Smackgirl held their big Korakuen Hall show Dec. 26 headlined by a Yuka Tsuji defense of her Smackgirl Lightweight Title. There were other big name fighters on the show along with plenty of gaijins. The company has new management so the show was titled Starting Over. Smackgirl also relaunched their website and announced plans to recruit new fighters by running classes at the Academy Of Music beginning in January.
The main event had Smackgirl Lightweight Champ Yuka Tsuji defending her title against Korean Su Hi Ham. This was to be the first show to eliminate the 30 second ground rule limit. That would immediately work to Tsuji's advantage because kickboxer Ham would like to use her strikes. That's what Ham tried to do but Tsuji brushed her off and went for a single leg takedown. Tsuji controlled Ham on the ground despite Ham's attempts to pound her way out. Tsuji's dominance continued through all three rounds and she won an easy unanimous decision.
Satoko Shinashi's opponent was supposed to be Thai kickboxer Anne. She had visa issues and was replaced at the last minute by Akemi Morihara. Shinashi wasted no time taking Morihara down and easily won with a heel hook at 4:17 of round one. Shinashi said afterwards that she plans to defend her DEEP Flyweight Title on Feb. 22. An Open Weight bout had Megumi Yabushita against Lana Stefanac. Stefanac has a significant size advantage. Stefanac used that size to hammer Yabushita and though Yabushita didn't seem to be hurt, she was unable to mount any offense and Stefanac won a unanimous decision.
Thricia Poovey tried to use her kickboxing skills to rattle Saori Ishioka but Ishioka threw her a couple of times and used an armbar to get a submission at 4:18 of round one. Emi Fujino remained undefeated by winning a split decision over V1. V1 didn't seem to have much offense when she got Fujino on the mat and Fujino used strikes to score the win. Madoka Okada won an easy unanimous decision over Shawn Tamaribuchi. Megumi Fujii wasted no time getting amateur wrestling veteran Mika Nakano in a triangle choke. The ref stopped the bout at 1:20 of round one.
Other bouts had Kaneko Takeshita defeating Benkei with an armbar at 2:52 of round one. Yasuko Tamada won over Maho Muranami by unanimous decision and Miki Morifuji defeated HARI with anachilles lock at 3:06 of round one. One more thing. DEEP Lightweight Champion MIKU made a brief exhibition appearance with Hisae Watanabe and expressed interest in having a match in Smackgirl. Let's hope that sets something up for the future. Hint, hint.
The main event had Smackgirl Lightweight Champ Yuka Tsuji defending her title against Korean Su Hi Ham. This was to be the first show to eliminate the 30 second ground rule limit. That would immediately work to Tsuji's advantage because kickboxer Ham would like to use her strikes. That's what Ham tried to do but Tsuji brushed her off and went for a single leg takedown. Tsuji controlled Ham on the ground despite Ham's attempts to pound her way out. Tsuji's dominance continued through all three rounds and she won an easy unanimous decision.
Satoko Shinashi's opponent was supposed to be Thai kickboxer Anne. She had visa issues and was replaced at the last minute by Akemi Morihara. Shinashi wasted no time taking Morihara down and easily won with a heel hook at 4:17 of round one. Shinashi said afterwards that she plans to defend her DEEP Flyweight Title on Feb. 22. An Open Weight bout had Megumi Yabushita against Lana Stefanac. Stefanac has a significant size advantage. Stefanac used that size to hammer Yabushita and though Yabushita didn't seem to be hurt, she was unable to mount any offense and Stefanac won a unanimous decision.
Thricia Poovey tried to use her kickboxing skills to rattle Saori Ishioka but Ishioka threw her a couple of times and used an armbar to get a submission at 4:18 of round one. Emi Fujino remained undefeated by winning a split decision over V1. V1 didn't seem to have much offense when she got Fujino on the mat and Fujino used strikes to score the win. Madoka Okada won an easy unanimous decision over Shawn Tamaribuchi. Megumi Fujii wasted no time getting amateur wrestling veteran Mika Nakano in a triangle choke. The ref stopped the bout at 1:20 of round one.
Other bouts had Kaneko Takeshita defeating Benkei with an armbar at 2:52 of round one. Yasuko Tamada won over Maho Muranami by unanimous decision and Miki Morifuji defeated HARI with anachilles lock at 3:06 of round one. One more thing. DEEP Lightweight Champion MIKU made a brief exhibition appearance with Hisae Watanabe and expressed interest in having a match in Smackgirl. Let's hope that sets something up for the future. Hint, hint.
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