Keeping her perfect professional record intact, Elena “Babydoll” Reid rose to 4-0-0 in mixed martial arts with a third-round stoppage of Masako Yoshida, a Japanese veteran of 36 fights, at Extreme Beatdown 5 on Saturday night in New Town, North Dakota.

Reid, a former WIBA and IFBA Flyweight Champion in boxing, has excelled since debuting in MMA in late 2007. With the victory over Yoshida, she captured her first title in mixed martial arts by becoming the first Extreme Beatdown Women’s Flyweight Champion.

Yoshida (now 16-15-5) proved to be Reid’s toughest test to date and took the talented boxer well into the third round of their five-round title affair. Though she could not match the striking technique or power of Reid, Yoshida held her own early on.

As the fight entered the third round, both fighters began to fatigue, but Reid seemed to have more energy left and continued to score with punching combinations. Yoshida initially fired back with punches of her own, but dove for takedowns when Reid began to connect with power shots.

Yoshida tried for an ankle pick takedown, but Reid easily spun free and punished her with punches from the top. The referee stood Yoshida up, but Reid overwhelmed her with a quick flurry and Yoshida made one last attempt to get the fight to the ground.

Reid sprawled out and landed nearly two dozen weak but unanswered punches and hammerfists to the side of Yoshida’s head as Yoshida refused to give up the takedown attempt. The referee waved off the fight in a rather weak stoppage, but a tired Yoshida was making no effort to defend herself or escape the punches.

The end came at 2:35 of round three, giving Reid the victory to become the first Extreme Beatdown Women’s Flyweight Champion.

With the hard-fought victory, Reid (19-5-6 as a boxer) continues her rapid ascent up the ranks in the women’s division of mixed martial arts and remains as one of the sport’s top prospects – male or female – to watch for.

Her training with Xtreme Couture and now the Arizona Combat Sports team has paid dividends and she showed impressive takedown defence against Yoshida, who held a massive edge in MMA experience.

Having now captured her first title in mixed martial arts, Reid may look to shine on a larger stage in the future and she has already expressed an interest to compete for Strikeforce or another top promotion.

With no shortage of tough challengers at the 115-pound level, Reid will look to establish herself as one of the top female fighters in the flyweight division in 2010.