Three-time Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup Champion Rena Kubota earned her ninth straight victory in quick fashion tonight at Shoot Boxing 2014: Act.2 in Tokyo, Japan. Kubota handed 18-year-old South Korean prospect Seo Hee Im her first professional defeat with a first-round standing guillotine choke.

Also tonight, former Shoot Boxing Japan Women’s Flyweight Champion Ai Takahashi made short work of Matsukuma Kikukawa on the preliminary card. Takahashi landed crisp punches early in the opening round and she dropped Kikukawa with a powerful right cross for an emphatic TKO victory.

Kubota (25-5-1 SB/KB) kept her distance early in the fight in order to avoid side kicks and spinning back kicks from Im (17-1-0 SB/KB). She landed straight punches and began to time Im’s movements as Im pressed forward. A flurry of punches scored for Kubota and she locked on a standing guillotine choke. Im tried to escape from the hold by punching Kubota’s midsection, but Kubota switched to a power guillotine choke and the referee intervened to stop the fight as Im lost consciousness.

Tonight’s victory was Kubota’s ninth in a row and she has set her sights on capturing the Shoot Boxing Japan Women’s Flyweight Championship that was formerly held by Takahashi. Kubota announced her intentions to compete for the title later this year in a post-fight message to the crowd.

Winner: Rena Kubota by KO (Standing Guillotine Choke) at 2:50 of round one. She improves her combined shoot boxing and kickboxing record to 25-5-1.

Takahashi (19-5-0 SB/KB) countered Kikukawa’s clinch attempts by landing precise counterpunches that kept her opponent at bay. Kikukawa (15-8-0 SB/KB) continued to try to close the distance, but Takahashi picked her shots carefully and repeatedly scored with right hooks. Just past the two-minute mark, Takahashi landed a big right cross that dropped Kikukawa and the brief fight was waved off.

Including her victory tonight, Takahashi has won 12 of her past 15 bouts. Her three defeats during that time all came against two-time Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup 53.5kg Champion Mizuki Inoue.

Winner: Ai Takahashi by TKO (Punch) at 2:04 of round one. She improves her combined shoot boxing and kickboxing record to 19-5-0.

(Photo Credit: Shoot Boxing)