VALKYRIE held their debut show today at Differ Ariake. The company is owned by the same company that owns CAGE FORCE. The show was scheduled to start at Noon but there were problems with the cage and the show start was delayed a couple of hours. The main event had Smackgirl Lightweight Champ Yuka Tsuji facing V1. It was classed as Featherweight (52.2kg) and scheduled for three three minute rounds. Round one begins with V1 circling Tsuji. Tsuji raises her guard and scores with a straight right. She drives V1 into the wire mesh but V1 is able to use the cage to avoid a takedown. V1 does takedown Tsuji but Tsuji blocks her punches and an attempted side mount. V1 begins round two with aggressive strikes and a knee kick followed by an attempted throw. Tsuji counters with a tackle and starts pounding V1. Her head is pressed against the wire mesh. She does manage to get up but Tsuji gave her quite a pounding. Tsuji goes back to the ground in round three and continues to pound V1. V1 is able to use the cage to get up and then goes for an armbar. Tsuji defends and again uses the wire mesh to gain the advantage. Tsuji wins by unanimous decision. Tsuji said she was happy with the fight but disappointed that it went the distance. You'll notice her right knee was taped. She injured it during training but it was OK during the fight. Over all, Tsuji was very happy to be fighting again.
The semi-main was Naoko Omuro vs Yasuko Tamada also scheduled for three three minute rounds. It is classified as Flyweight (45.4kg). Tamada began with strikes and pushing Omuro into the wire mesh. They exchange knee kicks and Omuro counters with a straight left and a right hook. She pushed Tamada into the wire mesh and attempts a takedown at the end of round one. Tamada begins round two with stikes and middle kicks. She pushes Omuro into the wire mesh and Omuro blocks a takedown. They both attempt takedowns and fail but Omuro scores with a straight left and a right hook. Tamada counters with a jab and grabs Omuro's foot but no takedown. They begin round three by exchanging strikes. Tamada pushes Omuro into the wire mesh and follows with a left hook and a front kick. Omuro connects with a knee kick and attempts a takedown. They do exchange strikes but neither are able to get a clear advantage. Two of the judges score it a draw and one judge scores it in Tamada's favour. So the match is a majority draw.
The other main match is WINDY Tomomi vs Emi Fujino scheduled for three three minute rounds. It was classified as Featherweight (52.2kg). Fujino comes out aggressively but WINDY blocks her knee kick and takedown though she's pushed into the mesh. Fujino again attempts to push WINDY into the mesh and take her down. But WINDY counters with strikes. Fujino scores with a right but WINDY grabs her by the back of the neck and scores with a knee kick. Fujino begins round two with an attempted takedown blocked by WINDY. WINDY scores with a jab and a front kick in the clinch. When they seperate, WINDY scores with several strikes. Fujino attempts to counter with a jab and a takedown but is unsuccessful. Fujino begins round three with a jab but WINDY throws her off with a front kick and a straight right followed by more punches. Fujino again pushes WINDY into the wire mesh but WINDY bloodies her nose with a front kick and a straight right. Fujino tries one more time but WINDY defends easily and counters with a left hook and a high kick. WINDY Tomomi wins by unanimous decision.
The other three matches were under novice rules and scheduled for two three minute rounds. Of course Roxanne Modafferi was supposed to fight Tara LaRosa in Chicago. When that was cancelled, VALKYRIE put her in a match against Chisa Yonezawa. Yonezawa is a former amateur karate champ making her MMA debut. The match was classified as Featherweight (61.2kg). Yonezawa begins with a punch but Roxy grabs her by the neck and knee kicks her. Yonezawa pushes her into the wire mesh but Roxy holds on to her neck and continues with knee kicks. Roxy takes her down. Yonezawa is in trouble and attempts to bridge. She finally does escape and the round ends with both of them against the mesh. Roxy begins round two by pushing Yonezawa into the mesh and scoring with a knee kick. Roxy takes her down. Yonezawa attempts to guard but Roxy gets an armbar. Time runs out and Roxanne Modafferi wins by unanimous decision.
In the other two matches, Madoka Ebihara wasted no time with Akiko Naito. Ebihara took her down with a neck throw and won with an armbar at 1:45 of round one. The opener was Mamiko Mizoguchi vs sakura. Sherdog has identified sakura as Sakura Nakamura. They are different people. sakura is 36 years old and this was her MMA debut. I think she is a protege of Roxanne Modafferi. The match was a draw as neither was able to mount an advantage. sakura was pushed into the cage and then retreats from Mizoguchi's strikes. They exchange knee kicks and punches. Mizoguchi's left drives sakura into the cage but they don't get anywhere and the round ends. The same thing happens in round two. They spend a lot of time leaning on the cage exchanging punches. Show producer Yasuko Mogi said she was very unhappy about the problems with the cage delaying the start of the show. She is considering not using a cage next time. She was very happy with the matches, especially Tomomi vs Fujino. The next show isn't scheduled yet but Mogi says she is aiming for February. I will add that doing the shows in a ring gives VALKYRIE more flexibility as they would be able to run their own shows in smaller halls. If they remain in a cage, they would probably have to continue to piggyback on CAGE FORCE shows to keep costs down. For now, a ring might be the right solution.
I think it should be in the cage. That's the whole point- cage fighting. Plus, piggybacking on Cage Force saves money. The only thing was that it takes along time to set the cage up. People are there from 9 AM or earlier, and usually get it ready for the evening, but this time the event was in the afternoon. So they must have underestimated the time, or run into some delay. It was 45 minutes later, not a few hours.
ReplyDeleteFighters always prefer the cage. If you were talking about North America I would agree with you. In Japan, not so much because many MMA companies use a ring. The dependence on CAGE FORCE is what caused the show start to be delayed. The media made a big deal about it. Mogi was upset. Who needs that? For now, a ring gives them more venue flexibility and it forces VALKYRIE to stand on ther own which they will need to do anyway. And there would be less pressure to fill a smaller hall. They can always go back to the cage later when VALKYRIE is better established.
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