15-year-old “Muay Thai Genius” Saya Ito and reigning J-Girls Mini Flyweight Champion Momi engaged in an action-packed back-and-forth battle on Sunday night at Muaylok 2014: 2nd in Tokyo, Japan. The featured striking matchup ended in a competitive Majority Draw after three close rounds.

Ito has faced highly skilled opponents in each of her bouts this year since turning pro in April following a 93-fight amateur career. She landed strong kicks throughout the bout with Momi and controlled the clinch battles with knees, but Momi’s quick combinations evened the bout on the scorecards.

In the opening round of Sunday’s bout, Ito (78-12-3 amateur, 1-1-1 pro) scored with a series of body kicks and she punished Momi (20-9-6) with knees to the ribs in the clinch. Momi fired back with left and right hooks over the top and she kept the fight close through the first two minutes. Round two was more of the same as Momi pressed the action with powerful hooks, but Ito continued to counter well with kicks to the upper body. The fighters clinched and both women landed some nice knees.

As the close fight entered the final round, Ito kicked her way into a clinch with Momi and the fighters exchanged more knees. Ito was able to knock Momi off-balance, but the veteran returned to her feet and came on strong with punching combinations. She threw a series of hooks and Ito did well to avoid most of her opponent’s strikes before time expired.

The bout went to the scorecards and one judge scored it 29-28 for Ito. The remaining two had it even at 30-30 and 29-29, respectively, for a Majority Draw. The fight marked the second straight time that Ito faced off against a past or present J-Girls champion. She previously dropped a razor-thin decision to the original J-Girls Mini Flyweight Champion, Haru “Taj Mahal” Tajima, in May.

Result: Majority Draw (29-28 [Ito], 30-30, 29-29) after three 2:00 rounds. Ito moves to 1-1-1 in her professional kickboxing career, while Momi is now 20-9-6.

(Photo Credit: eFight)