Strikeforce’s upcoming 135-pound women’s tournament may be suffering a blow as one of the competitors, Carina Damm, may be forced out of the Strikeforce Challengers 10 show on August 13th in Phoenix, AZ due to her difficulty in obtaining the proper work visa to compete at the event. The tournament, which is set to be a one-night tournament that also features Hitomi Akano, Maiju Kujala and Miesha Tate, will continue if Damm is unable to compete with Strikeforce already in negotiations with a replacement should they need it.

MMA Rising first reported the troubles for Damm, who is the sister of Strikeforce veteran Rodrigo Damm, and also reported that Strikeforce may be at fault for the problems by not completing the necessary steps on their end in time, but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated that the promotion was not necessarily at fault.

Damm was considered one of the favorites to win the tournament, which will determine a new challenger for current Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Champion Sarah Kaufman, and holds a 15-3 career record with five TKOs and six submissions. Damm has not lost since a December 2006 defeat to Rosi Sexton on a BodogFight card and is currently on a ten-fight winning streak.

Nokaut