Major drama at Girls S-Cup weigh ins

RENA, Erika Kamimura

I don't usually write about weigh ins because usually all fighters make weight and nothing much happens. But there was major drama on three fronts at the weigh ins for SHOOT BOXING's 2012 Girls S-Cup tomorrow at Yamano Hall. The first thing is that Ukranian MMA fighter Lena Ovchynnikova has been replaced by veteran US MMA fighter Lisa Ellis. I knew Lisa was going there the other day but I didn't know who she was replacing. She will face Ham Seo Hee in the first round. Lisa was not at the weigh ins. She will arrive in Japan later today. The reason given for Lena dropping out was a dispute with SHOOT BOXING owner Takeshi Caesar prior to Lena leaving for Japan. I'm sure the dispute was over money. Maybe she didn't like the goofy SHOOT BOXING rules. No one understands them anyway. Also, Ham Seo Hee and Lorena Klijn both missed weight. Then in the press conference after weigh ins, Erika Kamimura and RENA started yelling at each other. RENA won the tournament in 2009 and 2010. Erika won last year but RENA wasn't in the tournament. Erika said she hopes to meet RENA in the final because she wants to get her hands on her. RENA's response was she didn't think Erika would make the final. It continued from there. RENA is still upset that Erika knocked her down during an exhibition match last year. And there has been speculation that RENA's kickboxing win over Erika last November was fixed because of the ref's odd behaviour. They don't like each other very much. Sparks will fly if they face each other in the final. Then in a major bombshell, Ai Takahashi surrendered her SHOOT BOXING Women's Flyweight Championship. She will face MIZUKI in the Girls S-Cup 53.5kg tournament final. Takahashi is upset because she thinks she should be in the main tournament and feels it was unfair to be put in a different weight class. Obviously her beef is with Caesar. He gave no indication about what might happen with the belt.