Carina Damm’s future in Strikeforce’s four-women 135-pound tournament is in jeopardy due to difficulties securing her work visa, the promotion confirmed with Sherdog.com on Wednesday evening. The one-night tournament takes place at Strikeforce Challengers 10 on Aug. 13 at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Brazilian fighter was to join Strikeforce veterans
Miesha Tate and
Hitomi Akano, and Finnish newcomer
Maiju Kujala in the field, which will produce a challenger for 135-pound champion
Sarah Kaufman.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said Damm’s visa request was delayed due to an overflow at the Rio De Janeiro office handling it and that the promotion is exhausting all efforts to get her an appointment to push the paperwork through.
Damm has won 10 straight bouts since February 2007. The Alliance Jiu-jitsu rep earned a first-round TKO over
Aline Serio at Jungle Fight 17 last February in her hometown of Vila Velha, Brazil.
In an email sent out Wednesday evening by Strikeforce’s Mike Afromowitz, the promotion etched out an alternate plan.
“In the event that (Damm) is unable to acquire a visa, however, we have identified a qualified replacement for the tournament and will release her name if Carina is officially forced to withdraw from the event,” wrote Afromowitz. “This prospective replacement has been in training camp for several weeks and is prepared to take on the task at hand.”
Coker told Sherdog.com that the potential replacement has not been pulled from the reserve match, which is yet to be announced. The reserve match will provide a same-night replacement should one of the two finalists be unable to compete beyond their first bout.
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