Asako Fukumitsu (3-2) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Darlene Chase (2-0) d Aubina Levesque (4-10) – KO, R2, Good

Not much of a test for Chase, but a good result to keep her momentum up.

Nellie Lashley (17-9) d Kishi Matsukata (4-1) – TKO, R1, Great

Susan Gilbert (7-1) d Pascala Grenier (13-10) – Submission, R3, Great

Nancey Vidal (10-7) d Virginia Robinson (6-4) – TKO, R1, Great

Well, I guess Robinson didn’t take hits as well as I thought. A hook followed by a big kick ended this quickly.

Victoria Death (25-1) d Judy Phillips (8-5) – KO, R1, Good

Wow. One left cross, 20 seconds in, ended this one dramatically.

Laura Nikolic (11-0) d Claudia Fraser (11-5) – Split Decision, R3, Average

Probably the right result for two decidedly average fighters.

Co-main event

Karen Hinkle (5-0) d Li Chao (25-1) – KO, R2, Average

After a first round of half-hearted jabs, Hinkle got Chao down and destroyed her with 13 power punches.

Main event

Piper Evergood (22-5) d Alice Wright (12-3) – Submission, R1, Average

Wow, didn’t expect that. Evergood has never won by submission before, but perhaps she is diversifying in the twilight of her career. An arm triangle finished this match just three minutes in.

Show overview

Critical: 72%

Commercial: 68%

Attendance: 3,038

US Popularity: +2.2%

Profit: $11,200,301

A commercially successful show, and one with some interesting implications. Evergood is well and truly back, and probably deserves a title shot. Lower down the card, Victoria Death made a dramatic return, Karen Hinkle made it five win in five fights and Darlene Chase continues to build her reputation. All up a pretty good end to the year.

Donners · February 16, 2015

2010 in review

2010 offered us a chance to build up our roster significantly. We lost just four fighters for the year – Diana Marr (15-11) retired, while Lucy Sims (7-3), Phyllis Chase (15-5) and Fawnia Mercier (8-10) all left for XCC. That was more than covered by 13 new signings, offering us a far more options for match-making. The rosters are now probably a little bloated, and some fighters didn’t appear much at all in 2010, but at least we have plenty of depth.

Despite a couple of relatively weak main events at DCF 50 and 54, DCF continued to grow. Four of the six shows earned more than $10 million profit, and DCF 52 – Russo v Fyodorov – was our most successful ever.

Sherry Clean retained the Featherweight title in her only fight of the year, seeing off rising talent Lorin Poirier. However, a number of fighters are pushing for a title shot, and she may face stiff competition in coming years – especially with youngsters like Karen Hinkle and Courtney Backlund on the way up. Piper Evergood is also in the picture, having won the last main event of the year. Paula Sanz looks like a prospect to push up the rankings, having won six DCF fights at the age of 23. 2011 should be a good one for the Featherweights.

Featherweight rankings

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	Change
[b]1	Sherry Clean		30	12-1	10-1[/b]	-
2	Piper Evergood		35	22-5	11-1	-
3	Maureen Chase		30	12-3	6-1	^ (#6)
4	Alice Wright		32	12-3	12-3	^ (#5)
5	Lorin Poirier		30	9-7	6-4	v (#4)
6	Victoria Death		29	25-1	3-1	^ (#8)
7	Karen Hinkle		25	5-0	5-0	^ (#9)
8	Lee Chang		32	22-1	1-1	v (#3)
9	Courtney Backlund	23	8-1	6-1	^ (#10)
10	Judith Hughes		29	11-8	4-7	^ (#16)
11	Zhen Juan Jen		32	25-0	0-0	NEW
12	Li Chao			29	25-1	0-1	v (#7)
13	Chanell Taylor		32	11-8	4-7	-
14	Coletta Tremblay	29	12-6	5-3	^ (#15)
15	Michelle Wu		27	16-1	0-1	NEW
16	Francena Dube		30	9-6	7-3	^ (#18)
17	Grace Jang		30	24-1	0-1	-
18	Nicole Henderson	32	9-7	7-6	v (#11)
19	Nancey Vidal		26	10-7	8-3	v (#14)
20	Paula Sanz		23	7-2	6-2	-
21	Judy Phillips		31	8-5	6-5	v (#19)
22	Claudia Fraser		29	11-5	4-5	v (#12)
23	Laura Nikolic		23	11-0	1-0	NEW
24	Evelina Mikhailov	28	5-0	1-0	v (#22)
25	Zuria Cote		29	10-11	6-7	v (#24)
-	April Cronin		33	22-6	0-0
-	Asako Fukumitsu		24	3-2	0-2
-	Aubina Levesque		28	4-10	2-7
-	Brittany Gibson		30	4-6	3-5
-	Dana Kowalski		28	9-4	3-4
-	Darlene Chase		21	2-0	2-0
-	Flori Dube		23	2-2	1-2
-	Floriana Parent		28	6-5	6-5	v (#23)
-	Holly Kowalski		23	0-1	0-1
-	Irene McFly		30	11-3	0-3
-	Jill Horn		21	2-2	1-2
-	Julie Dillon		32	4-7	2-7
-	Khryssa Tau		25	15-4	1-2
-	Kishi Matsukata		24	4-1	1-1	v (#25)
-	Kyoko Hishikawa		29	2-0	1-0
-	Lauren Turcotte		27	4-0	3-0
-	Martha Cox		36	31-5	0-0
-	Megan Foster		25	0-4	0-4
-	Miyoshi Ishimaru	29	2-0	0-0
-	Nellie Lashley		28	17-9	2-1	v (#21)
-	Noel Wang		25	5-2	0-2
-	Pascala Grenier		29	13-10	0-2
-	Serra Clementi		31	7-3	2-3
-	Susan Gilbert		26	7-3	2-3
-	Terri Frehley		26	7-2	3-2
-	Virginia Robinson	30	6-4	1-4
-	Yuma Umeki		31	6-2	0-2

The Bantamweights continued to be led by Gianna Russo, who won her only fight of 2010 – the biggest and most successful DCF event of the year – to defend the title for the third time. It is perhaps telling that three of the top five Bantamweights are 33 or older; we really need some younger fighters to step up. It is promising to see 28-year-old Virginia Ryland ranked second, but we need a few more at the top. The division remains weak – demonstrated by Gauthier being ranked 21st despite losing all three of her DCF fights – and most of the new signings have had starts which range from mixed to poor. Hopefully someone can rise in 2011 – perhaps Charlene Eilers, who is looking promising – or I may need to bring in some more new faces.

Bantamweight rankings

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	Change
[b]1	Gianna Russo		32	20-6	13-3[/b]	-
2	Virginia Ryland		28	15-6	10-3	^ (#4)
3	Daniela Sadorra		35	17-8	6-6	v (#2)
4	Domnika Fyodorov	33	19-1	2-1	^ (#5)
5	Faun Vidal		34	10-7	5-3	^ (#12)
6	Xin Qian Hao		25	13-0	1-0	NEW
7	Darcelle Bergeron	32	9-5	7-5	^ (#9)
8	Yan Yan Lin		29	25-1	1-1	v (#7)
9	Noel Tsay		30	27-0	0-0	NEW
10	Emi Nagano		33	27-2	1-1	v (#3)
11	Saya Ikegami		32	23-6	1-1	-
12	Eiko Shiokawa		38	11-4	1-1	NEW
13	Pernilla Martin		32	12-1	0-1	v (#6)
14	Hitomo Tenshin		31	10-1	0-1	NEW
15	Andrea Jones		35	11-7	6-7	^ (#17)
16	Diana Robert		29	12-7	3-0	^ (#20)
17	Ambre Martin		29	11-6	0-2	v (#13)
18	Rhonda Levesque		27	2-1	0-0	NEW
19	Charlene Eilers		27	6-2	3-1	^ (#23)
20	Jill Peak		32	15-6	0-1	NEW
21	Rohais Gauthier		30	7-7	0-3	v (#18)
22	Mutsuko Kurofuki	27	7-0	1-0	v (#19)
23	Deborah Hughes		30	6-3	3-3	v (#15)
24	Carla Hart		30	5-3	4-3	NEW
25	Lillian Kyle		28	6-3	3-1	NEW
-	Alicia Koscheck		30	5-12	3-7
-	Annie Terkay		30	6-3	1-0
-	Claudia Bailey		27	10-8	3-5
-	Delmare Vidal		30	2-12	2-12
-	Denys Blais		28	11-8	0-0
-	Destan Bartlett		29	5-4	0-1
-	Ethel Punk		32	5-5	5-5	v (#25)
-	Francena Lapointe	31	4-13	3-9
-	Lorraine Bedard		29	13-6	1-2
-	Patricia Horn		25	1-3	1-3
-	Ryo Asahi		27	3-1	0-1
-	Stella Hall		27	5-5	5-4
-	Sybylla VanDerCapellen  28	7-2	1-2	v (#10)
-	Victorina David		24	3-5	1-3

Donners · February 17, 2015

Preview - DCF 56: Russo v Sadorra II

Date: Monday, Week 4, February 2011

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

The second “sequel” main event in a row. The Bantamweight title will be defended for the first time since June 2010, and the fourth time by Gianna Russo. The title clash should be a huge match, even with Russo as the strong favourite, and the rest of the card has a nice mix of new faces and DCF regulars.

Main event

Gianna Russo © (#1, 20-6, 13-3 DCF) v Daniela Sadorra (#3, 17-8, 6-6 DCF) for the DCF Bantamweight Title

At 35, Sadorra has been in good form of late, and gets one last shot at the title – having previously lost to Russo back in October 2008. She still has plenty of ability, but Russo has lost once in her last eight fights and has defended the title three times. Russo will definitely be the favourite, but Sadorra can’t be underestimated.

Co-main event

Noel Tsay (#9, 27-0) v Lorraine Bedard (#25, 13-6, 1-2 DCF)

Tsay is a quality boxer who goes in as huge favourite and should get a win in her first DCF match.

Undercard

Emi Nagano (#10, 27-2, 1-1 DCF) v Yan Yan Lin (#8, 25-1, 1-1 DCF)

All Nagano really has going for her is experience. She is adequate at best on the ground. However, Lin is awful on the ground. Lin should win, but if Nagano can get Lin down, anything can happen.

Rhonda Levesque (#18, 2-1, 0-1 DCF) v Charlene Eilers (#19, 6-2, 3-1 DCF)

Levesque is no longer the WEFF Flyweight champion, having been signed to an exclusive deal. Eilers should easily account for her.

Domnika Fyodorov (#4, 19-1, 2-1 DCF) v Xin Qian Hao (#6, 13-0, 1-0 DCF)

Both are quality wrestlers, but Fyodorov is coming off a loss against Russo. This could go either way, and the winner will push into title contention.

Ethel Punk (-, 5-5, 5-5 DCF) v Victorina David (-, 3-5, 1-3 DCF)

Deborah Hughes (-, 6-3, 3-3 DCF) v Rohais Gauthier (#21, 7-7, 0-2 DCF)

This is Hughes’ last match for DCF before going to XCC.

Denyse Blais (-, 11-8) v Stella Hall (-, 5-5, 5-4 DCF)

Blais looks fairly decent except for her terribly weak chin. That has caused her to lose four straight in WEFF, and she probably won’t do much better here.

Delmare Vidal (-, 2-12, 2-12 DCF) v Mutsuko Kurufuji (#22, 7-0, 1-0 DCF)

Kurufuji is still getting used to cage fighting, so an easy win will hopefully help with that process. Vidal’s contract will expire after this match

WEFF Battle Lines 13 results for DCF fighters:

Winners

Carla Hart (6-3) to win the Bantamweight title

Maureen Chase (13-3)

Coletta Tremblay (13-6)

Terri Frehley (8-2)

Patricia Horn (2-3)

Nicole Henderson (10-7)

Losers

None!

I took away poor WEFF’s Featherweight champion, Judith Hughes (11-8), signing her to an exclusive contract. I also signed Denyse Blais (11-9) to an exclusive contract to ward off an ALPHA-1 bid despite her having lost five fights in a row – it’s the principle of the thing…

Donners · February 19, 2015

DCF 56: Russo v Sadorra II

Undercard

Mutsuko Kurufuji (8-0) d Delmare Vidal (2-13) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Vidal wasn’t bad at all here, wrestling Kurufuji down a few times and surviving a huge spinning back fist late in the fight.

Stella Hall (6-5) d Denyse Blais (11-9) – TKO, R1, Great

The weak chin was exposed quickly here.

Rohais Gauthier (8-7) d Deborah Hughes (6-4) – KO, R2, Good

Quite an upset, which is great with Hughes leaving DCF.

Ethel Punk (6-5) d Victorina David (3-6) – Submission, R1, Good

It took just one minute for Punk to end this with a Kimura.

Xin Qian Hao (14-0) d Domnika Fyodorov (19-2) – Submission, R1, Good

This one didn’t take much longer, with Fyodorov tapping out to a kneebar in under two minutes. It’s a shame to have Fyodorov lose again, but at least Hao keeps her unbeaten record.

Charlene Eilers (6-3) d Rhonda Levesque (2-2) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Yan Yan Lin (26-1) d Emi Nagano (27-3) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Great

Co-main event

Noel Tsay (28-0) d Lorraine Bedard (13-7) – TKO, R1, Good

As expected, a solid win for Tsay. Bedard was put down for the count in under a minute.

Main event

Gianna Russo © (21-6) d Daniela Sadorra (17-9) to retain the DCF Bantamweight Title – Submission, R1, Good

Russo got Sadorra down quickly, and although Sadorra fought off the first four submission attempts, an arm triangle did the trick with just seconds to go in the first round.

Show overview

Critical: 73%

Commercial: 68%

Attendance: 3,384

US Popularity: +2.2%

Profit: $11,338,556

Record attendance and one of our biggest profits – a good way to start the year. Russo continues to loom over the Bantamweight division as a dominant champion, but Tsay’s win in the co-main could push her into a title clash in the near future.

We lost three fighters after this show. As was already known, Hughes left for XCC and Vidal was cut. The third was a bit of a disappointment, with Sadorra retiring after her loss. Despite her age, she was still a quality fighter and picked up some good wins in recent times. Given the weakness of the division (I’m having a nightmare finding a main and co main for the June show), she will be sorely missed.

Donners · February 20, 2015

Preview - DCF 57: Hughes v Sanz

Date: Monday, Week 4, April 2011

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

The hat-trick of “sequel” main events, but something of a filler after the last two which featured title defences. Hughes is coming off the boost from her short-lived WEFF Featherweight Title run (I signed her to an exclusive contract after she won it) and Sanz has won three in a row, so hopefully this will draw fairly well.

Main event

Paula Sanz (#20, 7-2, 6-2 DCF) v Judith Hughes (#10, 11-8, 4-7 DCF)

Both have been pretty good lately. Hughes is a well-rounded fighter but is probably vulnerable to being knocked out, while Sanz is a good striker but weak on the ground. Hughes beat Sanz by knockout back at DCF 43. Should be an even fight.

Co-main event

Martha Cox (-, 31-5) v Zhen Juan Jen(#12, 25-0)

Two veterans in their first DCF fight. Cox is better on the ground while Jen is a striker. I don’t see either becoming a title contender, but perhaps the winner could serve as a gatekeeper.

Undercard

Lee Chang (#8, 22-1, 1-1 DCF) v Grace Jang (#18, 24-1, 0-1 DCF)

Both of these recent signings are coming off a loss. Chang looks like a far better fighter, with plenty of striking power, and should win here.

Evelina Mikhailov (#25, 5-0, 1-0 DCF) v Chanell Taylor (#14, 11-8, 4-7 DCF)

Taylor is being fed to Mikhailov, who looks like a great prospect.

Zuria Cote (-, 10-11, 6-7 DCF) v Francena Dube (#17, 9-6, 7-3 DCF)

Dube’s record belies her mediocre ability. Cote could well win this.

Flori Dube (-, 2-2, 1-2 DCF) v Floriana Parent (-, 6-5, 6-5 DCF)

Irene McFly (-, 11-3, 0-3 DCF) v Holly Kowalski (-, 0-1, 0-1 DCF)

This is Kowalski’s first fight since losing the DCF Path to Stardom final.

Brittany Gibson (-, 4-6-1NC, 2-5-1NC) v Dana Kowalski (-, 9-4, 3-4 DCF)

This is Gibson’s first DCF match since 2008. She was re-signed after a brief stint in WEFF.

Khryssa Tau (-, 15-4, 1-2 DCF) v Jill Horn (-, 2-2, 1-2 DCF)

Donners · February 21, 2015

DCF 57: Hughes v Sanz

Undercard

Khryssa Tau (16-4) d Jill Horn (2-3) – Submission, R1, Great

Brittany Gibson (5-6-1NC) d Dana Kowalski (9-5) – KO, R1, Good

Holly Kowalski (1-1) d Irene McFly (11-4) – KO, R1, Good

Flori Dube (3-2) d Floriana Parent (6-6) – Submission, R1, Good

Francena Dube (10-6) d Zuria Cote (10-12) – TKO, R1, Good

Yet another disappointing performance from Cote against a mediocre opponent.

Evelina Mikhailov (6-0) d Chanell Taylor (11-9) – Submission, R1, Good

Just as planned, an easy win for Mikhailov to continue her rise up the ranks.

Lee Chang (23-1) d Grace Jang (24-2) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Finally a fight goes the distance! Chang got in some big hits, and Jang did well to hold out.

Co-main event

Zhen Juan Jen (26-0) d Martha Cox (31-6) – Submission, R2, Fantastic

A quality fight from the two veterans, with Jen getting on top once she managed to take Cox to the mat. Cox fought off a submission attempt in the first round, but couldn’t beat the second.

Main event

Paula Sanz (8-2) v Judith Hughes (11-9) – TKO, R2, Good

Sanz was well on top from the beginning, and knocked Hughes down twice.

Show overview

Critical: 77%

Commercial: 64%

Attendance: 2,430

US Popularity: +1.8%

Profit: $9,979,090

A bit of a transitional show, which was reflected in the reduced attendance – though the financial result was still very solid. There were certainly some convincing wins. For a while I wasn’t sure that any fight would make it into the second round!

Some potential title contenders could have emerged at this show. Zhen Juan Jen will probably need a bit more experience in a cage but had a promising first DCF fight, Lee Chang is back on track and Evelina Mikhailov has plenty of potential.

XCC came in with bids for several DCF fighters. They signed Carla Hart (6-3), but we fought them off to retain Noel Tsay (27-0) and Diana Robert (12-7). With the numbers gap between the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions growing ever larger, I sent down Pascala Grenier (13-10) and Asako Fukumitsu (3-2).

Donners · February 22, 2015

Preview - DCF 58: Fan v Ryland

Date: Monday, Week 4, June 2011

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

A major blow to DCF has significantly changed the importance of this show. Bantamweight champion Gianna Russo is out for a year and a half with a major shoulder injury. The original plan was for her to defend against Xin Quin Hao at DCF 60, but now I’ll probably have to have an interim title at that show. The winner of this main event will probably get a shot at that belt if they can recover in time.

Main event

Yi Jie Fan (#9, 26-0) v Virginia Ryland (#2, 15-6, 10-3 DCF)

I suppose Ryland is now the division’s leader with Russo out, but that could change after this show if she loses to Fan. Fan is pretty one-dimensional, though, and although she can take a hit, Ryland should easily beat her on the mat.

Co-main event

Carla Hart (#20, 6-3, 4-3 DCF) v Noel Tsay (#4, 28-0, 1-0 DCF)

Hart is going to XCC after this show. Tsay has some power, but is unused to cage fighting.

Undercard

Darcelle Bergeron (#7, 9-5, 7-5 DCF) v Faun Vidal (#6, 10-7, 5-3 DCF)

Faun Vidal has won her last four fights – albeit three in WEFF – and could push for the title if she gets a win here. However, Bergeron looks the more well-rounded fighter.

Eiko Shiokawa (#13, 11-4, 1-1 DCF) v Ryo Asahi (-, 3-1, 0-1 DCF)

Alicia Koscheck (-, 5-12, 3-7 DCF) v Ambre Martin (#18, 11-6, 0-2 DCF)

ALPHA-1 have inexplicably signed Koscheck, so hopefully Martin will finally pick up her first DCF win.

Destan Bartlett (-, 5-4, 0-1 DCF) v Hitomo Tenshin (#15, 10-1, 0-1 DCF)

Bartlett has a much worse record, but Tenshin really doesn’t look to be a talented fighter. Tenshin will go in as the favourite, but Bartlett might be able to get a surprise win here.

Diana Robert (#17, 12-7, 3-0 DCF) v Jill Peak (#22, 15-6, 0-1 DCF)

Both fighters have been WEFF regulars for years, and only recently signed exclusive contracts. Robert is clearly superior and should win.

Lillian Kyle (-, 6-3-1NC, 2-2 DCF) v Andrea Jones (#16, 11-7, 6-7 DCF)

Sybylla Van Der Capellen (-, 7-2, 1-2 DCF) v Rohais Gauthier (-, 8-7, 1-2 DCF)

Both looked decent when I brought them in, but they have started poorly. Gauthier is a capable striker and Van Der Capellen a pretty good wrestler, but they are both a bit one-dimensional. The winner might get a bit of momentum at least, but the loser is pretty much done

WEFF 73 results for DCF fighters:

Winners

Annie Terkay (7-3)

Nicole Henderson (11-7)

Claudia Fraser (12-5)

Patricia Horn (3-3)

Losers

Terri Frehley (8-3)

Celuwyn · February 22, 2015

Just saying that i take a look in your dynasty often, good work !

Donners · February 25, 2015

Thank you! Glad to know somebody is following along.

DCF 58: Fan v Ryland

Undercard

Sybylla Van Der Capellen (8-2) v Rohais Gauthier (8-8) – Submission, R1, Good

Van Der Capellen took Gauthier to the mat pretty early, and after a bit of resistance managed to finish the fight with a guillotine.

Andrea Jones (12-7) d Lillian Kyle (6-4-1NC) – Submission, R1, Great

Diana Robert (13-7) d Jill Peak (15-7) – Submission, R1, Good

Another first round submission. Peak announced her retirement, having tapped out in barely 90 seconds.

Destan Bartlett (6-4) d Hitomo Tenshin (10-2) – KO, R2, Fantastic

As I suggested could happen, Bartlett beat the odds (line of +670) to win this one with a big punch, having knocked Tenshin down earlier in the round. Tenshin joined Peak in retiring after a loss.

Ambre Martin (12-6) d Alicia Koscheck (5-13) – KO, R1, Good

Just 38 seconds and a couple of big punches to send Koscheck off to ALPHA-1 with another loss. What were they thinking?!

Ryo Asahi (4-1) d Eiko Shiokawa (11-5) – KO, R2, Fantastic

The third retirement of the night, with Shiokawa announcing that this was her last fight.

Darcelle Bergeron (10-5) d Faun Vidal (10-8) – TKO, R2, Great

Bergeron was clearly on top all night. Vidal became the FOURTH to retire after this show.

Co-main event

Carla Hart (7-3) d Noel Tsay (28-1) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Average

What a way to rub in a departure. Hart was on top all fight, keeping Tsay grounded throughout.

Main event

Virginia Ryland (16-6) d Yi Jie Fan (26-1) – Submission, R1, Good

Unsurprisingly, Ryland was far too good on the mat, ending this in barely a minute with an armbar.

Show overview

Critical: 82%

Commercial: 70%

Attendance: 2,959

US Popularity: +2.4%

Profit: $12,109,243

Amazing what throwing a mediocre foreign fighter into the main event can do – this show was ridiculously successful.

Unfortunately, it had a huge cost, with four retirements and two departures. The Bantamweight division was thin enough as it is, but this just decimates it. That’s now seven of the top 25 from the start of the year who have left in six months. Time for some recruitment.

The good news is that Virginia Ryland should be fit for an interim title match at DCF 60 in October.

Donners · February 27, 2015

Preview - DCF 59: Chase v Evergood

Date: Friday, Week 3, August 2011

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

A familiar name back at the top of the card. Although Clean is still dominant at the top, Evergood has been the leader in the Featherweight division for years. This is her third fight since losing the title to Clean, and another win could set up a title re-match. The main event here will carry an otherwise unremarkable card.

Main event

Maureen Chase (#3, 13-3, 6-1 DCF) v Piper Evergood (#2, 22-5, 11-1 DCF)

Two of our very best at the top of the card. Evergood – in her tenth DCF main event – is fading a bit with age, but Chase is not great against strikers – a very bad thing when facing Evergood.

Co-main event

Alice Wright (#5, 12-3, 12-3 DCF) v Yue Wan Tan (-, 26-0)

Tan has been dominant in Lightweight fights at Asian local shows, but her weakness on the ground should be exposed by the veteran Wright.

Undercard

Julie Dillon (-, 4-7, 2-7 DCF) v Kyoko Hishikawa (-, 2-0, 1-0 DCF)

Hishikawa is a promising striker who should overcome Dillon.

Megan Foster (-, 0-4, 0-4 DCF) v Yuma Umeki (-, 6-2, 0-2 DCF)

This is Foster’s last contracted fight, which should result in Umeki’s first DCF win.

Virginia Robinson (-, 6-4, 1-4 DCF) v Marjka Grabowska (-, 17-0)

New signing Grabowska is a Lightweight kick boxer from Slovenia. Although Grabowska is terrible on the ground, Robinson has no real strengths and shouldn’t be able to exploit her.

Darlene Chase (-, 2-0, 2-0 DCF) v Nellie Lashley (-, 17-9, 2-1 DCF)

The DCF Rise to Stardom winner faces her first real challenge here. Lashley is a capable wrestler and will put up a fight.

April Cronin (-, 22-6) v Lauren Turcotte (-, 4-0, 3-0 DCF)

Cronin, who normally fights at Lightweight, failed to make weight for this. She is a solid striker but awful on the ground. Turcotte has ground out several wins despite no obvious strengths, so this could go either way.

Michelle Wu (-, 16-1, 0-1 DCF) v Noel Wang (-, 5-2, 0-2 DCF)

Wang also failed to make weight, for the third straight time. Neither of these two have started well at DCF, but at least one will pick up their first DCF win.

Nancey Vidal (#20, 10-7, 8-3 DCF) v Aubina Levesque (-, 4-10, 2-7 DCF)

WEFF 74 results for DCF fighters:

Winners

Francenia Dube (11-6) for the WEFF Featherweight Title

Francenia Lapointe (6-13)

Losers

Nicole Henderson (11-8)

Lorraine Bedard (13-8)

Donners · February 28, 2015

DCF 59: Chase v Evergood

Undercard

Nancey Vidal (11-7) d Aubina Levesque (4-11) – KO, R2, Average

Michelle Wu (17-1) d Noel Wang (5-3) – KO, R1, Good

The weight advantage didn’t help; a right cross ended this in under two minutes.

Lauren Turcotte (5-0) d April Cronin (22-7) – TKO, R1, Good

Again, the weight advantage didn’t assist. Turcotte just keeps winning.

Darlene Chase (3-0) d Nellie Lashley (17-10) – KO, R3, Great

Chase was very impressive, knocking down Lashley no fewer than four times – twice for nine counts.

Marjka Grabowska (18-0) d Virginia Robinson (6-5) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Megan Foster (1-4) d Yuma Umeki (6-3) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Average

Typical, Foster finally gets her first win in her last DCF fight. Umeki was distinctly unimpressive, showing absolutely nothing.

Julie Dillon (5-7) d Kyoko Hishikawa (2-1) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

That was almost as unimpressive. Dillon was well on top for the upset win.

Co-main event

Yue Wan Tan (27-0) d Alice Wright (12-4) – Split Decision, R3, Decent

A pretty unremarkable fight, with neither getting on top. Wright retired after her close loss.

Main event

Piper Evergood (23-5) d Maureen Chase (13-4) – KO, R1, Great

She may be getting older, but Evergood is still an absolute beast. Chase didn’t get a single shot in, and was knocked out by a huge punch in under three minutes.

Show overview

Critical: 82%

Commercial: 70%

Attendance: 3,772

US Popularity: +2.4%

Profit: $12,223,759

This was really all about the main event, and it has created an interesting dilemma. I’m not overly thrilled about putting 35-year-old Evergood into a main event, but she has won three straight – the last two in the first round – and has just two losses in the last decade. With Chase and Wright also losing, the only other one of our top five ranked Featherweights is Zuen Juan Jen who has had one match at DCF.

Chase at least shows some promise and Turcotte keeps pulling off surprising wins, so perhaps there will be some new faces in the title picture soon. On the other side of the ledger, I dropped Yuma Umeki to the Bantamweight division after her third straight loss.

In other news, this show took us to Mid Level National in the US. This allowed me to sign a PPV deal with North America Prime Select. I may not use them, given that they don’t share content with other broadcasters, but will keep them as an option for a particularly big show.

Also, I let Patricia Horn (3-3) sign with XCC but fought off bids from XCC and ALPHA-1 for Gladys Big (4-3).

Donners · March 2, 2015

<div style="text-align:center;"> Preview - DCF 60: Ryland v Hao</div>

Date: Saturday, Week 4, October 2011

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

Well, this event certainly wasn’t what I planned. The main event was meant to be champion Gianna Russo against Xin Quin Hao, but a major shoulder injury to Russo put her out for a year and a half. Hao will now face Ryland for the interim title.

The card is down to eight fights, with an injury taking out the ninth.

<div style="text-align:center;">Main event

Virginia Ryland (#2, 16-6, 11-3 DCF) v Xin Qian Hao (#3, 14-0, 2-0 DCF) for the interim DCF Bantamweight title

It’s great to see two fighters in their 20s at the top of the card, although I wish the circumstances were better. Russo had turned into a really good champion, and hopefully the winner will hold things together until she’s back. Both are good fighters, but Hao is weak standing up while Ryland is well-rounded.

Co-main event

Charlene Eilers (#17, 7-2, 4-1 DCF) v Grace Yang (#11, 18-0)

Yang is a dreadful fighter who has some name value thanks to her unbeaten record. Eilers should easily win.

Undercard

Emi Nagano (#14, 27-3, 1-2 DCF) v Saya Ikegami (#16, 23-6-1NC, 1-1 DCF)

Ikegami looks to have some talent but has had a very mixed start, losing to Lucy Sims. Hopefully she will overcome Nagano here and loom as a threat high up the card.

Claudia Bailey (-, 10-8, 3-5 DCF) v Mutsuko Kurofuji (#21, 8-0, 2-0 DCF)

Kurofuji is a world-calibre kick boxer who should continue her unbeaten record against the bland Bailey.

Ethel Punk (-, 6-5, 6-5 DCF) v Stella Hall (-, 6-5, 6-4 DCF)

Two fighters let down by weak chins. Should end quickly at least.

Rhonda Levesque (#20, 2-2, 0-2 DCF) v Ryo Asahi (-, 4-1, 1-1 DCF)

Patricia Horn (-, 3-3, 1-3 DCF) v Honami Isoda (#23, 6-0)

Isoda is a decent wrestler but is inexperienced, especially in cages.

Denyse Blais (-, 11-9, 0-1 DCF) v Victorina David (-, 3-6, 1-4 DCF)

Blais is a decent wrestler but awful on her feet, while David has won just one of her last seven fights. Could be ugly.</div>

There was an important milestone as I signed Flyweight Daljit Samir (23-2-1NC) from ALPHA-1. I had to pay over the odds, but this is the first time I’ve taken a fighter away from a bigger company, after years of being raided. She’s not especially talented and is 35 years old, but has performed well in ALPHA-1.

On the other hand, Martha Cox (31-6) retired after just one DCF fight and Jocelyn Woo left for KDM-FC without a single DCF fight.

WEFF 75 results for DCF fighters:

Winners

Judy Phillips (9-5)

Francenia Lapointe (6-13)

Losers

Nicole Henderson (11-8)

Lorraine Bedard (13-8)

Donners · March 4, 2015

DCF 60: Ryland v Hao

Undercard

Denyse Blais (12-9) d Victorina David (3-7) – Submission, R1, Good

Blais did exactly what she needed to do, getting David down and locking in an arm triangle in barely a minute.

Honami Isoda (7-0) d Patricia Horn (3-4) – KO, R3, Poor

A rare bad fight. The first two rounds were terribly dull, but Isoda took Horn to the mat early in the third and pummelled her into unconsciousness.

Rhonda Levesque (3-2) d Ryo Asahi (4-2) – TKO, R1, Great

Much like the last fight, but thankfully a lot faster. Levesque took Asahi down and pounded her until the ref stepped in.

Stella Hall (7-5) d Ethel Punk (6-6) – TKO, R1, Good

As expected, it was quick. Punk retired after the match.

Mutsuko Kurofuji (9-0) d Claudia Bailey (10-9) – KO, R3, Good

Kurofuji dominated, with Bailey only managing to get respite by smothering her against the cage. She finally finished it early in the third.

Saya Ikegami (24-6-1NC) d Emi Nagano (27-4) – KO, R1, Good

Co-main event

Charlene Eilers (8-2) d Grace Yang (18-1) – Submission, R3, Great

So much for an easy win. This one went right down to the wire, with Eilers slamming Yang down and striving for a submission. She finally got Yang to tap to an armbar with just two seconds to go.

Main event

Virginia Ryland (17-6) v Xin Qian Hao (14-1) for the interim DCF Bantamweight title – KO, R2, Good

Ryland controlled the first round, staggering Hao with a couple of big kicks and then nearly locking in a guillotine choke. Another big kick in the second round finished Hao off.

Show overview

Critical: 72%

Commercial: 73%

Attendance: 2,884

US Popularity: +2.4%

Profit: $13,470,456

That was a show which, simply, went to plan – albeit just barely, in the case of Eilers. Ikegami, Kurofuki and Eilers all got some much-needed momentum, and Ryland is a home-grown star who first fought way back at DCF 2. The Jiu Jitsu black belt has now won eight straight and should be a quality champion.

We didn’t suffer any major losses of talent, with Horn cut and Punk retiring, and hopefully the Bantamweight division will continue to build in 2012. I brought in Tiffany Foley (18-6) and Umeko Tange (10-3) to replace those two departures.

Celuwyn · March 4, 2015

Incredible to see that in 2010 Giana Russo is champion, and Piper evergood pull knockout

Donners · March 5, 2015

Indeed! Russo won way back at our very first show, in March 2001. She started out slowly but turned into a wrestling machine and has won six straight. Evergood is definitely fading with age but still seems to have plenty of power.

Preview - DCF 61: Jen v Backlund

Date: Monday, Week 4, December 2011

At: Texas

Broadcast by: EuroNet, Los Deporte Hoy, Net-A, OLHAR Network, The Pop! Network, UK Choice, All-Japan TV, DCF Australia/Africa

This show is all about finding new title contenders. It’s been the same few at the top for a while, to the extent that Clean didn’t have a single fight in 2011 due to a dearth of options. Promising young Courtney Backlund and powerful Victoria Death both have a chance to rise into that top tier with this show.

Main event

Zhen Juan Jen (#4, 26-0, 1-0 DCF) v Courtney Backlund (#11, 8-1, 6-1 DCF)

Having won her first fight in DCF, Jen has been thrust into the main event against the very promising Backlund. Jen is still unfamiliar with cages and isn’t a particularly good fighter, so Backlund’s rise should continue.

Co-main event

Coletta Tremblay (#13, 13-6, 5-3 DCF) v Paula Sanz (#18, 8-2, 7-2 DCF)

Tremblay has won five straight and Sanz has won her last four. Sanz looks to be the superior competitor, and Tremblay won’t be able to exploit her weak ground skills.

Undercard

Victoria Death (#8, 25-1, 3-1 DCF) v Caress Nadeau (-, 24-5, 0-5 DCF)

Nadeau lost all five fights in her first stint and is unlikely to last long against the powerful Death.

Serra Clementi (-, 7-3, 2-3 DCF) v Chang Richard (#15, 29-0)

Chang Richard looks to be good both on her feet and on her mat, and should overcome her inexperience in cages against a mediocre opponent.

Kishi Matsukata (-, 4-1, 1-1 DCF) v Claudia Fraser (#23, 12-5, 4-5 DCF)

Brittany Gibson (-, 5-6-1NC, 3-5-1NC DCF) v Zuria Cote (-, 10-12, 6-8 DCF)

Terri Frehley (-, 8-3, 3-2 DCF) v Chanell Taylor (-, 11-9, 4-8 DCF)

Holly Kowalski (-, 1-1, 1-1 DCF) v Floriana Parent (-, 7-5, 7-5 DCF)

Path to Stardom runner-up Kowalski faces an interesting challenge here. Parent has a mixed record but has substantially more experience than Kowalski - and all of it in DCF, so no cheap local wins.

Susan Gilbert (-, 7-3, 2-3 DCF) v Khyrssa Tau (-, 16-4, 2-2 DCF)

While I fought off numerous attempts from XCC and KDM-FC to poach our fighters, I let Lorraine Bedard (13-8) and Grace Yang (18-1) head off to XCC, given their poor ability and recent losses. Having lost yet another two Bantamweights, I sent Featherweights Aubina Levesque (4-10) and Virginia Robinson (6-5) down to make up the numbers.

Donners · March 7, 2015

DCF 61: Jen v Backlund

Undercard

Khyrssa Tau (17-4) d Susan Gilbert (7-4) – Submission, R1, Great

Gibson held off Tau with jabs for much of the first round and looked good, but when Tau got Gilbert down with a trip, an arm triangle finished the fight in a matter of seconds.

Holly Kowalski (2-1) d Floriana Parent (7-6) – KO, R1, Great

Kowalski looked great, smashing Parent with punches. Parent got up the first time, but was knocked out by the next one.

Chanell Taylor (12-9) d Terri Frehley (8-4) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Good

Brittany Gibson (6-6-1NC) d Zuria Cote (10-13) – KO, R1, Great

Cote was sent to the mat three times in as many minutes by huge hits, with a kick mercifully ending this.

Kishi Matsukata (5-1) d Claudia Fraser (12-6) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Serra Clementi (8-3) d Chang Richard (29-1) – Unanimous Decision, R3, Decent

Ugh, this was ugly. Neither fighter offered much, with Richard restricted to tentative jabs and a takedown which came far too late, while Clementi got in a few more shots but did no damage. Chang certainly didn’t perform up to expectations, and may not be as good as I thought.

Victoria Death (26-1) d Caress Nadeau (24-6) – TKO, R2, Good

Death absolutely dominated the first round, to the point that it was scored 10-7. Nadeau did well to stay on her feet while taking a series of big strikes. A couple of punches early in the second finally sent her to the mat for a ten-count.

Co-main event

Coletta Tremblay (14-6) v Paula Sanz (8-3) – KO, R2, Great

Another 10-7 domination in the first round, this time in Sanz’ favour. However, Tremblay turned things around in the second, defying my expectations as she slammed Sanz to the mat. From there, she easy exploited Sanz’ weakness on the ground, pummelling her for the KO.

Main event

Courtney Backlund (9-1) d Zhen Juan Jen (26-1) – KO, R1, Good

14 seconds and one punch is all it took.

Show overview

Critical: 74%

Commercial: 86%

Attendance: 3,675

US Popularity: +2.8%

Profit: $17,978,703

Wow. That is our biggest profit ever, and highest commercial rating – quite a surprise with a main event featuring a 24-year-old against a newcomer.

The best part about this show is that the two people I wanted to see rise into contention had great wins. Death was on top for all of her fight and Backlund ended hers in near-record time. Tremblay is also up there after her surprise win against Sanz, although I don’t see her as a title contender.

A fine way to end 2011, with our strongest division flexing its muscles and delivering the most successful show of the year.

Donners · March 8, 2015

2011 in review

In contrast to 2010, 2011 saw substantial roster changes. 21 fighters left – 13 Bantamweights and 8 Featherweights – and the same number joined, with five Featherweights moving to the Bantamweight division. Most of the departures were cuts or retirements and there weren’t any really significant losses. Indeed, only three of the 21 had a positive DCF win-loss record – Carla Hart, Faun Vidal and Alice Wright.

The company continued its growth, reaching mid-national level late in the year, with every show a commercial success. All but one show made over $10 million profit (DCF 57 fell just $21,000 short), and the last show of the year was our most successful ever. With a substantial amount of money coming in, we can now afford to set up more TV networks and to poach fighters from other companies. Daljit Samir was the first fighter to be poached; hopefully the first of many.

The Featherweights were in something of a holding pattern, to the point that champion Sherry Clean didn’t defend her title at all in 2011. Instead, the year was spent assessing the numerous challengers. Piper Evergood deserves one last shot at the title, but Courtney Backlund is shooting up the rankings and must be close to a shot of her own. Victoria Death has also pushed back up following her loss to Lorin Poirier at DCF 47. Poirier and Karen Hinkle didn’t fight at all in 2011, so will get a chance in 2012 to establish their position. Clean will need to make the most of the year off, as there are plenty of contenders – we have 15 of the top-25 world ranked Featherweights.

Featherweight rankings

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	Change
[b]1	Sherry Clean		31	12-1	10-1	-[/b]
2	Piper Evergood		36	23-5	12-1	-
3	Maureen Chase		31	13-4	6-2	-
4	Courtney Backlund	24	9-1	7-1	^ (#9)
5	Coletta Tremblay	30	14-6	6-3	^ (#14)
6	Lorin Poirier		31	9-7	6-4	v (#5)
7	Victoria Death		30	26-1	4-1	v (#6)
8	Yue Wan Tan		31	27-0	1-0	NEW
9	Lee Chang		33	23-1	2-1	v (#8)
10	Francena Dube		31	11-6	8-3	^ (#16)
11	Karen Hinkle		26	5-0	5-0	v (#7)
12	Marja Grabowska		24	18-0	1-0	NEW
13	Zhen Juan Jen		33	26-1	1-1	v (#11)
14	Sun Yen			33	20-0	0-0	NEW
15	Yi Ze Lu		28	21-0	0-0	NEW
16	Antonia Braga		31	29-0	0-0	NEW
17	Michelle Wu		28	17-1	1-1	v (#15)
18	Judith Hughes		30	11-9	4-8	v (#10)
19	Nancey Vidal		27	11-7	9-3	-
20	Paula Sanz		24	8-3	7-3	-
21	Judy Phillips		32	9-5	6-5	-
22	Chang Richard		31	29-1	0-1	NEW
23	Chanell Taylor		33	12-9	5-8	v (#13)
24	Evelina Mikhailov	29	6-0	2-0	-
25	Nicole Henderson	33	11-8	7-6	v (#18)
-	April Cronin		34	22-7	0-1
-	Brittany Gibson		31	6-6	5-5
-	Caress Nadeau		29	24-6	0-6
-	Claudia Fraser		30	12-6	4-6	v (#22)
-	Darlene Chase		22	3-0	3-0
-	Floriana Parent		29	7-6	7-6
-	Grace Jang		31	24-2	0-2	v (#17)
-	Holly Kowalski		24	2-1	2-1
-	Jing Su			32	27-0	0-0
-	Julie Dillon		33	5-7	3-7
-	Khryssa Tau		26	17-4	3-2
-	Kishi Matsukata		25	5-1	2-1
-	Kyoko Hishikawa		30	2-1	1-1
-	Laura Nikolic		24	11-0	1-0	v (#23)
-	Lauren Turcotte		28	5-0	4-0
-	Lucille Kelly		23	3-0	0-0
-	Miyoshi Ishimaru	30	2-0	0-0
-	Nellie Lashley		29	17-10	2-2
-	Noel Wang		26	5-3	0-3
-	Noel Yang		26	16-0	0-0
-	Serra Clementi		32	8-3	3-3
-	Susan Gilbert		27	7-4	2-4
-	Terri Frehley		27	8-4	3-3
-	Zuria Cote		30	10-13	6-9	v (#25)

Unlike the Featherweights, there was some title action among the Bantamweights. Gianna Russo defended for the fourth time early in the year, but then was put out with a serious injury. Virginia Ryland stepped up to take the interim title with a convincing win – her third main event win in two years – setting up a huge clash when Russo returns.

Aside from that match, it’s hard to see obvious title contenders. The retirements of Daniella Sadorra and Faun Vidal cost us a couple of high-ranked Bantamweights, though Charlene Eilers rose sharply and Daljit Singh jumped from XCC to offer another established name. I’m not so sure about the international signings who are high up in the rankings – Yan Yan Lin and Xin Qian Hao are both one-dimensional – but at least they make up the numbers.

Bantamweight rankings

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	Change
[b]1	Gianna Russo		33	21-6	14-3	-
2	Virginia Ryland		29	17-6	12-3	-[/b]
3	Daljit Samir		35	23-2	0-0	NEW
4	Darcelle Bergeron	33	10-5	8-5	^ (#7)
5	Yan Yan Lin		30	26-1	2-1	^ (#8)
6	Xin Qian Hao		26	14-1	2-1	-
7	Domnika Fyodorov	34	19-2	2-2	v (#4)
8	Chang Chai		35	26-0	0-0	NEW
9	Charlene Eilers		28	8-2	5-1	^ (#19)
10	Jun Shih		29	16-0	0-0	NEW
11	Saya Ikegami		33	24-6	2-1	-
12	Rowena Wang		30	27-0	0-0	NEW
13	Noel Tsay		31	28-1	1-1	v (#9)
14	Diana Robert		30	13-7	4-0	^ (#16)
15	Andrea Jones		36	12-7	7-7	-
16	Mutsuko Kurofuki	28	9-0	3-0	^ (#22)
17	Yi Jie Fan		31	26-1	0-1	NEW
18	Pernilla Martin		33	12-1	0-1	v (#13)
19	Honami Isoda		29	7-0	1-0	NEW
20	Ambre Martin		30	12-6	1-2	v (#17)
21	Rhonda Levesque		28	3-2	1-1	v (#18)
22	Emi Nagano		34	27-4	1-3	v (#10)
23	Umeko Tange		29	11-3	0-0	NEW
24	Sybylla VanDerCapellen	29	8-2	2-2	NEW
25	Stella Hall		28	7-5	7-4	NEW
-	Annie Terkay		31	7-3	1-0
-	Asako Fukumitsu		25	3-2	0-2
-	Aubina Levesque		29	4-11	2-8
-	Claudia Bailey		28	10-9	3-6
-	Denys Blais		29	12-9	1-1
-	Destan Bartlett		30	6-4	1-1
-	Francena Lapointe	32	6-13	3-9
-	Francisca Van Imburgh	22	0-0	0-0
-	Gladys Big		29	4-3	0-0
-	Lillian Kyle		29	6-4	3-2
-	Pascala Grenier		30	13-11	0-2
-	Rohais Gauthier		31	8-8	1-4
-	Ryo Asahi		28	4-2	1-2
-	Tiffany Foley		32	18-6	0-0
-	Victorina David		25	3-7	1-5
-	Virginia Robinson	31	6-5	1-5
-	Yuma Umeki		32	6-3	0-3

There will be some changes next year. As several people on our roster didn’t have a single fight in 2011, DCF will run more shows. The previous schedule featured a show every two months, alternating weight divisions – ie. three cards per year for each division.

Now, we will run two shows in consecutive months, alternating weight divisions, then have a month free, then repeat the pattern. Having had a Featherweight card in December 2011, we will have a Bantamweight card in January 2012, keep February free, then have a Featherweight card in March and a Bantamweight card in April.

That makes for eight shows per year rather than six, meaning around 16 additional fights per year. That will hopefully see a bit more movement in the rankings, and it will bring in extra money as well.

Donners · March 17, 2015

As the old format was tedious and time-consuming, I decided to go through a year and actually enjoy it. Here's how it went.

2012 in review

Shows

The move to eight shows per year was a successful one. Every show bar DCF 68 made over $10 million profit - and that show was a rather embarrassing exception because I forgot to set any broadcasters. Oops!

DCF 63 and 66 were especially successful, with commercial ratings of over 90% and plenty of money coming in through our North America Prime Select deal (which was only used for a few big shows).

The only letdown was the last show of the year, DCF 69. The main event of Maureen Chase v Victoria Death, with Piper Evergood in the co-main, apparently wasn't enough to excite fans, and caused a slight drop in our popularity.

Show	Main event				Crit	Com	Att	Pop	Profit
62	Jun Shih D Chang Chai			64%	64%	2619	1.2%	10,666,658
63	[b]Sherry Clean D Piper Evergood[/b]		74%	92%	3750	3.7%	18,584,954
64	[b]Virginia Ryland	D Daljit Samir[/b]		73%	77%	4099	2.6%	10,210,511
65	Courtney Backlund D Karen Hinkle	85%	73%	3889	2.0%	14,627,697
66	D'Arcy Fortin D	Ann Fly			76%	91%	5368	3.0%	18,273,056
67	Yi Ze Lu D Coletta Tremblay		69%	71%	4242	1.3%	13,972,133
68	[b]Virginia Ryland	D Darcelle Bergeron[/b]	77%	76%	5633	0.5%	1,085,777
69	Maureen Chase D	Victoria Death		78%	62%	3927	-0.2%	10,348,897

Arrivals

We have spent our entire existence being subjected to talent raids from other companies. We finally managed to fight back a bit in 2011, snatching Daljit Samir from XCC, but still lost several fighters.

2012 finally marked a complete turn-around - not only did we not lose anybody to another company, but we poached a number of fighters - headlined by world #1 D'Arcy Fortin (23-0), who had been taken away from us by ALPHA just after winning our Bantamweight title in 2005.

We reclaimed another two former DCF fighters, Lynn Stevenson (8-4) and Letya Turner (10-6), both of whom had been signed by XCC.

Other high-profile signings were Ann Fly (17-6), Maria Araujo (10-1) and Maja Mikhailov (11-0).

Rather ironically, Samir had a dismal year - losing her first DCF fight in the first round to Virginia Ryland and then getting suspended for a year for recreational drug use. Hopefully those who followed in her footsteps will have a better time in DCF.

Departures

Without the raids from other companies, we retained most of our talent. However, there were seven fighters cut - with a total of five wins from 30 fights, they will hardly be a loss. The most familiar of those were Aubina Levesque (4-11) and Victorina David (3-8).

Four fighters retired. Two had only recently joined, and lost both their DCF fights - Chang Chai (26-2) and Pernilla Martin (12-2). DCF regulars Andrea Jones (12-8) and Darcelle Bergeron (11-6) also called it quits. Bergeron was a quality fighter, with three DCF main events and four Fight of the Night awards. She twice lost title fights, against Gianna Russo and Virginia Ryland. Jones main evented twice in DCF.

Featherweights

The Featherweights had a surprisingly flat year. I'd thought that they were my strongest division since they weren't weakened by raids, but this is double-edged - it also means there are few proven and experienced Featherweights around. It speaks volumes that Evergood is still #2 at age 37.

Maureen Chase is the next obvious contender, followed by Backlund (whose only loss was against Chase in 2008). Both Backlund and Chase won main events this year, the latter getting the powerful Victoria Death to submit in the first round - another yo-yo drop for Death. Backlund ended Karen Hinkle's undefeated record with a third-round KO. It doesn't inspire confidence that Chase's main event was relatively unsuccessful in a commercial sense. The other highly-placed featherweights are new to the company and can't really be relied on for a title match.

The year saw disappointing results for a number of fighters I'd expected to rise. Lorin Poirier fell after losing by TKO to Noel Tsay in March, though she did get a win back against Evelina Mikhailov in the last show of the year. Coletta Tremblay was knocked out by Yi Ze Lu in the main event of DCF 67. World #1 Lightweight Marja Grabowska submitted to Maureen Chase. Francenia Dube submitted to Piper Evergood. Karen Hinkle ended her unbeaten record, as mentioned above.

The brighter news comes from Holly Kowalski, who after losing the DCF Path to Stardom season 1 final has won thrice by KO - twice this year. Khryssa Tau won three times in 2012, all by submission. They were both taking on lowly fighters, but at least they take some momentum into 2013.

Judy Phillips was the biggest riser, with submission wins over Lauren Turcotte and Jing Su, but doesn't loom as a title contender given her age.

2013 looks like being another year of building for the Featherweights.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank	Change
[b]1	Sherry Clean		32	13-1	11-1	1F 2P	-[/b]
2	Piper Evergood		37	24-6	13-2	3F 5P	-
3	Maureen Chase		32	15-4	8-2	4F 12P	-
4	Yi Ze Lu		29	23-0	2-0	6F 18P	^ #15
5	Courtney Backlund	25	10-1	8-1	7F 22P	v #4
6	Lee Chang		34	24-1	3-1	8F	^ #9
7	Noel Yang		27	17-0	1-0	4L 11F	NEW
8	Victoria Death		31	27-2	5-2	13F	v #7
9	Judy Phillips		33	11-5	8-5	14F	^ #21
10	Yue Wan Tan		32	27-0	1-0	15F 2L	NEW
11	Lorin Poirier		32	10-8	7-5	18F	v #6
12	Coletta Tremblay	31	14-7	6-4	19F	v #5
13	Antonia Braga		32	30-1	1-1	21F	^ #16
14	Chanell Taylor		34	13-9	6-8	25F	^ #23
15	Francena Dube		32	12-8	9-4	24F	v #10
16	Sun Yen			34	21-1	1-1	-	v #14
17	Karen Hinkle		27	5-1	5-1	-	v #11
18	Zhen Juan Jen		34	26-2	1-2	-	v #13
19	Jing Su			33	28-1	1-1	6L	NEW
20	Nancey Vidal		28	12-8	10-4	-	v #19
21	Marja Grabowska		25	18-1	1-1	1L	v #12
22	Chang Richard		32	30-1	1-1	-	-
23	Yuya Taku		34	13-1	0-1	-	NEW
24	Claudia Fraser		31	14-6	4-6	-	NEW
25	Khryssa Tau		27	19-4	5-2	-	NEW
-	April Cronin		35	23-7	1-1	12L
-	Brittany Gibson		32	7-6	6-5	-
-	Caress Nadeau		30	24-7	0-7	3L
-	Darlene Chase		23	3-0	3-0	-
-	Evelina Mikhailov	30	6-2	2-2	-	v #24
-	Floriana Parent		30	8-6	8-6	-
-	Holly Kowalski		25	3-1	3-1	-
-	Jean Lashley		27	6-1	0-0	-
-	Judith Hughes		31	12-10	5-9	-	v #18
-	Julie Dillon		34	6-8	4-8	-
-	Kishi Matsukata		26	5-2	2-2	-
-	Kyoko Hishikawa		31	3-1	2-1	-
-	Laura Nikolic		25	11-0	1-0	-
-	Lauren Turcotte		29	5-2	4-2	-
-	Lucille Kelly		24	3-1	0-1	-
-	Michelle Wu		29	17-3	1-3	-	v #17
-	Miyoshi Ishimaru	31	3-1	1-1	-
-	Nicole Henderson	34	12-8	8-6	-	v #25
-	Paula Sanz		25	8-4	7-4	-	v #20
-	Serra Clementi		33	8-4	3-4	-
-	Susan Gilbert		28	7-5	2-5	-
-	Terri Frehley		28	8-6	3-4	-
-	Zuria Cote		31	11-13	7-9	-

Bantamweights

In contrast, the Bantamweights were boosted by some star signings - not least the unstoppable D'Arcy Fortin. Rather than throw her straight into a title fight, I gave her a pretty gentle start against Ann Fly, who she easily defeated with a second-round TKO. Meanwhile, Virginia Ryland continued to defend the interim title, getting Daljit Samir to submit in the first round at DCF 64 and then winning on points in a sluggish five-round fight against veteran Darcelle Bergeron (who promptly retired after the loss). Champion Gianna Russo isn't far from returning, so the belts will be unified in 2013.

The rankings were shuffled around due to the introduction of several new fighters who had build up good records in other companies. Of those who had been here already, Charlene Eilers and Domnika Fyodorov suffered big drops, the former following a dull split-decision defeat against Rowena Wang, the latter after a TKO loss to Yan Yan Lin. Diana Robert also dropped after her undefeated recordin DCF was ended by a first-round KO from Darcelle Bergeron.

It's rather troubling that just four of our top 20 Bantamweights are aged under 30. I tried to address our lack of youth with the second season of DCF Path to Stardom, this time featuring Bantamweights. Deborah Grunge was the eventual winner, beating Agnes Wright in a thrilling match at DCF 68. Wright looked to have it won when she broke Grunge's nose in the first round, and knocked her down in the second, but Grunge managed to snatch a win by submission late in the third. I signed both of them after that exciting contest.

2013 should be a good year for the Bantamweights, with title unification and a number of quality new faces, but an injection of youth would be welcome.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank		Change
[b]1	Gianna Russo		34	21-6	14-3	2B 7P		-
2	Virginia Ryland		30	19-6	14-3	3B 8P		-[/b]
3	D'Arcy Fortin		32	23-0	7-0	6B 3Fl 1P	NEW
4	Akemi Satou		34	22-7	1-0	5B 4Fl 9P	NEW
5	Daljit Samir		36	23-3	0-1	9B 8Fl 15P	v #3
6	Jun Shih		30	18-0	2-0	8B 19P		^ #10
7	Ann Fly			29	17-6	0-1	-		NEW
8	Letya Turner		32	10-6	5-5	10Fl 25P	NEW
9	Xin Qian Hao		27	15-1	3-1	14B		v #6
10	Yan Yan Lin		31	27-2	3-2	16B		v #5
11	Amber Joslin		34	15-4	0-0	-		NEW
12	Saya Ikegami		34	25-6	3-1	17B		v #12
13	Rowena Wang		31	28-1	1-1	19B		v #12
14	Maria Araujo		27	10-1	0-0	15Fl		NEW
15	Yi Jie Fan		32	27-1	1-1	23B		^ #17
16	Maja Mikhailov		30	11-0	0-0	-		NEW
17	Charlene Eilers		29	8-3	5-2	25B		v #9
18	Domnika Fyodorov	35	20-3	3-3	-		v #7
19	Diana Robert		31	14-8	5-1	-		v #14
20	Sybylla VanDerCapellen	30	10-2	4-2	-		^ #24
22	Noel Tsay		32	28-2	1-2	-		v #13
23	Mutsuko Kurofuki	29	9-1	3-1	-		v #16
24	Tiffany Foley		33	19-6	1-0	-		NEW
25	Stella Hall		29	8-5	8-4	-		-
-	Agnes Wright		22	0-1	0-1	-
-	Annie Terkay		32	7-4	1-1	-
-	Asako Fukumitsu		26	4-2	1-2	-
-	Claudia Bailey		29	11-9	4-6	-
-	Deborah Grunge		22	1-0	1-0	-
-	Denyse Blais		30	12-10	1-2	-
-	Destan Bartlett		31	7-5	2-2	-
-	Emi Nagano		35	27-5	1-4	-		v #22
-	Francena Lapointe	33	8-13	5-9	-
-	Francisca Van Imburgh	23	1-1	1-1	-
-	Gladys Big		30	4-4	0-1	-
-	Grace Jang		32	24-3	0-3	-
-	Honami Isoda		30	7-1	1-1	-		v #19
-	Lillian Kyle		30	7-4	4-2	-
-	Lynn Stevenson		28	8-4	4-3	-
-	Miiko Abe		30	7-2	0-0	-
-	Rhonda Levesque		29	3-3	1-2	-		v #21
-	Rohais Gauthier		32	9-9	2-5	-
-	Ryo Asahi		29	5-2	2-2	-
-	Ryoko Wakai		30	11-6	0-0	-
-	Umeko Tange		30	11-4	0-1	-		v #23
-	Virginia Robinson	32	7-6	2-6	-

Donners · March 21, 2015

2013 in review

Despite a rather flat start at DCF 70, 2013 proved to be another successful year for DCF. We beat our previous best commercial rating of 92% not once, not twice, but thrice - DCF 72 (95%), DCF 74 (96%) and DCF 77 (96%). Pleasingly, each involved different fighters.

Our broadcasters changed, with North America Prime Select dumped due to its restrictive exclusivity clause. Instead, I created a new broadcaster with Big PPV coverage of Canada and signed a deal with C.A.N.N for Big advertising-based coverage of the US. This reaped dividends, with profits of over $25 million at four 2013 shows.

We also had significant gains in popularity around the world, and are at the top of Medium Level National in Canada and the US (I've locked it at that for now, since we have few recognisable stars).

Show	Main Event			Crit	Com	Att	Pop	Profit
70	Saya Ikegami D	Jun Shih	73%	65%	4136	0.7%	13,937,601
71	Courtney Backlund D Noel Yang	68%	77%	5514	3.3%	16,204,893
72	[b]Virginia Ryland	D Gianna Russo[/b]	72%	95%	6926	4.6%	29,395,563
73	[b]Sherry Clean D	Maureen Chase[/b]	82%	89%	6675	4.6%	25,111,144
74	D'Arcy Fortin D	Viola Alessio	74%	96%	6166	4.6%	29,998,870
75	Lee Chang D Piper Evergood	82%	81%	4890	4.2%	18,893,632
76	Xin Qian Hao D Amber Joslin	75%	72%	4141	2.9%	17,331,790
77	Courtney Backlund D Yue Wan Tan	77%	96%	5108	4.6%	30,566,162

Arrivals

Continuing the theme from last year, DCF poached a few top fighters. This time, there were a couple of Featherweights - Lisa Fry (12-0) and Viola Alessio (24-7). Alessio is our second-highest paid fighter, just behind the monster D'Arcy Fortin, but suffered a loss in her first DCF fight (aptly, against Fortin). The Bantamweights also gained Chang Lin (26-1) and undefeated, world-ranked Stephanie Rock (13-0), who oddly has never been signed by another company despite some reasonable talent.

I also tried to bring in some youth, as I foreshadowed at the end of 2012. 23-year-olds Makiko Ogiwara (3-0) and Ellen Gonzalez (3-0) and 25-year-old Julia Valdez (7-0) were added to the Bantamweight division for that purpose.

Departures

FLB introduced a women's division, joining ALPHA-1, KDM-FC, WEFF and XCC as competitors with female dvisions. They immediately tried to steal some of our fighters. I let them have two, Domnika Fyodorov (21-3, but aged 35 with a 4-3 record in DCF) and DCF Path to Stardom season 2 runner-up Agnes Wright (0-2). I also let ALPHA have Rohais Gauthier (9-11, 2-7 DCF). Hardly significant losses, but the increased competition for signings could bump up pay demands a bit.

The retirees were a mix of newer signings and mainstays. In the former camp were Tiffany Foley (19-7, 1-1 DCF), Sun Yen (21-2, 1-2 DCF), April Cronin (24-8, 2-2 DCF) and Daljit Samir (23-4, 0-2 DCF). Samir was the only one of note, having been the first fighter we poached. She lost, got suspended for drugs, lost again and retired - hardly a successful signing! The latter were Julie Dillon (6-9, 4-9 DCF), Chanell Taylor (13-10, 6-9 DCF) and Judy Phillips (11-6, 8-6 DCF). Phillips was the best of those, with seven submission wins and three Fight of the Night awards in DCF.

I also cut two fighters, Virginia Robinson (7-7, 2-7 DCF) and Serra Clementi (8-5, 3-5 DCF).

Featherweights

There wasn't much movement at the top for the Featherweights. Clean defended her title for just the third time since winning it in April 2009, knocking out Maureen Chase. Piper Evergood lost her only fight of 2013, failing to rise in the third round for a 10-count after being knocked down several times by Lee Chang, yet still remained ranked #2. Courtney Backlund has to be the obvious contender for the title now - she won two main events, beating Noel Yang and Yue Wan Tan - the latter at DCF 77, our most successful show ever.

There were a few fairly sharp drops down the rankings, with Victoria Death following up her loss to Chase at the end of 2012 with a submission to the unremarkable Miyoshi Ishimaru in her only fight this year. Noel Yang also dropped after being beaten by Backlund and Francena Dube barely managed to remain in the rankings after a second straight loss, this time to Brittany Gibson.

On the other hand, Karen Hinkle rebounded from her first loss last year to beat both Chang Richard and Yi Ze Lu in the first round, by TKO and submission respectively. Having missed several years through injury, Laura Nikolic returned to beat April Cronin by submission, extending her unbeaten streak. Given that four of the top five Featherweights are 33 or older, hopefully at least one of these two can continue to rise.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank	Change
[b]1	Sherry Clean		33	14-1	12-1	1F 3P	-[/b]
2	Piper Evergood		38	24-7	13-3	3F 11P	-
3	Courtney Backlund	26	12-1	10-1	4F 13P	^ #5
4	Maureen Chase		33	15-5	8-3	5F 15P	v #3
5	Lee Chang		35	25-1	4-1	6F 18P	^ #6
6	Yi Ze Lu		30	24-1	3-1	9F 23P	v #4
7	Karen Hinkle		28	7-1	7-1	10F	^ #17
8	Stephanie Rock		31	13-0	1-0	12F	NEW
9	Lorin Poirier		33	11-8	8-5	14F	^ #11
10	Coletta Tremblay	32	15-7	7-4	16F	^ #12
11	Jing Su			34	29-1	2-1	18F 5L	^ #19
12	Yue Wan Tan		33	27-1	1-1	19F	v #10
13	Brittany Gibson		33	9-6	7-5	20F	NEW
14	Noel Yang		28	17-1	1-1	21F 2L	v #7
15	Lisa Fry		32	12-0	0-0	22F	NEW
16	Khryssa Tau		28	20-4	6-2	23F	^ #25
17	Yuya Taku		35	14-1	1-1	24F	^ #23
18	Victoria Death		32	27-3	5-3	-	v #8
19	Claudia Fraser		32	15-7	5-6	-	^ #24
20	Laura Nikolic		26	12-0	2-0	-	NEW
21	Nancey Vidal		29	13-9	11-5	-	v #20
22	Chang Richard		33	31-2	2-2	-	-
23	Antonia Braga		33	30-2	1-2	-	v #13
24	Nanci Oulette		29	5-0	0-0	-	NEW
25	Francena Dube		33	12-9	9-5	-	v #15
-	Caress Nadeau		31	24-8	0-8	1L
-	Darlene Chase		24	3-0	3-0	-
-	Evelina Mikhailov	31	7-2	3-2	-
-	Floriana Parent		31	10-6	10-6	-
-	Holly Kowalski		26	3-2	3-2	-
-	Jean Lashley		28	6-2	0-1	-
-	Judith Hughes		32	12-11	5-10	-
-	Kishi Matsukata		27	5-3	2-3	-
-	Kyoko Hishikawa		32	3-3	2-3	-
-	Lauren Turcotte		30	5-3	4-3	-
-	Lucille Kelly		25	3-3	0-3	-
-	Marja Grabowska		26	19-2	2-2	-	v #21
-	Michelle Wu		30	17-4	1-4	-
-	Miyoshi Ishimaru	32	4-1	2-1	-
-	Nicole Henderson	35	13-9	9-6	-
-	Paula Sanz		26	9-4	8-4	-
-	Susan Gilbert		29	9-5	4-5	-
-	Terri Frehley		29	10-6	4-4	-
-	Zhen Juan Jen		35	26-3	1-3	-	v #18
-	Zuria Cote		32	12-14	8-10	-

Bantamweights

Over two years after her last title defence, Gianna Russo finally returned from injury to face Virginia Ryland in a title unification fight. Unfortunately, it was a dull and scrappy affair - with both of them brilliant submission fighters, apparently neither was willing to go to the mat. Ryland prevailed by split decision, which makes for an annoying situation. I had intended to have D'Arcy Fortin (who prevailed over Viola Alessio in her only 2013 fight, though surprisingly it took a decision in five rounds) face the winner, but Russo deserves a second shot given it was a split decision. That will be the first title match of 2014, and Fortin will then face the winner.

The new signings caused a lot of shuffling in the division, but Xin Qian Hao was a standout, beating both Ann Fly and Amber Joslin by first-round submission. Apart from that, there really were no moves of note - the influx of new signings makes it really difficult to assess where everyone stands in the division, and it will take time for it to settle.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank		Change
[b]1	Virginia Ryland		31	20-6	15-3	2B 6P		^ #2[/b]
2	D'Arcy Fortin		33	24-0	8-0	7B 3Fl 2P	^ #3
3	Natalie Rogers		35	27-6	1-0	4Fl 4B 4P	NEW
4	Gianna Russo		35	21-7	14-4	6B 10P		v #1
5	Akemi Satou		35	22-8	1-1	10B 5Fl 12P	v #4
6	Viola Alessio		33	24-7	0-1	8B 6Fl 14P	NEW
8	Xin Qian Hao		28	17-1	5-1	9B 17P		^ #9
9	Ann Fly			30	17-8	0-3	8Fl 24P		v #7
10	Jun Shih		31	18-1	2-1	13B 25P		v #6
11	Letya Turner		33	10-6	5-5	9Fl		v #8
12	Yan Yan Lin		32	29-2	5-2	14B		v #10
13	Saya Ikegami		35	26-7	4-2	18B		v #12
14	Yi Jie Fan		33	29-1	3-1	19B		^ #15
15	Amber Joslin		35	16-5	1-1	24B 11Fl	v #11
16	Mutsuko Kurofuki	30	10-1	4-1	25B		^ #23
17	Diana Robert		32	15-8	6-1	-		^ #19
18	Ryoko Wakai		31	13-6	2-0	20Fl		NEW
19	Maria Araujo		28	10-1	0-0	15Fl		NEW
20	Rowena Wang		32	28-2	1-2	-		v #13
21	Charlene Eilers		30	9-4	6-3	-		v #17
22	Noel Tsay		33	29-3	2-3	-		-
23	Rhonda Levesque		30	5-3	3-2	-		NEW
24	Ellen Gonzalez		23	3-0	0-0	-		NEW
25	Emi Nagano		36	28-5	2-4	-		NEW
-	Andrea Zwygart		30	8-4	0-0	-
-	Annie Terkay		33	8-5	2-2	-
-	Asako Fukumitsu		27	5-3	2-3	-
-	Asami Godo		29	7-0	0-0	-
-	Asunta Silvera		31	1-0	1-0	-
-	Chang Lin		33	26-1	0-0	8F 22P
-	Claudia Bailey		30	12-11	4-7	-
-	Deborah Grunge		23	2-0	2-0	-
-	Denyse Blais		31	12-11	1-3	-
-	Destan Bartlett		32	7-6	2-3	-
-	Francena Lapointe	34	9-13	6-9	-
-	Francisca Van Imburgh	24	1-2	1-2	-
-	Gladys Big		31	5-5	1-2	-
-	Grace Jang		33	25-4	1-4	-
-	Honami Isoda		31	8-2	2-2	-
-	Julia Valdez		25	7-0	1-0	-
-	Lillian Kyle		31	7-6	4-4	-
-	Lynn Stevenson		29	8-5	4-4	-
-	Maja Mikhailov		31	11-2	0-2	-
-	Makiko Ogiwara		23	3-0	0-0	-
-	Miiko Abe		31	9-2	2-0	-
-	Ryo Asahi		30	7-2	4-2	-
-	Stella Hall		30	9-6	9-5	-		v #25
-	Sybylla VanDerCapellen	31	10-4	4-4	-		v #20
-	Umeko Tange		31	11-5	0-2	-

Donners · March 30, 2015

2014 in review

Shows

Aside from one glaringly unsuccessful show - DCF 81, featuring a main event of Khryssa Tau and Floriana Parent, with Karen Hinkle and Lorin Poirier in the co-main - every show in 2014 was a commercial success. Although the Bantamweight title rematch between Virginia Ryland and Sherry Clean fell a little flat, the Featherweights produced both an excellent title match between Sherry Clean and Lee Chang and a number one contender's fight between Maureen Chase and Courtney Backlund.

We are now Medium Level National in most regions, but I still don't feel it's the time to raise the size cap just yet. There is lots of competition for female fighters now, with FLB adding a women's division last year and SIGMA adding one this year - GAMMA is now the only one of the eight companies without women.

#	Main Event				Crit	Comm	Att	Pop	Finance
78	[b]Virginia Ryland	D Gianna Russo[/b]		79%	79%	3787	4.4%	17,216,874
79	[b]Sherry Clean D Lee Chang[/b]		77%	96%	5090	5.6%	30,471,452
80	Natalie Rogers D Yi Jie Fan		76%	75%	4016	4.0%	18,774,413
81	Khryssa Tau D Floriana Parent		72%	58%	3250	-2.5%	10,494,771
82	[b]D'Arcy Fortin D Virginia Ryland[/b]		75%	79%	4747	4.8%	17,286,040
83	Maureen Chase D Courtney Backlund	77%	94%	6065	5.6%	29,109,318
84	Natalie Rogers D Xin Qian Hao		89%	83%	5432	5.2%	20,876,031
85	Stephanie Rock D Lisa Fry		82%	82%	6006	5.2%	19,976,976

Arrivals

Only seven fighters were brought in during 2014.

The two Featherweights were unremarkable - Jill Horn (13-3) returns for her second DCF stint after a 1-3 record in her first, and Kumi Ozu (1-0) won her professional debut.

Brittany Garofalo (16-7) was the biggest name of the new Bantamweights, having left DCF to join XCC back in 2008, just after winning our Bantamweight title. The other four signings were new to DCF, but were all world ranked as either Bantamweights or Flyweights - Martha Huge (6-0), Nellie Elwes (9-3), Orlina Cote (6-0) and Suko Nishiwaki (10-6). Better still, Huge, Cote and Nishiwaki are in their early-to-mid 20s, providing that much-needed injection of youth I've been searching for.

Departures

We lost many more fighters than we gained this year, which was probably a good thing given our bloated roster. There were thirteen retirements, three cuts and one fighter, Umeko Tange (11-6), who joined SIGMA's new women's division after three straight DCF losses.

There were certainly some notable fighters among those. Successful Featherweights Francena Dube (13-9, 10-5 DCF) and Brittany Gibson (10-7, 8-6 DCF) were significant, but they were outshadowed by Gianna Russo (21-8, 14-5 DCF), who retired after losing her title rematch with Virginia Ryland (again by decision, but this time unanimous rather than split). Russo first won the vacant title (after D'Arcy Fortin left) in February 2006 and defended it twice until losing to Brittany Garofalo. When Garafalo left (aptly, both Fortin and Garafalo are back at DCF now), Russo again claimed the vacant title in October 2008 and defended it four times. Thanks to a serious injury she missed most of 2011 and 2012, and returned only to lose to Ryland twice. With 14 wins (2 KO, 8 Sub, 4 decision), 12 main events and 5 Fight of the Night awards, she has been one of our best fighters.

Others to retire were Emi Nagano (28-6, 2-5 DCF), Saya Ikegami (26-8, 4-3 DCF), Chang Richard (31-3, 2-3 DCF), Judith Hughes (13-12, 6-11 DCF), Akemi Satou (23-9, 2-2 DCF), Claudia Fraser (17-9, 5-6 DCF), Yi Jie Fan (29-2, 3-2 DCF), Grace Jang (25-5, 1-5 DCF) and Annie Terkay (8-6, 2-3 DCF), while Claudia Bailey (12-11, 4-7 DCF), Lillian Kyle (7-7, 4-5 DCF) and Zhen Juan Jen (26-5, 1-5 DCF) were cut.

Featherweights

The plan for Courtney Backlund to get a long-awaited title shot was thrown awry by recovery times - backlund wasn't ready for our March show, having fought in December 2013, so I gave Lee Chang the title shot instead. Sherry Clean promptly defeated Chang, but suffered an injury which put her out for a few months. To fill the main event void, I put Backlund against Maureen Chase, who had also been dominant recently. Chase promptly beat Backlund via first round TKO, pushing Backlund down the pecking order. Accordingly, Chase will get the next shot at clean, a rematch from her loss in June 2013.

Stephanie Rock jumped into the top ranked fighters with submission wins over both Lisa Fry and Jing Su, but aside from that there wasn't a lot of movement. At the age of 39, Piper Evergood still made the top 3 by getting Yi Ze Lu to submit. It probably says a lot that Floriana Parent lost her only fight of the year and yet made the rankings, having been unranked in 2013.

The Featherweight division will be shaken up significantly next year as I introduce a Lightweight division to DCF. Pretty much every other company has a women's division but few have Featherweights and none have Lightweights, so this will give us exclusive access to a number of fighters. Of course, the talent pool is very shallow, but a number of our prominent Featherweights actually prefer to fight at Lightweight. Those include ranked fighters Khryssa Tau, Courtney Backlund, Laura Nikolic, Paula Sanz, Yue Wan Tan, Victoria Death, Noel Yang and Jing Su. It will mean a short-term weakening of the Featherweights, but will allow for more title matches and more focused match-making. The Featherweights and Lightweights will have a combined card every third month, with Bantamweights retaining their exclusive card every three months.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank	Change
[b]1	Sherry Clean		34	15-1	13-1	1F 1P	-[/b]
2	Maureen Chase		34	17-5	10-3	3F 9P	^ #4
3	Piper Evergood		39	25-7	14-3	4F 10P	v #2
4	Stephanie Rock		32	15-0	3-0	6F 15P	^ #8
5	Lee Chang		36	26-2	5-2	7F 17P	-
6	Courtney Backlund	27	12-2	10-2	8F 18P	v #3
7	Karen Hinkle		29	8-1	8-1	10F 23P	-
8	Yi Ze Lu		31	24-2	3-2	11F	v #6
9	Coletta Tremblay	33	16-7	8-4	12F	^ #10
10	Khryssa Tau		29	21-4	7-2	16F	^ #16
11	Lorin Poirier		34	11-9	8-6	17F	v #9
12	Lisa Fry		33	13-1	1-1	19F	^ #15
13	Laura Nikolic		27	13-0	3-0	20F	^ #20
14	Nancey Vidal		30	14-9	12-5	22F	^ #21
15	Paula Sanz		27	11-4	10-4	23F	NEW
16	Nicole Henderson	36	15-9	10-6	24F	NEW
17	Yue Wan Tan		34	27-2	1-2	-	v #12
18	Victoria Death		33	28-4	6-4	-	-
19	Noel Yang		29	17-2	1-2	1L	v #14
20	Miyoshi Ishimaru	33	5-1	3-1	-	NEW
21	Nanci Oulette		30	5-0	0-0	-	^ #24
22	Jean Lashley		29	7-3	1-2	-	NEW
23	Jing Su			35	29-3	2-3	-	v #11
24	Antonia Braga		34	30-3	1-3	-	v #23
25	Floriana Parent		32	10-7	10-7	-	NEW
-	Caress Nadeau		32	25-8	1-8	-
-	Darlene Chase		25	3-1	3-1	-
-	Evelina Mikhailov	32	7-3	3-3	-
-	Holly Kowalski		27	4-3	4-3	-
-	Jill Horn		25	13-3	1-3	3L
-	Kishi Matsukata		28	6-3	3-3	-
-	Kumi Ozu		29	1-0	1-0	-
-	Kyoko Hishikawa		33	4-3	3-3	-
-	Lauren Turcotte		31	5-4	4-4	-
-	Lucille Kelly		26	3-4	0-4	-
-	Marja Grabowska		27	19-3	2-3	-
-	Michelle Wu		31	17-5	1-5	-
-	Rosa Silva		31	28-0	2-0	2L
-	Susan Gilbert		30	10-6	4-6	-
-	Terri Frehley		30	11-7	5-5	-
-	Zuria Cote		33	12-16	8-12	-

Bantamweights

Unlike the Featherweights, the combination of retirements and new signings caused quite a bit of movement among the Bantamweight ranks. Ryland defended her newly-unified title against Russo, but then lost in her first defence to the unstoppable D'Arcy Fortin. She did push Fortin to a five-round decision, though, which is a decent achievement.

Unfortunately, since Natalie Rogers refuses to fight Fortin, my options for the next title match are rather limited. 38-year-old Garofalo does not appeal and Ogiwara has had just four fights in her career. Perhaps the fast-rising Diana Robert, who beat Saya Ikegami and Suko Nishiwaki in the first round this year, is an option.

The new signings Ogiwara, Huge and Cote offer some youth, but they are as-yet unproven. With three of the top four Bantamweights aged 34 or older, we really need at least one to shine.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank		Change
[b]1	D'Arcy Fortin		34	25-0	9-0	3Fl 2B 3P	^ #2[/b]
2	Natalie Rogers		36	29-6	3-0	5B 4Fl 4P	^ #3
3	Virginia Ryland		32	21-7	16-4	6B 7P		v #1
4	Brittany Garofalo	38	16-7	6-2	8B 12P		NEW	
5	Makiko Ogiwara		24	4-0	1-0	9B 6Fl 13P	NEW
6	Viola Alessio		34	25-7	1-1	10B 5Fl 14P	-
7	Xin Qian Hao		29	17-2	5-2	11B 19P		^ #8
8	Diana Robert		33	17-8	8-1	13B 22P		^ #17
9	Nellie Elwes		29	9-3	0-0	14B 24P		NEW
10	Mutsuko Kurofuki	31	12-1	6-1	15B		^ #16
11	Letya Turner		34	10-8	5-7	8Fl		-
12	Ann Fly			31	19-8	2-3	16B		v #9
13	Martha Huge		23	6-0	0-0	18B		NEW
14	Maria Araujo		29	11-1	1-0	21B 15Fl	^ #19
15	Amber Joslin		36	17-5	2-1	11Fl		-
16	Orlina Cote		23	6-0	0-0	12Fl		NEW
17	Suko Nishiwaki		26	10-6	0-1	13Fl		NEW
18	Ryoko Wakai		32	14-7	3-1	23B		-
19	Francena Lapointe	35	11-13	8-9	24B		NEW
20	Rhonda Levesque		31	6-3	4-2	-		^ #23
21	Charlene Eilers		31	10-4	7-3	-		-
22	Ryo Asahi		31	9-2	6-2	-		NEW
23	Jun Shih		32	18-3	2-3	-		v #10
24	Umeka Matsuoka		25	5-1	1-0	22Fl		NEW
25	Julia Valdez		26	8-0	2-0	-		NEW
-	Andrea Zwygart		31	8-5	0-1	-
-	Asako Fukumitsu		28	6-4	3-4	-
-	Asami Godo		30	8-1	1-1	-
-	Asunta Silvera		32	1-1	1-1	-
-	Chang Lin		34	26-3	0-2	9F 21P
-	Deborah Grunge		24	2-2	2-2	-
-	Denyse Blais		32	13-12	2-4	-
-	Destan Bartlett		33	9-6	4-3	-
-	Ellen Gonzalez		24	4-1	1-1	-		v #24
-	Francisca Van Imburgh	25	2-2	2-2	-
-	Gladys Big		32	6-5	2-2	-
-	Honami Isoda		32	9-2	3-2	-
-	Lynn Stevenson		30	8-7	4-6	-
-	Maja Mikhailov		32	11-3	0-3	-
-	Miiko Abe		32	9-3	2-1	-
-	Noel Tsay		34	29-4	2-4	-		v #22
-	Rowena Wang		33	28-3	1-3	-		v #20
-	Sheila Hupp		27	4-0	1-0	-
-	Stella Hall		31	9-7	9-6	-
-	Sybylla VanDerCapellen	32	11-4	5-4	-
-	Yan Yan Lin		33	29-4	5-4	-
-	Yuki Iwahashi		28	7-0	0-0	-

Donners · April 8, 2015

2015 in review

Shows

2015 saw the introduction of the Lightweight division, which produced two of our main events for the year. Pleasingly, both did reasonably well, and the two shows with Featherweight main events also succeeded, indicating that they were not particularly weakened by the splitting of the division.

Indeed, rather surprisingly, the worst show of the year - DCF 92 - was a Bantamweight-exclusive one. With over 40 Bantamweights on the roster, and several poached stars from other companies, that was a particular disappointment. The poor financial result for DCF 90 was purely my fault - it wasn't televised! That's the second time poor Virginia Ryland has missed out on a PPV bonus for that reason.

We remained capped at Mid Level national, and I won't increase that until the Lightweight division has settled.

#	Main Event				Crit	Comm	Att	Pop	Finance
86	Viola Alessio D Maria Araujo		82%	75%	5350	4.4%	14,820,288
87	[b]Khryssa Tau D Paula Sanz[/b]		80%	70%	4814	4.0%	16,663,146
88	[b]D'Arcy Fortin DREW Brittany Garofalo[/b]	72%	95%	8145	7.0%	30,077,818
89	[b]Sherry Clean D Maureen Chase[/b]		78%	96%	7488	7.0%	30,894,573
90	Virginia Ryland	D Francena Lapointe	73%	79%	6303	0.9%	1,193,563
91	Courtney Backlund D Megan Whitworth	72%	79%	5862	5.5%	18,073,513
92	Julia Valdez D Asami Godo		75%	59%	4039	-2.5%	11,332,161
93	[b]Sherry Clean D Lorin Poirier[/b]		79%	95%	8140	7.0%	29,971,902

Arrivals

The new Lightweight division required a number of new signings to fill out the division in addition to those who switched from Featherweight. Laura Petrovic, Lirienne Boucher, Marcia Hall, Megan Whitworth and Norma Soto came in, with Megan Foster returning after an unsuccessful run as a Featherweight in 2008-2011.

With the Featherweights weakened by those who jumped up a division, world ranked fighters Anne Frehley, Rita Fraser and Rohais Laurent joined, as did Anne Newton, Joslin Whitehead and rookie Koma Hirano. None of them look particularly outstanding, but at least they offer some options.

The Bantamweights, as usual, had the bigger names coming in from other companies. Amanda Salmon, Antonia Lopez, Suko Nishiwaki and Clara Dahl moved to DCF after good careers elsewhere, and veteran Suzanne Elder returned after being poached from us by XCC way back in 2009. To balance out those experienced signings, Floriana Moore, Mita Gallo, Primavera Thomas and Tuleva Pedersen were also signed. Each of them is an unknown quantity, but that's not a bad thing in a well-established division.

Departures

Several top fighters announced their retirements this year.

Natalie Rogers (29-6, 3-0 DCF) might have got a title shot if she wasn't unwilling to fight D'Arcy Fortin, but she at least put on a couple of solid main events.

Maureen Chase (17-6, 10-4 DCF) unfortunately lost both her attempts to take the title from Sherry Clean, but still managed to stay close to the top of the Featherweight division for years and main evented five shows. She only won one of her ten DCF fights by decision, with six submission wins, two TKOs and a KO.

Lee Chang (26-3, 5-3 DCF) and Viola Alessio (25-8, 2-1 DCF) were also close to the top of their divisions, with Chang losing to Clean for the Featherweight title in 2014. Veteran Nicole Henderson (15-10, 10-7 DCF) and Francena Lapointe (12-14, 9-10 DCF) were the other regulars to call it quits.

Of the rest, Chang Lin, Noel Tsay, Destan Bartlett and Gladys Big retired while Jun Shih, Path to Stardom winner Deborah Grunge, Lauren Turcotte and Rowena Wang (following a failed drug test) were cut.

Lightweights

The new division headlined DCF 87 in March, and had a successful beginning. BJJ fighter Khryssa Tau took the inaugural title, getting Paula Sanz to retire in the first round. Caress Nadeau certainly appreciated the weight change, winning both her fights - quite an improvement from losing her first eight as a Featherweight! With many members of the division new to DCF, it will take a while for things to settle. Strangely, Courtney Backlund is ranked at the bottom of the divison despite being the most successful fighter there. She looms as a title contender, especially after the inconsistent Victoria Death lost to Noel Yang at DCF 91.

Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank
[b]1	Khryssa Tau		30	22-4	8-2	15F 1L[/b]
2	Caress Nadeau		33	27-8	3-8	2L
3	Jill Horn		26	15-3	3-3	3L
4	Laura Petrovic		33	15-0	1-0	4L
5	Marcia Hall		21	1-0	1-0	6L
6	Noel Yang		30	18-3	2-3	5L
7	Marja Grabowska		28	20-4	3-4	8L
8	Norma Soto		23	10-1	0-1	9L
9	Paula Sanz		28	11-6	10-6	10L 22F
10	Rosa Silva		32	28-1	2-1	11L
11	Lirienne Boucher	23	1-0	1-0	12L
12	Victoria Death		34	29-5	7-5	13L
13	Megan Foster		30	8-5	2-5	15L
14	Laura Nikolic		28	14-1	4-1	16L 19F
15	Megan Whitworth		27	7-1	0-1	17L
16	Jing Su			36	29-5	2-5	18L
17	Courtney Backlund	28	13-2	11-2	7F 19L 15P
-	Yue Wan Tan		35	27-2	1-2	-

Featherweights

No change at the top, with Sherry Clean knocking off Maureen Chase and Lorin Poirier. Stephanie Rock might have loomed as a contender, but she tested positive to PEDs after winning the last show of 2014, and was suspended for the year. Karen Hinkle now looks like the best option, having defeated Coletta Tremblay and Lee Chang in 2015. It's not a great sign that the next two in the rankings are Rock, who was suspended all year, and Evergood, who is now 40. Indeed, there is not one fighter under 30 in the top 15. DCF Path to Stardom winner Darlene Chase has had a decent start, and will hopefully add some youth to the higher rankings in the coming years.


Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank	Change
[b]1	Sherry Clean		35	17-1	15-1	1F 2P	-[/b]
2	Karen Hinkle		30	10-1	10-1	4F 11P	^ #7
3	Stephanie Rock		33	14-0	3-0	5F 12P	^ #3
4	Piper Evergood		40	25-8	14-4	6F 14P	v #3
5	Lorin Poirier		35	12-10	9-7	9F	^ #11
6	Coletta Tremblay	34	16-8	8-5	12F	^ #9
7	Lisa Fry		34	14-0	2-1	13F	^ #12
8	Anne Frehley		32	15-0	1-0	14F	NEW
9	Rohais Laurent		31	10-1	1-0	16F	NEW
10	Nancey Vidal		31	15-10	13-6	18F	^ #14
11	Rita Fraser		33	12-0	0-0	20F	NEW
12	Antonia Braga		35	32-3	3-3	25F	^ #24
13	Nanci Oulette		31	6-0	1-0	-	^ #21
14	Miyoshi Ishimaru	34	6-1	4-1	-	^ #20
15	Yi Ze Lu		32	24-3	3-4	-	v #8
16	Anne Newton		27	9-1	0-0	-	NEW
17	Zuria Cote		34	14-16	10-12	-	NEW
18	Susan Gilbert		31	10-6	5-6	-	NEW
19	Kumi Ozu		30	2-0	2-0	-	NEW
20	Joslin Whitehead	31	11-1	0-1	-	NEW
21	Jean Lashley		30	7-4	1-3	-	^ #22
22	Kishi Matsukata		29	7-3	4-3	-	NEW
23	Koma Hirano		27	1-0	1-0	-	NEW
24	Floriana Parent		33	11-8	11-8	-	^ #25
25	Darlene Chase		26	4-2	4-2	-	NEW
-	Evelina Mikhailov	33	7-5	3-5	-
-	Holly Kowalski		28	4-4	4-4	-
-	Kyoko Hishikawa		34	4-4	3-4	-
-	Lucille Kelly		27	3-5	0-5	-
-	Michelle Wu		32	17-7	1-7	-
-	Terri Frehley		31	11-8	5-6	-

Bantamweights

The top of the Bantamweight division looks much shakier than the Featherweights, after a shock result at DCF 88. After 25 straight wins, including against some of the toughest opponents at the giant XCC promotion, D'Arcy Fortin was held to a split draw in five rounds by 39-year-old Brittany Garofalo. With Fortin getting into her mid-30s herself, perhaps her skills are in sharp decline - Virginia Ryland and Viola Alessio also held the once-dominant Kung Fu fighter to five rounds in 2013 and 2014. Given Garofalo's age and the poor quality of the fight, I'm not sure that a rematch is appropriate.

The good news is that there are a few options coming up the ranks. Makiko Ogiwara, an MMA/Jiu Jitsu fighter, is a refreshingly young option who has two first-round submission wins in DCF, most recently against veteran Amber Joslin. The more experienced Maria Araujo, using a BJJ style, suffered a surprise loss to Viola Alessio but came back with a convincing submission win over Xin Qian Hao in October. However, veteran Diana Robert looms as the best candidate - a well-established name who continues to quietly accumulate wins.

It's certainly good to see some younger fighters in the division, particularly compared to the Featherweights, but the real focus in the coming years will be on who can take the title off the now-vulnerable Fortin.


Rank	Name			Age	Career	DCF	WRank		Change
1	D'Arcy Fortin		35	25-0	10-0	2B 7P		-
2	Virginia Ryland		33	22-7	17-4	6B 5P		-
3	Makiko Ogiwara		25	5-0	2-0	7B 4Fl 8P	^ #5
4	Brittany Garofalo	39	16-7	6-3	8B 10P		v #3
5	Maria Araujo		30	13-1	2-1	14Fl 9B 13P	^ #14
6	Diana Robert		34	18-8	9-1	10B 16P		^ #8
7	Martha Huge		24	7-0	1-0	12B 19P		^ #13
8	Suzanne Elder		39	23-11	3-2	13B 21P		NEW
9	Amanda Salmon		30	7-1	0-0	14B 22P		NEW
10	Nellie Elwes		30	9-3	0-0	15B 24P		NEW
11	Mutsuko Kurofuki	32	13-1	7-1	16B		V #10
12	Xin Qian Hao		30	17-3	5-3	17B		v #7
13	Ann Fly			32	20-9	3-4	18B		v #12
14	Orlina Cote		23	7-0	1-0	20B 10Fl	^ #16
15	Julia Valdez		27	10-0	4-0	21B		^ #25
16	Suko Nishiwaki		27	10-7	0-2	11Fl		^ #17
17	Antonia Lopez		31	13-6	0-1	12Fl		NEW
18	Umeka Matsuoka		26	6-1	2-0	20Fl		^ #24
19	Amber Joslin		37	18-6	3-2	-		v #15
20	Yuki Iwahashi		29	9-0	2-0	-		NEW
21	Stella Hall		32	11-7	11-6	-		NEW
22	Charlene Eilers		32	11-5	8-4	-		v #21
23	Ryoko Wakai		33	14-9	3-3	-		v #18
24	Honami Isoda		33	11-2	5-2	-		NEW
25	Ryo Asahi		32	9-3	6-3	-		v #22
-	Andrea Zwygart		32	8-6	0-2	-
-	Asako Fukumitsu		29	7-4	4-4	-
-	Asami Godo		31	9-2	2-2	-
-	Asunta Silvera		33	1-1	1-1	-
-	Clara Dahl		33	14-11	0-0	-
-	Denyse Blais		33	14-12	3-4	-
-	Ellen Gonzalez		25	6-1	3-1	-
-	Floriana Moore		34	2-0	0-0	-
-	Francisca Van Imburgh	26	3-3	3-3	-
-	Letya Turner		35	10-9	5-8	-		v #11
-	Lynn Stevenson		31	9-7	5-6	-
-	Maja Mikhailov		33	11-5	0-5	-
-	Miiko Abe		33	9-5	2-3	-
-	Mita Gallo		29	1-0	1-0	-
-	Primavera Thomas	26	0-1	0-1	-
-	Rhonda Levesque		32	6-5	4-4	-		v #20
-	Sheila Hupp		28	5-1	2-1	22Fl
-	Sybylla VanDerCapellen	33	12-5	6-5	-
-	Tuleva Pedersen		25	1-0	1-0	-
-	Yan Yan Lin		34	29-5	5-5	-

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Resisting the tide - The History and Future of DCF

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