In what was likely the final fight of her storied career, Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii earned a Unanimous Decision victory over final Valkyrie Featherweight Champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi tonight at Vale Tudo Japan 2012 in Tokyo. All three judges scored the bout 20-18 for Fujii, who picked up her 26th win.

Both fighters were extremely active throughout the two-round bout, but Fujii was able to pull ahead on the scorecards with takedowns and submission attempts to take the well-earned victory. The pound-for-pound standout is now expected to officially retire after competing for more than eight years.

After an early exchange of punches, Fujii (26-2-0) was able to secure a partial takedown and worked to set up a rear-naked choke, but Yamaguchi (10-5-1) scrambled back to her feet and landed more hard shots. Fujii took her back down and landed punches from top position, then moved to side control. Yamaguchi stood again and both fighters were aggressive with strikes. Fujii began to get the better of the exchanges and scored a takedown into mount. Yamaguchi reversed by pushing off of the cage, but had to quickly fight off an armbar seconds later.

Yamaguchi rushed in with more punches in round two and was promptly taken back down. Fujii looked for an armbar and took advantage of the rules permitting elbows by dropping some on Yamaguchi’s face. Yamaguchi eventually managed to reverse into Fujii’s guard and rained down punches, which prompted Fujii to posture for a triangle choke. The fighters stood and exchanged punches before the final bell sounded to end the entertaining fight.

Winner: Megumi Fujii by Unanimous Decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) after two 5:00 rounds. She improves to 26-2-0.

Prior to tonight’s bout, Fujii had announced plans to retire at the end of this year. It is expected that her fight with Yamaguchi will be her last as an active competitor. The 38-year-old has been regarded as one of MMA’s premier female fighters throughout her career and holds victories over many of the sport’s top female talent. She has also trained Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki, former Valkyrie Flyweight Champion Yasuko “Ikuko” Tamada and former Smackgirl Middleweight Champion Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano, among others, at AACC.

Fujii’s lone defeats both came via contentious decisions in Bellator and she closes out her career as the number two-ranked female strawweight (115-pound) fighter and the number four-ranked pound-for-pound female competitor in MMA.

Event play-by-play notes courtesy of Sherdog.com.