Three-time Girls S-Cup champion Rena Kubota made a successful return to competition tonight at Shoot Boxing 2013: Act.2 in Tokyo, Japan. Kubota used a standing rear-naked choke to finish Taiwanese opponent Du Peiling in the third round after dominating much of the 50-kilogram matchup.

Kubota’s protégé, 2012 JKS48 champ Mio Tsumura, advanced on in this year’s JKS48 tournament by defeating Fuka Yoshino. Yuuki Kira narrowly edged out Yusa Tachi to earn her spot in the JKS48 semi-finals, and Lorena “Lady Pitbull” Klijn outpointed Miyo Yoshida in a non-tournament bout.

Kubota (21-5-1 SB/KB) mixed up her punches well in the opening round and tried for an early high-arc throw, but she was unable to get enough height to earn a Shoot Point. Peiling (0-1-0 SB) looked to set up punching combinations, but Kubota blocked and defended well. In the late stages of the round, Kubota secured a headlock throw, and this time it was enough to earn Kubota a Shoot Point.

Peiling punched her way into a clinch in round two and continued to land more strikes in close. Kubota broke free and countered Peiling’s punches with kicks. She took Peiling’s back in the clinch and threw her to the mat with a high-angle suplex to earn another Shoot Point. In the dying seconds, Kubota landed a nice front kick to the face.

In the final round, Peiling appeared timid early on and Kubota took advantage. As the fighters clinched, Kubota locked on a standing arm-triangle choke and the referee called a “catch” to signify that Peiling was in trouble. Kubota then switched to a standing rear-naked choke and the referee intervened to stop the fight as Peiling began to lose consciousness. The official time of Kubota’s TKO victory was 1:12 of round three.

Rebounding from her first career defeat, Tsumura (8-1-0 SB) put on a strong performance in victory tonight to move on in the JKS48 high school girls’ tournament. Yoshino landed a series of stiff jabs in the opening round, but Tsumura rallied back and landed quick one-twos and combinations.

In rounds two and three, Tsumura remained focused on landing flurries of punches and crisp counter hooks when Yoshino closed in with right hands and body kicks. Neither fighter could secure a high-arc throw from the clinch and Tsumura closed out the fight with one-twos.

After three rounds, the Unanimous Decision verdict went to Tsumura with scores of 30-27 and 30-28 twice. Tsumura, who celebrated her 18th birthday this past weekend, will move on to the semi-final round of the JKS48 tournament in August, where she will look to become a two-time tournament champion.

In the second JKS48 quarterfinal bout on the card, Kira narrowly got past Tachi via a razor-thin decision after three rounds. Both fighters landed combinations of body kicks and punches throughout the closely-contested bout. As Tachi began to tire in round three, Kira scored with more combinations and knees to the body.

Kira’s late offence proved to be enough to sway the judges and all three scored the bout 30-29 in her favour. With the close Unanimous Decision victory, Kira will move on to face Tsumura in the next round.

2012 Girls S-Cup semi-finalist Klijn picked up another key win in a featured non-tournament bout tonight. The Dutch standout defeated MMA and kickboxing veteran Miyo Yoshida via Majority Decision after three hard-fought rounds. Klijn mixed up her strikes with knees and straight punches in the early goings, but Yoshida countered with stiff jabs and powerful hooks.

As the fight progressed, Klijn began to slow down and Yoshida landed front kicks, but her offence late in the fight was not quite enough. One judge saw the fight even at 29-29, while the remaining two returned scores of 30-28 and 29-28 for Klijn.

(Photo Credit: Shoot Boxing)