Here we see Liz Carmouche of San Diego back on March 4, 2011 posing for photos after getting weighed for a Strikeforce MMA Welterweight Championship bout against the champion Marloes Coenen. As far as being ready to fight for the Strikeforce title, she was as green as you get and yet she shocked the MMA world and the champion by coming ever so close to pulling off the upset. No longer pulling extra duty as a U. S. Marine and no longer a raw talent, Carmouche is now a force in the sport.

Over the weekend, mixed martial artist Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche of the San Diego Combat Academy was back in action. Following her two straight losses in Strikeforce, the former U. S. Marine and former top contender, has been making great strides to mastering every fighting discipline and insuring her invincibility in the sport, especially since signing with the all new, women’s Invicta Fighting Championships people.

In April, she easily defeated Ashleigh Curry at Invicta FC1 in under two minutes. Saturday, July 28, 2012, on the Invicta FC 2 undercard of the Baszler vs. McMann Main Event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, she put Kaitlin Young away in the second round. Since Carmouche is still under contract with Strikeforce, she’s hoping her strong performances will keep Strikeforce more than just a little interested.

You can be sure she’ll be watching with great interest the upcoming Strikeforce women’s 135-pound title match between Sarah Kaufman and the gal everyone’s talking about, “Roudy” Rhonda Rousey on August 18, at the Sports Arena here in San Diego. It’s likely the people of Strikeforce will have Carmouche sitting close to the cage so their cameras can occasionally pan her reactions to the fight.

In case you missed Saturday’s show, here are several videos to get you up to speed.

Carmouche’s post fight interview with WMMAroundup:

The Main Event between Sara McMann, an Olympic Silver medalist from Gaffney, South Carolina and Shayna Baszler (14-6) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota was also top-notch. McMann squeaked out an unanimous decision victory in that one to remain undefeated at (6-0).

“That was by far the toughest and most skilled fighter I have ever fought,” said McMann after the judges announced her win.

Video of the Sara McMann vs Shayna Baszler Main Event

Full fight card –

In Bout #1, Liz McCarthy of the Rise Above MMA in Tigard, Oregon got the win over Jessica Philippus of Team Philippus of Marshall, Missouri after a first round TKO (doctor stoppage). Both young ladies were making their pro-debuts.

Participants of Bout #1, Liz McCarthy of the Rise Above MMA in Tigard, Oregon (L), the eventual winner, and Jessica Philippus (R) of Team Philippus in Marshall, Missouri, pose for photos after their weigh-ins on Friday, July 27, 2012.

Bout #2 participants, Jocelyn Lybarger (L) and Cheryl Chan (R) pose for photos after their official weigh-ins on Friday.

Bout#2

Jocelyn “Lights Out” Lybarger of The Lab/Cross Fit Fury in Phoenix, Arizona gets the decision over Cheryl Chan of the Mendoza Martial Arts in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Both young ladies were making their pro-debuts.

Bout #3 participants Jessamyn Duke (L) and Suzie Montero (R) pose for photos after their official weigh-in on Friday July 27, 2012.

Bout#3

Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke (1-0) of AFS MMA Academy in

Richmond, Kentucky defeated Suzie Montero (1-1) of Pompano Beach, Florida via TKO (elbows) at 2:32 of round three.

Participants in Bout #4, Raquel Pennington (R) of the Kongo Do Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Sarah Moras (L) of the Toshido MMA Gym in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada pose for photos at Friday’s weigh-in.

Bout#4

Raquel Pennington (2-1) of the Kongo Do Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado won an unanimous decision with scores of (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) over Sarah “Cheesecake” Moras (2-1) of the Toshido MMA Gym in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.

Bout #5 participants Nicdali Rivera (R), the eventual winner, and Angelica Chavez (L) pose for photos at their weigh-in.

Bout#5

Nicdali “the Night Queen” Rivera scores a three round unanimous decision victory over Angelica Chavez. At 105 pounds, the two are considered Atomweights. With the win, Rivera, of the Underdawgs Fight Team in Tulsa, Oklahoma, improves her record to 8-6, while Chavez, of the Chavez Dojo in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has her record fall to 4-2.

Carla Esparza (R) and her opponent in Bout #6, Sarah Schneider pose for photos at their official weigh-in on Friday, July 27, 2012

Bout#6

On Saturday night, Carla Esparza (R) scored a second round TKO victory (punches) over her opponent Sarah Schneider. Esparza, who is with Team Oyama in Redondo Beach, CA, improves her record to 7-2, while Schneider, of the American Jiu Jitsu Academy in Raytown, Missouri, has her record drop to 6-6.

In Bout #7, it was Elina Nilsson (R) going up against Julia Budd (L).

Bout#7

Julia “The Jewel” Budd (L) scores a first round TKO (punches and elbows) victory over Elina Nilsson of Sweden (R). With the win, Budd, of the Gibson Kickboxing & Pankration Gym in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada, improves to 3-2, while Nilsson of the Gladius MMA Gym in Stockholm, Sweden, drops to 2-3.

Mixed Martial Artists Barb Honchak (L) and Bethany Marshall (R) pose for photos at Friday’s official weigh-in.

Bout#8

Barb “Little Warrior” Honchak of Steve Berger’s MMA

in St. Louis, Missouri scored a second round TKO (punches) victory over Bethany Marshall to improve her record to 6-1. Marshall, who is from Modern America MMA in Yorktown, Virginia, now drops to 4-1.

Sarah D’Alelio (L) and her opponent Vanesa Porto (R), foes in Bout #9, pose for photos after their official weigh-in on Friday, July 27, 2012.

Bout#9

Sarah D’Alelio (6-2) of the Olympia Jiu Jitsu/Combat Sports Academy in Olympia, Washington registers a Submission victory by Reverse Triangle Armbar at 3:16 of the first round over Vanessa Porto (14-5) of Drenix Iglesia Team in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Amanda Nunes (rear) is shown applying the rear naked choke hold to gain the submission from her opponent Raquel Pa’aluhi in Bout #10, Saturday, July 28, 2012 at Invicta FC2.

Bout#10

Amanda Nunes (7-2) of the AMA Fight Club in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil gets a Technical Submission (rear naked choke) over Raquel Pa’aluhi (2-3) of Team Hakuilua from Wai’Anae, Hawaii at 2:24 of the first round. It was mentioned that Pa’aluhi had been given little time to prepare for the fight.

Ayaka Hamasaki (R) is shown applying the Armbar to her opponent in Bout #11, Lacey Schuckman (L).

Bout#11

Ayaka Hamasaki gets the Submission victory over Lacey Schuckman, an Armbar at 4:45 of the third round. While Hamasaki of Abe Ani Combat Club in Tokyo, Japan remains unbeaten at 8-0, Schuckman of Team Rugburn in Lakewood, Colorado now drops to 7-5.

Bout#12 

the Carmouche versus Young fight was in the bout #12 slot.

Alexis Davis (L) and Hitomi Akano (R), participants in Bout #13, pose for photos at their official weigh-in on Friday.

Bout#13

Alexis Davis (L) scored a Submission (rear naked choke) victory over Hitomi Akano (R) at 3:41 of the second round. Davis, of the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, improves her record to 12-5 while the 37 year-old Akano of the Abe Ani Combat Club in Tokyo, Japan drops to 18-10.

The Women’s Invicta Fighting Championships 2 headliner was Sara McMann shown here unloading a big overhand right to the chin of her opponent, Shayna Baszler, getting on the scales for Friday’s weigh-in and posing for a photo in her gym.

Bout #14 

The final bout of the show was the Main Event between Sara McMann and Shayna “the Queen of Spades” Baszler which McMann won by an unanimous decision with scores of (29-28, 30-27, 29-28).

Baszler, who trains at the CSW/Next Edge Academy of Martial Arts in her hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has her record drop to 14-7 while McMann, who trains at Revolution MMA/Limestone in Gaffney, South Carolina, improves her record to 6-0.