This fight card features the much anticipated rematch between current SmackGirl champion Hitomi Akano (AACC) and Takayo Hashi (Wajitsu Keishukai Tokyo Hunbu). They met almost exactly two years ago in SmackGirl Dynamic! where Akano handed Hashi her only loss on her 9-1 record via arm bar in 1:19 in R1. Since then, they've fought several times in grappling matches, Hashi defeating Akano in the Abu Dhabi, the international professional grappling tournament, on May 6th of this year.
Hashi is coming off a win against Lee Hee Jin July 23rd in Deep, and Akano's last fight was a win via armbar against Liz Posener in SmackGirl May 19th.
"I've gotta win this time!" Hashi told Fightergirls, before jumping into a tough sparring session with the rest of the Keishukai pros. Akano hails out of AACC, training with Megumi Fuji and Hiroyuki Abe. With two hearts blazing to be number one, who will walk away with the Middle-weight belt?
Yoko Takahashi and Hiroko will duke it out for the open weight title. Takahashi, who's been fighting MMA for 11 years, will be defending her belt she won against Alicia Mena in the SmackGirl May 19th of this year. Hiroko, with an extra few inches on the 5'8" tall Takahashi, is called the "Colossal Newcomer". Hiroko was once a former student of Yakahashi and Megumi Yabushita at Tomoegumi Dojo, but once the dojo fell apart, everyone began training in various places, making it more difficult to train than it was before. But will Takahashi have trouble facing her former student?
"I fought my teammate Tama-chan in Fatal Femmes Fighting with no reservations," Takahashi said. "Now the title belt is on the line. I'm gonna smash her face in!" the veteran declared. Hiroko reacted less forcefully, admitting the student-teacher relationship bothered her a little bit. "It's a little scary, but I'm looking forward to seeing how much I've grown," she said. She's stepping up to the challenge, hoping to use her size to her advantage.
Other fights on the card include Yuka Tsuji vs Brazilian Anna Michelli Tavares. They fought once in 2003 in DEEP 11th Impact, where Tavares handed the 17-1 Tsuji her only loss by triangle-armbar 3:55 into R1. With a record of 5-1, Tavares' last fight was defeating Yasmin Tahira in Show Fight Five (Brazil) in 2006 by unanimous decision. Tsuji TKO-ed Thricia Poovey in April of this year in SmackGirl, and seems more than ready to erase that one blemish on her impressive record.
The night will also feature Mai (Team Shinagawa) facing Edge (MMA Angusumono) in the Killer Queen tournament. Makiko Muranami (Wajitsu Keishukai Toikatsu Dojo) will face Madoka Ebihara (Paraestra Kashiwa) in the flyweight division of the Next Cinderella Tournament 2007. Also in the tournament are lightweights V (Max Jiu-Jitsu Academy & Yoga Studio) and Emi Tomimatsu (Paraestra Matsudo). Finally, Masako Yoshida will face Ham Sohi (Korea) in a SmackGirl rule one match.
quotes taken from sportsnavi:
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20070827-00000030-spnavi-fight.html
