VV Mei vs Katja Kankaanpaa set for Mar. 23 in Finland

VV Mei posted on her blog today that she is going to Finland to fight undefeated prospect Katja Kankaanpaa Mar. 23 in Botnia, Finland. the fight is contracted for 52kg and is scheduled for three five minute rounds. This will be Mei's first fight outside Japan. She's a freelancer and her record is 9-3-1. She's a former VALKYRIE champ. But since winning that title, she has given a series of lackluster performances and has benefitted from questionable judging decisions. Her last fight was a split decision win over Mika Nagano on the Dec. 17 JEWELS show. But some in attendance thought Mika won and was robbed by an incompetent judge who made poor decisions throughout the show. Mei is aware that she has underperformed and that's why she changed her ring name. She wanted a new start. Most fighters know that when they escape with a win instead of winning decisively, it's not really a win. And that's where Mei is right now. Katja is 5-0 and will be fighting in her hometown of Botnia. Her last fight was a pretty good one. She beat Karla Benitez by unanimous decision on the Oct. 16 Cage 16 show. And Katja filled in at the last minute. Remember Karla was undefeated at the time. I have the video for that match and Katja does a pretty good job controlling Karla on the ground. She started out in karate but in an interview with Cage Queen, she says she really enjoys submission wrestling. Like a lot of European female fighters, her biggest problem is finding training partners. She trains at Team Botnia Punishment. But she frequently travels a hundred miles to Kauhajoki to train with veteran fighter Jarkko Latomaki. She says he's helped her a lot. Because of Katja's relative inexperience, VV Mei should be the favourite as she is clearly a step up in competition for Katja. A win for Katja would certainly be an upset. But you never know. She was pretty impressive stepping up to beat Karla Benitez. Check it out for yourself. This video is not on Youtube.