Of course joshi puroresu fans know all about Sumie Sakai. Like her pal Megumi Yabushita, Sumie had extensive judo training before both were recruited to pro wrestling and trained by the legendary Jaguar Yokota. Sumie moved permantently to the US in 2003 and lives in Philadelphia. She works for various indy wrestling companies mostly in the Northeast US. Recently Yabushita visited the US and appeared on an MMA show in Atlantic City. So when I heard that Sumie was planning to make her MMA debut for the Primal Tribe Fighting Club in Boise, Idaho, it was obvious where she got the idea. Of course I wondered if Sumie knows where Idaho is. Just kidding.
So the match did happen on October 14 at the Qwest Arena in Boise. It was called Xtreme Fighting Series II and is promoted by the Primal Tribe Fighting Club. Sumie's opponent was local fighter Amy Davis. She is a muay thai kickboxer in her first MMA match. The bout was scheduled for three three minute rounds.
With her judo training, Sumie's strength is her ground work. She got Davis in an armbar and it appeared the ringside officials thought she tapped out as round one ended. This caused a lot of confusion and then the ref said Davis hurt her arm and couldn't continue. The match was ruled a no contest. It seems the timekeeper is used to five minute rounds and forgot to ring the bell at three minutes. The XFS apologized for the mistake and promised that Sumie Sakai will return on their next show. Sumie did very well in her MMA debut.
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