Former Shoot Boxing Japan Women’s Flyweight Champion Ai Takahashi picked up a dominant victory in her return to action tonight at Shoot Boxing 2013: Act.1 in Tokyo, Japan. Takahashi stopped late-replacement opponent Mi-Jeon Chan midway through the third and final round of a lopsided bout.

In other action on tonight’s card, J-Girls Mini Flyweight Champion Momi made a successful shoot boxing debut by defeating JKS48 Shoot Boxing Women’s Minimumweight Champion Mio Tsumura in a closely contested fight. Elsewhere, veteran Miyo Yoshida made quick work of Heejin Yoo.

Takahashi set the tone right away by dropping Chan with a counter right hook early in the opening round. From there, she proceeded to batter her South Korean foe with knees in the clinch throughout the first two rounds of the fight. Chan managed to land a handful of combinations and kicks to the body, but Takahashi’s knee strikes continued to do damage as the fight progressed.

In the final round, Takahashi countered punches from Chan with front kicks and more knees. She clinched in search of a high-arc throw to earn a Shoot Point and managed to throw Chan down to the mat. In the process, Chan sustained a rib injury and was unable to continue. The referee intervened to stop the fight at 1:41 of round three, giving Takahashi the TKO victory to improve her combined shoot boxing and kickboxing record to 14-4-0.

In a champion versus champion bout, J-Girls kickboxing standout Momi prevailed over the previously unbeaten Tsumura via Majority Decision after an extension round. The opening round was very even and both fighters scored with some nice punching combinations. Momi mixed up her strikes to the head and body and the fighters exchanged leg and body kicks shortly before the bell.

Tsumura added more kicks to her offence in rounds two and three and kept her distance at times as Momi countered with quick punches and knees to the body. Tsumura attempted a throw in round three, but Momi fought her off and landed left and right hooks to the body. At the end of the third round, the judges ruled the bout a Majority Draw with scores of 30-28 Momi and 29-29 twice.

The fight entered an extension round and Momi landed a hard left cross right away. Tsumura answered with a knee and a body kick, but her attempt to throw Momi was unsuccessful. Momi scored with a series of hooks to the body and the fight ended with an exchange of power punches and body kicks. One judge saw the final round even at 10-10, while the remaining two scored it 10-9 for Momi, whose combined shoot boxing and kickboxing record improved to 17-7-5 with the Majority Decision win.

The third female fight on the card saw Yoshida make quick work of overmatched short-notice opponent Yoo, who stepped in to replace Yoshida’s original opponent, J-Girls veteran Mina, who withdrew due to influenza. Yoshida was aggressive right from the outset and backed Yoo into a corner with straight lefts and rights. She continued to unload with more punches until Yoo’s corner threw in the towel for the TKO stoppage just 41 seconds into the fight.

Go Yamamoto contributed to this report.

(Photo Credit: Jewels blog)