Friday, February 15, 2008

Fuji/Ward showdown one step closer


Smackgirl held the opening round of the World REMIX tournament on Feb. 14 at Korakuen Hall. Though the direction of the Open Weight tournament isn't clear yet, the direction of the Lightweight tournament is clearly headed towards a Megumi Fujii/Lisa Ward showdown in the final. Of course upsets can change things but Ward wants Fujii very badly. And Fujii isn't messing around because she spent time training at Josh Barnett's compound in California and Barnett was in her corner for this match. Cross your fingers fans.





Because we're dealing with tournaments here, there really wasn't a main event. But of course everyone wants to see Mega Megu just because she's considered the best female fighter anywhere. her bout was the final one on the show. Her first round opponent is Fighting Femme Fatales fighter Cindy Hales. The match begins with Fujii backing Hales into the corner with strikes. She takes her down but Hales escapes with a knee to Fujii's face. For the remainder of round one, Hales is very careful with Fujii. Both attempt takedowns but don't get anywhere. Fujii wastes no time in round two and submits Hales with an armbar at 27 seconds of round two.





The semi main was an opening round Open Weight tournament bout between veterans Megumi Yabushita & Hitomi Akano. Akano begins the match by pushing Yabushita into the corner. Yabushita attempts to counter by grabbing Akano's arm but it doesn't work and Akano continues to pound Yabushita in the corner. Akano continues to strike Yabushita in round two. She finally gets her on the ground and submits her with a heel hook at 4:16 of round two. The other Open Weight match was earlier in the show between Atsuko Emoto & Tama Chan. I understand Mariko Yoshida and some of Emoto's other pro wrestling pals were there. Tama Chan tries to get control at the start but Emoto is equal to the task and mounts her. Emoto continues her dominance in round two. She wins a unanimous decision.




Lisa Ward's opponent in her first round match was the always tough Ayumi "Edge" Saito. Gaijin in Japan Roxanne Modaferri was in Ward's corner. Ward didn't waste any time and took Edge down and pounded her. But Akano's defense is pretty good and they get up. Thref checks Ward out after Edge hits a knee kick. But Ward takes Edge down and appli9es a heel hold. She adjusts to an ankle lock and submits Edge at 4:41 of round one. Korean fighter Ham Su Hee fought Saori Ishioka. Ham is a kickboxer so she mostly controlled Ishioka with strikes. Ishioka was never able to break down Ham's defense ane Ham won a unanimous decision. Brazilian Anna Michelle Taveras faced Kyoko Takabayashi. Tavares pushes Takabayashi into the corner and pounds her. Tavares controlle round one and submitted Takabayashi with an armbar at 26 seconds of round two.





There were also three Discovery matches. Sakura Nakamura too Madoka Okada down and attempted a triangle choke. Okada kicked out. They both went down after Okada was backed into a corner and Okada got a sleeper on Nakamura for the win at 4:43 of round one. Asami Kodera tries to rush veteran Masako Yoshida but Yoshida has no trouble with her and wins a unanimous decision. Karate champ Megu made a successful MMA debut with a quick win over HARUMI with an armbar at 1:19 of round one. The next round of the World REMIX tournament will be Apr. 25 at Korakuen Hall. The semi finals in the Lightweight tournament will be Megumi Fujii vs Ham Su Hee and Lisa Ward vs Anna Michelle Taveras. The Open Weight matches will be announced later when the two gaijins are announced.

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