Written by Yael Grauer   |   Monday, December 21 2009

Amanda Bucnker is rumored to be competing in a tournament for Full Contact Fighting in January

Cyborg vs. Marloes

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (8-1) will be defending her 145 lb belt against top contender Marloes Coenen (17-3) on January 30th. Check out footage of Coenen and Santos discussing this upcoming bout.

Top Female Fighters

Five Ounces of pain has awarded their top female fighters of 2009.

Cris "Cyborg" Santos (8-1) came in first place due to her 8-fight winning streak and her defeat of Gina Carano (7-1) for the Strikeforce women's 145 lb. belt. Submission specialist Megumi Fujii (19-0 and arguably the best female MMA fighter in the world) came in second. Miku Matsumoto (23-4), on a 12-fight winning streak, came in third, followed by the undefeated Sarah Kaufmann (10-0) who scored wins over Miesha Tate (7-2), Shayna Baszler (9-6) and Sara Schneider (4-3) this year. Tara LaRosa (18-1) came in fifth place.

Upcoming Fight Rumors

Sources close to The Savage Science have reported that Tara LaRosa (18-1) has a fight scheduled on Monte Cox's show in Atlantic City next month. No further information is available (to me, anyway.)

According to Scott Coker, Gina Carano (7-1) may be back in Strikeforce by next summer. Whether she fights Erin Toughill (10-2-1), Coenen (17-3) or rematches with Cyborg (8-1)--or fights someone else completely--remains to be seen. The ring rust from shooting a movie (and not training) may be a factor.

A rumored 8-woman 135 lb. tournament for Full Contact Fighting has been said to take place in January, with semi finals in March and finals in June. Jenn Tate (5-1) and Amanda Buckner (11-5-1) are scheduled to compete. We will report details when they are confirmed. Buckner is a BJJ black belt and one of the best pound-for-pound female fighters on the planet. She is the IFC US Middleweight champ, 2005 Ring of Fire Women's Lightweight champ and 2006 Smack Girl Openweight champ but has not fought since April '08. I, for one, can't wait to see her fight and in fact asked someone to get her a fight last July.

Originally appearing at savagescience.com