Japanese star Erika Kamimura added another prestigious championship to her impressive collection on Friday night at Rise 95 in Tokyo. Kamimura defeated J-Girls champ Momi by Unanimous Decision to claim the vacant Rise Queen kickboxing title in a bloody and action-packed five-round fight.
In MMA action on Friday night at Legacy Fighting Championship 23 in San Antonio, Texas, atomweight Tessa Simpson picked up a big victory in her first fight since August 2009. Simpson handed prospect Paulina “Firefox” Granados her first career defeat via a one-sided Unanimous Decision.
Kamimura (28-3-0 KB/SB) and Momi (19-8-5 KB/SB) were cautious in the early goings and neither fighter landed anything damaging in the opening round, but things picked up in round two. Kamimura put together combinations of body kicks and right crosses and Momi fired back with hooks and jabs.
In round three, Kamimura continued to put the pressure on with kick-punch combos, but Momi landed some solid counter shots. The fighters clinched and Kamimura was cut above her left eye by an inadvertent headbutt. As the cut was a bad one, the referee penalised Momi with a Yellow Card for the accidental infraction. Kamimura landed body kicks before the bell.
Both women scored with hooks in round four and Kamimura’s eye began to bleed more heavily. The doctor checked on her condition, but allowed the fight to continue. In the fifth and final round, Kamimura scored with jabs and more body kicks. Momi targeted the body with hooks and knees as the fight came to a close.
The judges were united in their verdict and all three awarded Kamimura with the victory. She becomes only the second Rise Queen Champion to date.
Winner: Erika Kamimura by Unanimous Decision (49-47, 49-48, 49-48) after five rounds. She improves her kickboxing and shoot boxing record to 28-3-0 and becomes the new Rise Queen Champion.
Simpson (3-1-0) flurried with hooks and uppercuts right away and Granados (2-1-0) answered back with knees to the body in the clinch. Granados scored two takedowns, but Simpson locked on an armbar from the bottom. The fight returned to the feet and Simpson took Granados’s back. She closed out the round by landing knees.
Granados dropped levels and got Simpson down early in round two, but Simpson wound up on top and rained down punches from mount. Granados gave up her back and Simpson hunted for a rear-naked choke. Simpson returned to mount and landed more hard punches and elbows, and she worked for another rear-naked choke before the bell.
Granados scored with a chopping leg kick to open the final round, but Simpson clinched and landed knees. She tripped Granados to the canvas and used short elbows to set up a keylock attempt. Simpson postured up with strikes from mount and took Granados’s back once more. She dominated the remainder of the fight on the ground and threatened with a series of submission attempts.
All three cageside judges scored the fight 30-27 for Simpson, who made a triumphant return to action after a four-year hiatus from MMA competition.
Winner: Tessa Simpson by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) after three rounds. She improves to 3-1-0.
(Photo Credit: RISE)