Monday, June 07, 2010

Carina Damm NOT fighting in the US

Carina Damm
A few months ago, 125lb Brazilian fighter Carina Damm told the Brazilian MMA publication Tatame that she had signed a contract with a US company and would debut with them in June. She repeated this statement a couple of weeks ago while preparing for a fight that didn't happen due to her opponent showing up overweight. She didn't say which company but logic dictates that it has to be Bellator. So what's going on here? Is Carina Damm coming to the US? The answer is no. Fans may recall that in 2008 Carina was suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission and there was some speculation that maybe she hadn't paid her fines. I asked the fine folks at Tatame about this and they thought that in fact she is cleared to fight in the US. So I asked them to contact Carina and clarify the situation. Fans may recall that Bellator's original plan was to to a 125lb women's tournament. Rosi Sexton's normal fighting weight is 125. It wasn't until recently when the opportunity to sign Megumi Fujii presented itself that they decided to change it to a 115lb tournament. Rosi agreed to drop to 115 and obviously Carina declined the offer. Remember no fighter is obligated to fight in a different weight class. So Carina Damm did in fact sign with Bellator several months ago but due to the change in Bellator's plans she will not be coming to the US at this time. That is what she told Tatame today. Knowing that, why did she repeat her US plans a couple of weeks ago? Obviously Brazilian fighters must think that speaking to Tatame is away from the eyes of inquisitive English speaking MMA writers. That is incorrect because if she hadn't repeated it, I wouldn't have looked into it. I was pretty sure her statement was true a few months ago but not true today.

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