PANCRASE held a press conference this morning to announce that Emi Fujino vs Viviane Araujo has been added to the Aug. 5 show at Shinkiba Studio Coast. This will be for the vacant PANCRASE Strawweight Championship and it is scheduled for five five minute rounds. This will be the main event of the show. Of course Emi is a veteran fighter. She is 37 years old and her record is 22-10-1NC. She trains at Fight Farm. After Emi beat Sharon Jacobson a couple of weeks ago, PANCRASE made it clear that there would be a title match forthcoming. Emi was at the press conference and she says she was surprised she is getting a title match. She also said she was offered a fight in Invicta but she decided to take the PANCRASE title shot. I agree with that. This is a big deal in Japan. She could win this fight. Emi is a good but not great fighter. Viviane is a bit of an unknown. She's 31 years old from Brazil. Her record is 5-1. After she beat Ayaka Miura in October, PANCRASE signed her to a contract. So obviously their original plan was for Ayaka to get the title shot. But she's been awful since returning from illness. So PANCRASE had to change plans. But I'm not sure if that win tells us anything about Viviane. I think it will be a competitive fight and hopefully it's good enough to give the woeful Japanese women's MMA scene a boost. And I'm glad this gets the main event slot.
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