Smackgirl had their big Apr. 25 Korakuen Hall show featuring the semi finals of the World REMIX Tournaments. The finals will be July 24 at Korakuen Hall. Once again, Megumi Fujii showed in the main event that she will be tough to beat in her fight with Korean Ham Seo Hee. Ham's strategy is to slow the match down. That's a tall order and it doesn't work. Fujii counters Ham's punches and then gets a quick takedown. When they get up and Ham tries to keep Fujii at a distance, it doesn't work and Fujii takes her down again. This was the match pattern until Fujii caught up to her and got her in a sleeper. Then Fujii switched to an armbar and the match was over at 1:39 of round one.
The semi main was the semi final of the Open Weight tournament between Hitomi Akano & HIROKO. Akano is a great fighter but HIROKO has a significant size advantage. It would not be easy. HIROKO uses her size to push Akano into the corner. But Akano takes her down and applies an armbar. HIROKO escapes but Akano switches to an ankle lock. HIROKO pounds Akano and gets a break. Akano executes a judo throw and tries for an armbar. HIROKO reverses this and pounds Akano when round one ends. It becomes clear in round two that Akano's defense is stronger and she uses HIROKO's offense to counter her and get the advantage. HIROKO again pushes Akano into the corner but Akano gets her on the ground and after pounding her for a while, she wins with an armbar at 3:10 of round two.
The other Lightweight tournament match was between Lisa Ward & Anna Michele Tavares. Ward begins with a knee kick and a takedown but Tavares reverses and mounts her but Ward gets a body scissors. Tavares gets up and drops her, attempts an armbar and mounts her again. Tavares is scoring points but Ward's defense is good and isn't in danger. She needs to step it up in tound two. Ward gets a neck throw but is unable to follow it up and they break. That's the way the rest of the match goes. Ward has to come from behind and Tavares was far enough ahead in round one that Ward was unable to get enough control to turn things around. Tavares wins by unanimous decision.
The other Open Weight semi final was Atsuko Emoto against Ginele Marquez. They exchange punches and Marquez hits a neck throw and attempts a V1 armbar. Apparently there was a foul and the ref takes a point from Marquez. They exchange punches again but Marquez is stronger and takes down Emoto with a neck throw and mounts her on the side. Marquez pounds her and and controls her for the remainder of round one. This continues in round two. Emoto is OK standing up but Marquez is better on the ground. Emoto even tries a dropkick. But Marquez throws her aside and takes her down again. Ginele Marquez wins a unanimous decision.
WINDY Tomomi returned to Smackgirl against J-Girls kickboxer AZUMA. AZUMA tries to strike quickly but Tomomi replies with power and eventually takes AZUMA down. Round one ends with a Tomomi knee to AZUMA's face. Tomomi continues to pound AZUMA and knocks her out at 2:02 of round two. In other matches, Rin Nakai defeated Kaneko Takashita by split decision. Mika Nagano defeated Asami Kodera by split decision. Miki Morifuji defeated Benkei by split decision and Megu defeated Hitomi Sakamoto by unanimous decision. So the Lightweight World REMIX final will be Megumi Fujii vs Anna Michele Tavares and the Open Weight final will be Hitomi Akano vs Ginele Marquez.
The semi main was the semi final of the Open Weight tournament between Hitomi Akano & HIROKO. Akano is a great fighter but HIROKO has a significant size advantage. It would not be easy. HIROKO uses her size to push Akano into the corner. But Akano takes her down and applies an armbar. HIROKO escapes but Akano switches to an ankle lock. HIROKO pounds Akano and gets a break. Akano executes a judo throw and tries for an armbar. HIROKO reverses this and pounds Akano when round one ends. It becomes clear in round two that Akano's defense is stronger and she uses HIROKO's offense to counter her and get the advantage. HIROKO again pushes Akano into the corner but Akano gets her on the ground and after pounding her for a while, she wins with an armbar at 3:10 of round two.
The other Lightweight tournament match was between Lisa Ward & Anna Michele Tavares. Ward begins with a knee kick and a takedown but Tavares reverses and mounts her but Ward gets a body scissors. Tavares gets up and drops her, attempts an armbar and mounts her again. Tavares is scoring points but Ward's defense is good and isn't in danger. She needs to step it up in tound two. Ward gets a neck throw but is unable to follow it up and they break. That's the way the rest of the match goes. Ward has to come from behind and Tavares was far enough ahead in round one that Ward was unable to get enough control to turn things around. Tavares wins by unanimous decision.
The other Open Weight semi final was Atsuko Emoto against Ginele Marquez. They exchange punches and Marquez hits a neck throw and attempts a V1 armbar. Apparently there was a foul and the ref takes a point from Marquez. They exchange punches again but Marquez is stronger and takes down Emoto with a neck throw and mounts her on the side. Marquez pounds her and and controls her for the remainder of round one. This continues in round two. Emoto is OK standing up but Marquez is better on the ground. Emoto even tries a dropkick. But Marquez throws her aside and takes her down again. Ginele Marquez wins a unanimous decision.
WINDY Tomomi returned to Smackgirl against J-Girls kickboxer AZUMA. AZUMA tries to strike quickly but Tomomi replies with power and eventually takes AZUMA down. Round one ends with a Tomomi knee to AZUMA's face. Tomomi continues to pound AZUMA and knocks her out at 2:02 of round two. In other matches, Rin Nakai defeated Kaneko Takashita by split decision. Mika Nagano defeated Asami Kodera by split decision. Miki Morifuji defeated Benkei by split decision and Megu defeated Hitomi Sakamoto by unanimous decision. So the Lightweight World REMIX final will be Megumi Fujii vs Anna Michele Tavares and the Open Weight final will be Hitomi Akano vs Ginele Marquez.
Thats funny, because I was there and I agree with what another reporter posted stating that" Emoto played a mobile heavy bag to Marquez's punches" Oh and you forgot to mention the super front headlock suplex that Marquez threw on Emoto in the last seconds of the fight! That was awesome! The fight was one sided in Marquez's favor but Emoto was tough, withstanding a great deal of punishment ;)
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