Yuka Tsuji is the VALKYRIE Featherweight Champ

VALKYRIE held their second show this afternoon at Differ Ariake. Again it was piggybacked onto a CAGE FORCE show so they could use the cage. The main event was a match for the new VALKYRIE Featherweight Championship between women's MMA legend Yuka Tsuji and Kate Martinez from Colorado making her pro MMA debut. She is an experienced Muay Thai fighter and VALKYRIE tried to hype her as something more than she is. I don't know who they're trying to fool. Obviously Martinez' strategy is to use her stand up skills and avoid going to the ground. So she starts with low kicks and then knocks Tsuji down with a punch. She takes Tsuji down but Tsuji turns it around and starts to pound Martinez. Martinez tries to shake her but Tsuji doesn't let her get away and continues to pound her. The ref stands them up but Tsuji scores with a double leg takedown. She pounds Martinez some more until she makes her submit with an armbar at 4:20 of round one. Yuka Tsuji is your new VALKYRIE Featherweight Champion.

There was also the start of a tournament to determine the next challenger for the Featherweight Title. One match had Kyoko Takabayashi against WINDY Tomomi. WINDY has tremendous punching power but is suspect on the ground. WINDY goes for a tackle but a Takabayashi punch jolts her and Takabayashi tackles her into the wire mesh and traps her. She pounds WINDY until Takabayshi gets her in a rear naked choke and it's over at 1:41 of round one. The second match was between V1 and Emi Fujino. Fujino won their previous match in Dec. 2007. V1 did a baseball slide and kicked Fujino from the mat. Fujino connects with punches. V1 does more of this sliding strategy for the rest of round one. Fujino takes her down but V1 reverses and gets Fujino in a guillotine choke. She isn't able to hook it and Fujino gets her up and lands a couple of punches as the round ends. V1 drives Fujino into the wire mesh and takes Fujino down. V1 holds her down for the rest of round three and wins a unanimous decision. So Takabayashi and V1 will fight for the right to challenge Tsuji for the Featherweight Title. Neither of them can beat Tsuji anyway.

In a Welterweight match, Takayo Hashi fought Chisa Yonezawa. Hashi has a significant edge in experience. Round one begins with an exchange of low kicks. Yonezawa takes Hashi down with a neck throw but is unable to mount Hashi. Hashi attempts an armbar but Yonezawa is able to roll out of it. They exchange strikes at the end of round one. Hashi takes her down at the beginning of round two. They get up and Yoneazawa is stunned by a high kick. Hashi takes her down and wins with a rear naked choke at 1:43 of round two. Hashi was under EliteXC contract last year and Strikeforce should look at her again. In a 46.8kg match, Naoko Omuro stunned SACHI with punches and traps her against the wire mesh and pounds her. SACHI tries for a takedown but Omuro lands a couple of knee kicks and continues to pound SACHI until the match is stopped at 2:48 of round one. Omuto dedicated the match to her grandmother who died last week. And Mizuho Sato won over Masae Mori by armbar at 2:28 of round one.