Weekly Women’s MMA Wrap-Up

Welcome back to the Women’s Weekly MMA Wrap-Up. It’s been a slow news week, but I’ll give you everything I’ve got.

FIGHT RESULTS

Seven women’s bouts took place at Valkyrie 4 in Tokyo. In a startling upset, Megumi Yamaguchi (6-2) defeated Yuka Tsuji (22-2) for the 115-lb title by rear naked choke in just 1:16 of the first round. Yamaguchi earned the title shot by defeating Emi Fujino and Kyoko Takabayashi, but nobody saw this one coming. Naoko Omuro (11-7-3) decisioned Yuko Takagi (0-2), Yasuko Tamada (10-4-3) decisioned Fukuko Hamada (5-4), and “Windy” Tomomi (13-12-1) decisioned Masako Yoshida (16-16-5). Then, Rin Nakai (6-0) defeated Mizuho Sato (5-4) vs. 3rd round kimura, Megumi Morioka (1-0) defeated Mamiko Mizoguchi (2-4-1) by 1st round KO and Hiroko Kitamura (3-0) defeated Kimie “Sakura” Okada (0-2-1) by 2nd round TKO.

Shana Olsen (3-0) defeated the much smaller and relatively inexperienced Mariah Johnson (0-1) via TKO at 1:48 of R1 at Brutaal MMA in Treasure Island. More details are available on the fight recap page.

Michelle Waterson (7-3) defeated Ro Califano (0-1) via Flying Armbar at :15 of R1 at Extreme Beatdown 6 in North Dakota.

And in Denmark, Maiju Kujal (2-1) defeated Celine Haga (0-3) via 2nd round TKO at Adrenaline 4: The New Generation.

GFIGHT SUMMIT

As mentioned in previous columns, the GFight Summit is a week-long gathering of female fighters, featuring training sessions and seminars–plus a fight show and grappling tournament.It will be taking place in Evansville, Indiana from March 20-28. There’ll be tons of seminars on everything from MMA to judo for MMA to gi and no-gi BJJ, boxing and kickboxing, submissions for MMA, Muay Thai, mental training, nutrition and weight cutting. Seminars instructors include some serious badasses such as Lana Stefanac, Sarah Kaufman, Greg Jackson and Julie Kedzie, and more. You can join the GFight Summit Page on FaceBook to get updated information as it becomes available.

UPCOMING FIGHTS

Carla Esparza and Cassie Trost will both be making their professional MMA debuts at Respect MMA 3.

Sarah D’alelio is making her professional MMA debut against Sarah Oriza (1-5) at CageSport MMA.

SNEAK PREVIEW

A featherweight title bout between Canadian powerhouse Sarah Kaufman (10-0) and top contender Takayo Hashi(12-1) will be taking place on February 26th. Hashi, who began fighting after watching her brother competing, is on an eight-fight winning streak and fights primarily in Japan. The bout was originally set to take place on November 20th but was postponed by Strikeforce for undisclosed reasons.

ERIN TOUGHILL INTERVIEW

Erin Toughill is considered the top contender for Cyborg Santos. Here’s an interesting interview with the MMA pioneer.