Injury Forces Kaufman Off Invicta FC 3, Smith-Young Booked
An injury has forced Sarah Kaufman to withdraw from her Invicta FC 3 bantamweight (135 pounds) Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) matchup with Kaitlin Young (7-6-1) of St. Louis Park, Minn. at Memorial Hall in Kansas City on Saturday, Oct. 6, setting up a highly-anticipated rematch between Young and Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith (3-2-1).of Pleasant Hill, Calif.
Promising upstart Raquel “Rocky” Pennington (3-1) of Colorado Springs, Colo. has been tapped to face Smith’s original Invicta FC 3 bantamweight opponent, professional boxer and undefeated MMA prospect Kim Connor-Hamby (4-0) of Stuttgart, Ark.
Both seasoned strikers, Young and Smith engaged in an all-out slugfest for three rounds at the inaugural Invicta FC event on April 28, before a majority draw was declared. Young and Smith were awarded “Fight of the Night” honors for their valiant efforts and the possibility of a rematch has since been a hot topic of discussion.
To date, the 27-year-old Young has earned six of her seven professional wins by KO. In her third start, she scored a memorable KO on former Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate with a head kick just 30 seconds into their matchup.
Smith, a 31-year-old product of the Cesar Gracie Academy, went unbeaten (3-0) as an amateur before turning pro on March 6, 2009 and scoring a third round (4:16) TKO on Louise Johnson with a series of punches.
The 31-year-old Connor-Hamby boasts a 10-2-2 (4 KO’s) record in professional boxing.
In her MMA debut on June 27, 2009, Connor-Hamby needed just 20 seconds to stop Crystal Hamilton with a barrage of punches.
Connor-Hamby reeled off TKO victories in each of her next two starts and earned a split decision over Jessica Hilger in her last MMA bout on April 17, 2010.
Pennington’s start will be her second in the Invicta FC cage. The 24-year-old earned a unanimous decision over Sarah Moras at the last Invicta FC event on July 28 and, less than six weeks after that, returned to action in Honolulu, Hawaii where she submitted Raquel Pa’aluhi with a guillotine choke in the first round (3:52) of their meeting.
Before her professional debut in March when she scored a second round (2:25) TKO on Kim Couture with a series of knee strikes to the body, Pennington enjoyed a healthy amateur career that spanned three years and saw her amass a record of 7-1.
