Former joshi wrestler Esui training in MMA

Akira Shoji, Esui

Joshi puroresu fans may recall a young wrestler from Mongolia named Esui. Of course she was trained by Mariko Yoshida and worked for Ibuki. She's a big girl but I didn't care much for her. Obviously she was very green but I thought her awkwardness would be too difficult for her to overcome. So when Ibuki closed in February, I wasn't surprised when Esui decided to quit pro wrestling. It's doubtful that other promoters would be as giving as Yoshida. So I'm sure most of you figured that she went home to Mongolia. Actually I read a few months ago that she was working in the front office of the new promotion SMASH. SMASH emerged from the ashes of the HUSTLE pro wrestling promotion. It has a pro wrestling division run by former WWE wrestler Yoshihiro Tajiri. But fans may not know that SMASH also has an MMA division run by Akira Shoji. Apparently he has been training Esui in MMA and she won an amateur match on Saturday over Sachiko Fujimori. SMASH has been running some amateur MMA shows in partnership with DEEP called Amateur DEEP. This one was at the Nishi-Chofu Arena. Like I said, Esui is a big girl and probably weighs around 150lbs and if she's good, there's no question she has a future in MMA. And it's also good to see that SMASH is planning to use women on their MMA shows. It's another place for female fighters to work. The more the merrier.