Former Invicta FC featherweight champion Pam Sorenson enters her second fight under the Bellator banner this Friday in Hollywood, Florida.
At Bellator 271, Sorenson (9-3) is set to take on multi-time title challenger Arlene Blencowe, in a fight that could give her a significant boost in the 145lb division.
Her first Bellator fight resulted in a split decision win over Roberta Samad. After a two year layoff, and entering as a champ in another major promotion, Pam “Bam” admitted that she did have a few nerves entering that fight.
“Yeah there was. Coming in as another promotion’s champion, coming in off a two-year layoff, there was definitely nerves,” she told Cageside Press in a recent interview, “but hopefully we got those out of the way and we’re just ready to move past that.”
That’s not the first time Sorenson has had to deal with a lengthy layoff. She’s fought in fits and starts in recent years, unfortunately. “When I first turned pro and even as an amateur, I was always super busy. Then I dunno, stuff just happened. I would fight, and then I’d have two years off, and then I’d fight, and then two years off,” she recalled. “It was just crappy.”
One of her layoffs came from a three pound ovarian cyst being removed from her abdomen. “So I was out for a while from that. And then the pandemic really screwed everything up.” The cyst, Sorenson added, was weird, “because of how big it was— it’s so crazy, if you look at my weigh-in picture, I’m like ‘how do I have abs when I have a little cantaloupe-sized growth in there?'”
The only time she actually felt the cyst while fighting was when someone drove their shoulder into her belly against the cage wall. “Other than that, I didn’t feel it at all.”
Upcoming opponent Blencowe’s status as a former title challenger could do wonders for Sorenson should she get the win in Florida this Friday. Sorenson herself enters the fight ranked #7 in the division, but could cut the line with a strong showing.
“I think so. I mean Arlene is right now the number one ranked contender. So I think taking her out and doing it in a dominant fashion, hopefully it’ll throw my name in the mix,” she said.
The champ herself, Cris Cyborg, headlines Bellator 271 against Sinead Kavanagh, and Sorenson is pretty certain about her prediction. “I mean, anything can happen in a fight, anybody can land the one lucky punch or whatnot, but I see Cyborg winning,” she stated. “I’m not sure how, but I think Cyborg’s going to probably win.”
Blencowe vs. Sorenson being added to the card opens the door to one fighter being a possible call-up should someone fall out of the main event. With Blencowe having a recent loss to the champ, Sorenson is the fresher face, but if it’s a possibility, nothing’s been said to her.
“I have no idea. If they’ve said anything to my manager, he hasn’t told me,” Sorenson admitted. Instead, she’s been focused on the fight at hand, “but if that was offered to me, I wouldn’t turn it down,” she added.
Sorenson’s goal moving forward is to stay busy, though obviously she’s interested in working her way to a title shot as well. One thing that bodes well for her goal of being active is that Bellator, unlike other promotions, has a functional featherweight division.
For that matter, the larger weight classes for women in general are picking up a bit. The UFC will see Amanda Nunes defend her bantamweight title next month, but the promotion has shuffled Holly Holm back to 145lbs, and Aspen Ladd recently made the move up as well. Former Invicta FC featherweight champ and UFC title challenger Felicia Spencer will be in action later this month as well. Kayla Harrison is suddenly the biggest free agent in years, and then there’s Bellator, with a fully-fledged 145lb weight class for women.
“There’s I think, in the recent years, there are a lot of athletic, talented women who cannot weigh in at 135lbs. I think 145 is really starting to take off, and maybe down the road, the 155 division will,” said Sorenson. “There are talented bigger women out there, they might just be few and far between.”
The presence of a proper weight class for featherweights is what drew Sorenson to Bellator. “The UFC’s 145lb division is not really there. It’s a bunch of bantamweights fighting, and one or two featherweights.”
Sorenson agreed that the UFC had dropped the ball on that front. “They had the TUF season for featherweights, and every single girl who was on that show ended up dropping to bantamweight. So they got nobody from it. They had a whole, however many girls tried out, wanting to make the show, and yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking.”
Pam Sorenson faces Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 271 this Friday, November 12 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
