Smackgirl Offers Day-Night Doubleheader
Smackgirl Rookie Tourney
The opening half of Smackgirl's first 2007 event was highlighted by
their rookie tournament — "The Next Cinderella 2007" series —
featuring some of Japan's best and brightest new talent in women's
MMA.
In the main event, Akiko Naito out-boxed and outworked women's grappling pioneer, Yasuko Mogi. From the opening bell, Naito caught Mogi with a grazing "superman" punch, foreshadowing the striking clinic that she would put on the grappler for the next 10 minutes.
Naito stalked Mogi from the outside, using impressive lateral
movement to create striking angles, occasionally throwing hard low
kicks to remind Mogi of the danger awaiting her should she choose
to engage. Having come to that same conclusion herself, Mogi played
into Naito's game plan by biding her time and waiting for an
opening as Naito continued to tee off on the wary grappler with a
number of well-placed punch combos and low kicks.
Mogi scored only one takedown during the duration of the first period, and had little to show for it as her attempts to work for any kind of submission were impeded by the strict 30-second time limit. Before she knew it, she found herself back on her feet, once again playing a very one-sided game of tag with Naito.
From here, Naito brought more of what won her the first round: an avalanche of precise punch combinations that bewildered Mogi long enough for her to surprise the audience and her opponent alike with a back clinch, where she was almost able to secure a rear naked choke. Unfortunately, the grappling time limit struck again and forced Naito to relinquish the close attempt.
With little time left to spare, a desperate Mogi barreled through more Naito combos for a hip throw takedown, earning her the opportunity to land hard knees to her opponent's ribs from the side-mount before being stood up again at the end of the 30-second limit. The round closed out with Mogi taking more punishment as she drove forward through Naito's punishing punches to pull guard in a last ditch effort to catch a submission opening. Falling to her haunches in Mogi's guard, Naito racked up major points with strikes from the top position to the mid-section of her opponent, pounding away until the final bell.
In the end, while Mogi's perseverance and patience earned her a nod from one of the judges, Naito's striking and ring control garnered her the favor of the two remaining judges for the split decision victory.
In another non-tournament bout, lightweight Saori Ishioka found herself at the short end of the decision against Kyoko Takabayashi.
Takabayashi's stiff right jab served to be one of Ishioka's greatest hurdles, as she found them constantly in her face whenever she attempted to engage her southpaw opponent on the feet. Takabayashi didn't stop there, however, as she was able to get the better of the grappling as well, almost sinking a rear-naked choke in the first round, and an armbar in the second. Thus, Takabayashi earned the unanimous decision victory.
Miki Morifuji made extremely quick work of middleweight tournament entrant Harumi in their non-tournament middleweight bout, forcing her opponent to tap at a mere 39 seconds into the first round.
Morifuji opened with a furious barrage of punches that stunned the Tomoegumi fighter, forcing her to drop levels for a takedown. Anticipating this, Morifuji answered with a perfect sprawl and a quick repositioning to take Harumi's back, where she sank the rear-naked choke for the finish. Punch-drunk and quickly losing consciousness, a purple-faced Harumi had little option but to tap out.
In the flyweight tournament bout between Maho Muranami (Pictures) and Sayaka Takase, Muranami took the victory via tapout at 2:59 into the first round.
Muranami brought punishment to her opponent early with a solid right hook that dropped Takase, allowing her to take the mount position and deliver some solid ground-and-pound to the body. Upon standing, Muranami's momentum continued to build as she pummeled Takase with more punches before a desperate takedown put them to a temporary halt. After a brief moment to gather her wits, Takase's endeavor to secure an armbar was cut short by the 30-second time limit, forcing her to stand and receive more blows from Muranami.
This eventually resulted in a half-hearted tapout after a Muranami takedown, her ensuing cry to the referee signaling that she could not continue.
Muranami's victory advances her to face the winner of the semifinal encounter between Madoka Ebihara and Sachi — set to take place on May 19 — in the finals of the flyweight tournament on Aug. 8.
In lightweight tournament action, MAX Jiujitsu Academy's V1 (read: "V hajime") dispatched Anna Saito by rear-naked choke in the final seconds of the first round. While both women sought to put holes in each other's heads with their vicious trading, V1 was able to rock her opponent time and again with decapitating right hooks integrated into her punching combinations. V1 even found the opportunity to throw in two impressive spinning roundhouse head kicks — both of which Saito barely defended.
The end for Saito came in the last seconds of round one, during a furious charge toward her opponent with a flurry. Quickly dropping levels to avoid the punches, V1 secured the back clinch and hopped up on Saito's back for the fight ending rear-naked choke at 4:53 in the first round.
V1's impressive victory places her in line to face the winner of YOKO and Saori Ishioka, who will square off at the April 28 Smackgirl event.
In this evening's other lightweight tournament bout, Emi Tomimatsu (Pictures) defeated Megumi Ito by unanimous decision after two rounds of well-placed counters and grappling control. Ito's game plan consisted of primarily stalking Tomimatsu from the center of the ring, while Tomimatsu instead calmly implemented counter punches to keep her opponent at bay, and takedowns whenever the opportunity availed itself.
Avail itself it did — and often — as Tomimatsu controlled Ito from the top, going for armbar attempt after armbar attempt throughout both periods, further sealing Ito's fate in the eyes of the judges.
Having bested Ito, Tomimatsu will now face Yuka Okamura in the lightweight semifinals on the May 19 Smackgirl card.
The lone middleweight tournament bout on tonight's card saw Benkei outclassing Hitomi Sakamoto in both the striking and grappling department. Benkei's powerful kicks from standing, followed by blasting knees in the clinch, and her subsequent bunches of punches from the mount position all did very well to soften Sakamoto for the fight finishing armbar at 1:49 in the first round.
Benkei's victory moves her up to the semifinals where she will face Harumi, who suffered a devastatingly quick submission loss to Miki Morifuji in their non-tournament bout this evening.
With Benkei winning her tournament bout via a lightning fast submission, and Harumi losing her non-tournament match-up by an equally fast submission, the odds apparently are in Benkei's favor, perhaps making her the favorite for their imminent May 19 encounter.
Despite her opponent's superior reach advantage, the tenacious Madoka Ebihara outshone Mamiko Mizoguchi in their flyweight tournament match to capture a unanimous decision. Through grit and determination, Ebihara weathered many a Mizoguchi barrage to secure the clinch for hip throws into side-mount. While Mizoguchi essentially beat Ebihara to a pulp, she had no answer for Ebihara's constant takedowns.
Advancing to the semifinals of the flyweight tournament, Ebihara will meet Zendokai's Sachi on May 19.
Earlier in the evening, the aforementioned flyweight tournament entrant Sachi defeated lightweight entrant Yuka Okumura via ref stop at 3:05 in the second round in a special non-tournament under-50-kg bout.
Playing it careful in the opening stanza, both women started cautiously with brief one-two combos and leg kicks. It wasn't until the second period, however, that Okamura established herself as the better striker, working red welts on the inside of Sachi's left leg as she stalked from the center of the ring with low kicks.
Despite the fact that her initial armbar attempts off of trip takedowns were foiled by the grappling time limit, Sachi persisted in repeating the attempts, as it appeared to be her only avenue to victory with Okamura edging her out in the stand-up. Her determination paid off in the end, as her final armbar attempt was sunk deep enough to force the referee stop.
In Smackgirl's "Grappling Princess League 02" tournament series, Aiko Ushizuka plowed through her opposition to win the evening's lightweight grappling tournament. Ushizuka's first victory came via rear naked choke at 1:05 in the second round, over Ayumi Funakoshi.
In the finals, Ushizuka met Asami Kodera, who defeated Mika Nagano earlier in the evening by triangle choke at 1:35 in round two. In an exciting back-and-forth battle featuring a fair number of reversals from both women, Ushizuka secured victory with an armbar at 1:38 of the first period.
In the main event, Akiko Naito out-boxed and outworked women's grappling pioneer, Yasuko Mogi. From the opening bell, Naito caught Mogi with a grazing "superman" punch, foreshadowing the striking clinic that she would put on the grappler for the next 10 minutes.
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Mogi scored only one takedown during the duration of the first period, and had little to show for it as her attempts to work for any kind of submission were impeded by the strict 30-second time limit. Before she knew it, she found herself back on her feet, once again playing a very one-sided game of tag with Naito.
Realizing that she was behind in the judges' scorecards, Mogi
attempted to turn the tables by starting the second stanza with a
leaping punch of her own, followed by a flurry of strikes used to
push her way through Naito's defenses for the clinch.
Unfortunately, Mogi's subsequent takedown attempt proved her
undoing. Both competitors nearly fell out of the ring ropes,
causing the referee to stop the fight and stand them back up at the
center of the ring, forcing Mogi to start her battle for the clinch
once again.
From here, Naito brought more of what won her the first round: an avalanche of precise punch combinations that bewildered Mogi long enough for her to surprise the audience and her opponent alike with a back clinch, where she was almost able to secure a rear naked choke. Unfortunately, the grappling time limit struck again and forced Naito to relinquish the close attempt.
With little time left to spare, a desperate Mogi barreled through more Naito combos for a hip throw takedown, earning her the opportunity to land hard knees to her opponent's ribs from the side-mount before being stood up again at the end of the 30-second limit. The round closed out with Mogi taking more punishment as she drove forward through Naito's punishing punches to pull guard in a last ditch effort to catch a submission opening. Falling to her haunches in Mogi's guard, Naito racked up major points with strikes from the top position to the mid-section of her opponent, pounding away until the final bell.
In the end, while Mogi's perseverance and patience earned her a nod from one of the judges, Naito's striking and ring control garnered her the favor of the two remaining judges for the split decision victory.
In another non-tournament bout, lightweight Saori Ishioka found herself at the short end of the decision against Kyoko Takabayashi.
Takabayashi's stiff right jab served to be one of Ishioka's greatest hurdles, as she found them constantly in her face whenever she attempted to engage her southpaw opponent on the feet. Takabayashi didn't stop there, however, as she was able to get the better of the grappling as well, almost sinking a rear-naked choke in the first round, and an armbar in the second. Thus, Takabayashi earned the unanimous decision victory.
Miki Morifuji made extremely quick work of middleweight tournament entrant Harumi in their non-tournament middleweight bout, forcing her opponent to tap at a mere 39 seconds into the first round.
Morifuji opened with a furious barrage of punches that stunned the Tomoegumi fighter, forcing her to drop levels for a takedown. Anticipating this, Morifuji answered with a perfect sprawl and a quick repositioning to take Harumi's back, where she sank the rear-naked choke for the finish. Punch-drunk and quickly losing consciousness, a purple-faced Harumi had little option but to tap out.
In the flyweight tournament bout between Maho Muranami (Pictures) and Sayaka Takase, Muranami took the victory via tapout at 2:59 into the first round.
Muranami brought punishment to her opponent early with a solid right hook that dropped Takase, allowing her to take the mount position and deliver some solid ground-and-pound to the body. Upon standing, Muranami's momentum continued to build as she pummeled Takase with more punches before a desperate takedown put them to a temporary halt. After a brief moment to gather her wits, Takase's endeavor to secure an armbar was cut short by the 30-second time limit, forcing her to stand and receive more blows from Muranami.
This eventually resulted in a half-hearted tapout after a Muranami takedown, her ensuing cry to the referee signaling that she could not continue.
Muranami's victory advances her to face the winner of the semifinal encounter between Madoka Ebihara and Sachi — set to take place on May 19 — in the finals of the flyweight tournament on Aug. 8.
In lightweight tournament action, MAX Jiujitsu Academy's V1 (read: "V hajime") dispatched Anna Saito by rear-naked choke in the final seconds of the first round. While both women sought to put holes in each other's heads with their vicious trading, V1 was able to rock her opponent time and again with decapitating right hooks integrated into her punching combinations. V1 even found the opportunity to throw in two impressive spinning roundhouse head kicks — both of which Saito barely defended.
The end for Saito came in the last seconds of round one, during a furious charge toward her opponent with a flurry. Quickly dropping levels to avoid the punches, V1 secured the back clinch and hopped up on Saito's back for the fight ending rear-naked choke at 4:53 in the first round.
V1's impressive victory places her in line to face the winner of YOKO and Saori Ishioka, who will square off at the April 28 Smackgirl event.
In this evening's other lightweight tournament bout, Emi Tomimatsu (Pictures) defeated Megumi Ito by unanimous decision after two rounds of well-placed counters and grappling control. Ito's game plan consisted of primarily stalking Tomimatsu from the center of the ring, while Tomimatsu instead calmly implemented counter punches to keep her opponent at bay, and takedowns whenever the opportunity availed itself.
Avail itself it did — and often — as Tomimatsu controlled Ito from the top, going for armbar attempt after armbar attempt throughout both periods, further sealing Ito's fate in the eyes of the judges.
Having bested Ito, Tomimatsu will now face Yuka Okamura in the lightweight semifinals on the May 19 Smackgirl card.
The lone middleweight tournament bout on tonight's card saw Benkei outclassing Hitomi Sakamoto in both the striking and grappling department. Benkei's powerful kicks from standing, followed by blasting knees in the clinch, and her subsequent bunches of punches from the mount position all did very well to soften Sakamoto for the fight finishing armbar at 1:49 in the first round.
Benkei's victory moves her up to the semifinals where she will face Harumi, who suffered a devastatingly quick submission loss to Miki Morifuji in their non-tournament bout this evening.
With Benkei winning her tournament bout via a lightning fast submission, and Harumi losing her non-tournament match-up by an equally fast submission, the odds apparently are in Benkei's favor, perhaps making her the favorite for their imminent May 19 encounter.
Despite her opponent's superior reach advantage, the tenacious Madoka Ebihara outshone Mamiko Mizoguchi in their flyweight tournament match to capture a unanimous decision. Through grit and determination, Ebihara weathered many a Mizoguchi barrage to secure the clinch for hip throws into side-mount. While Mizoguchi essentially beat Ebihara to a pulp, she had no answer for Ebihara's constant takedowns.
Advancing to the semifinals of the flyweight tournament, Ebihara will meet Zendokai's Sachi on May 19.
Earlier in the evening, the aforementioned flyweight tournament entrant Sachi defeated lightweight entrant Yuka Okumura via ref stop at 3:05 in the second round in a special non-tournament under-50-kg bout.
Playing it careful in the opening stanza, both women started cautiously with brief one-two combos and leg kicks. It wasn't until the second period, however, that Okamura established herself as the better striker, working red welts on the inside of Sachi's left leg as she stalked from the center of the ring with low kicks.
Despite the fact that her initial armbar attempts off of trip takedowns were foiled by the grappling time limit, Sachi persisted in repeating the attempts, as it appeared to be her only avenue to victory with Okamura edging her out in the stand-up. Her determination paid off in the end, as her final armbar attempt was sunk deep enough to force the referee stop.
In Smackgirl's "Grappling Princess League 02" tournament series, Aiko Ushizuka plowed through her opposition to win the evening's lightweight grappling tournament. Ushizuka's first victory came via rear naked choke at 1:05 in the second round, over Ayumi Funakoshi.
In the finals, Ushizuka met Asami Kodera, who defeated Mika Nagano earlier in the evening by triangle choke at 1:35 in round two. In an exciting back-and-forth battle featuring a fair number of reversals from both women, Ushizuka secured victory with an armbar at 1:38 of the first period.
