Weekly Women’s MMA Wrap-Up

Welcome to Women’s Weekly MMA Wrap-Up, where I will be posting weekly fight updates and new information in the world of women’s MMA.

FIGHT UPDATES

This past week we had two big promotions, both in Japan: Jewels and Valkryie/Cage Force. Megumi Fujii ( pictured left) cleaned the house yet again with a with by cross arm lock at the end of the 2nd round of Jewels on Saturday, July 11th. She is now 18-0. I believe that is a record for any fighter (male or female)–somebody correct me if I’m wrong. Fujii’s opponent, Saori Ishioka, reportedly fought very well and is certainly someone to watch in the future.

Hitomi Akano also won by submission (arm bar) in her bout against Miki Morifuji. Akano’s previous fight  was the one against Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos–the one where Akano agreed to fight at a higher weight class and yet Cyborg couldn’t even make weight. Also in Jewels “Forth Ring”, Mika Nagano defeated Rina Tomita by armbar, and Asami Kodera also scored a submission win via armbar against Yukiko Seki. Matsumi Kasai defeated Celine Haga by sinking in a kimura and Hiroko Kitamura‘s debut fight was a 1st round triangle choke win against HARUMI. Shizuka Sugiyama had the only decision win of the night, beating HARI.

Valkryie/CageForce took place on Sunday, July 12th. Megumi Yamaguchi defeated Kyoko Takabayashi by split decision, Madoka Ebihara defeated Emi Okada by 1st round submission (heel hook) and Mayumi Aoki knocked out Mizuho Sato.

Another promotion which took place over the weekend was Tuff-n-uff’s first all-female card, Tuff Girls. A night of amateur MMA fights took place in Vegas on Friday, July 10th at the Orlean’s Arena. Results are posted here.

FIGHTER UPDATES

Amanda Buckner (11-5-1 and STILL looking for a fight) received her black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu at the Eaton BJJ ten-year anniversary. Buckner is only the second black belt at AMMA and the only female black belt in Maine and possibly all of New England.

Elaina “Beef” Maxwell (2-3) reported on facebook that she made the USA National San Shou Team. Pretty exciting. Maxwell is a 3-time World San Shou Champion and a BJJ blue belt.

WOMEN TO WATCH

I’ve been pretty impressed with Elena “Baby Doll” Reid. Reid has a perfect 3-0 record (all three wins by way of knockout). Reid won the Arizona State Kickboxing Title at age 17 and has an impressive boxing record of 19-5-6. A former Women’s International Boxing Association World Flyweight champion, Reid was the first boxer to win an MMA fight while still holding a belt. She trains at Arizona Combat Sports, a gym riddled with MMA superstars, and certainly appears to have a bright future ahead of her.

That’s it for this week! Please send press releases and updates to yael.grauer@gmail.com. Next week I’ll post the results for the two bouts taking place on July 18th: April Coutino vs. Jennifer Scott and Emily Thompson vs. Jamie Seaton!