This past Wednesday, Jackson/Winkeljohn MMA played host to an open workout featuring four female fighters all with respective bouts in the month of July with national mixed martial arts promotions.
Norma Center (left) poses with Mike Valle (coach), Emily Kagan, Julie Kedzie, Greg Jackson (coach) and Holly Holm after a media workout to help promote all four women’s upcoming bouts. Photo Credits: Will Fox
This weekend two of the gyms fighters, Norma Center (2-0) and Emily Peters Kagan (2-1) will kick things off for their gym in respective bouts at Invicta FC 6. The event is a unique one of the promotions as it will be the first time Invicta is televised on Pay Per View.
Norma Center
Center (2-0) will be taking on undefeated Scottish Muay Thai champion Joanne Calderwood (6-0) on three weeks notice. Calderwood is ranked as the 7th best straweight according to Unified Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Rankings and not to mention is a Muay Thai specialist with a 19-2 kickboxing record.
Center knows she will have a tough test when she faces Calderwood on Saturday but is not backing down from the challenge…
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Emily Peters Kagan
In her second go around with Invicta, Kagan will be matched against Ashley Cummins (3-1). Both 
women are looking to bounce back from respective loses in their previous outing with Invicta. This contest is very even on paper. Cummins specializes in Muay Thai and holds a blue belt in brazilian jiu jitsu while Kagan holds a black belt in traditional Jiu jitsu.
Kagan joined us to discuss what she learned from her January loss against highly touted propect Rose Namajunas and the excitement to train at lunch a talent filled gym…
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Invicta FC 6 can be purchased on Pay Per View on most cable and satellite providers for $15.99.
Julie Kedzie
In their first UFC bouts Julie Kedzie (16-11) and Germaine de Randamie (3-2) will open up the FX portion of the UFC on FOX 8 card in Seattle, Washington, Saturday July 27th. Despite only having 3-2 record the casual fan might not be aware of the 37-0 kickboxing record de Randamie possess.
Arguably, no other woman in the Jackson/Winkeljohn stable has done more for the Women’s MMA than Julie Kedzie. Her contest against Gina Carano at EliteXC: Destiny proved that women fights can be just as entertaining as their male counterparts. Not to mention she was part of the female fight of the year in 2012 against Meisha Tate in a fight that will go down, in the now defunct, Strikeforce history.
Kedzie joins us to discuss being a lead ambassador for Women’s MMA…
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Holly Holm
The most decorated fighter in female American boxing history raised eyebrows this spring when she announced that 
she was retiring from the sport to pursue a full time career in MMA.
Even world renown MMA outlets speculated as to which organization Holm (3-0) would sign to; UFC? Invicta FC? She would eventually settle and sign a four-fight (non-exclusive) contract with Texas-based promotion Legacy Fighting Championships. In her first contest with the promotion on July 19th Holm will step into the cage for the fourth time of her career and will reportedly face Allanna Jones (or at least we think; Sherdog.com currently shows an “Unknown Opponent” for Holm).
Legacy FC 21 is scheduled to air live on AXIS TV.
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