Bantamweight veteran Colleen “The Thoroughbred” Schneider continued her streak of victories with a hard-fought Split Decision win tonight at Pancrase 270 in Tokyo, Japan. Schneider narrowly edged out the previously unbeaten Bryanna “The Pink Ranger” Fissori in a closely-contested bout.
Schneider took an early lead on the scorecards thanks to a key takedown in the opening round, but Fissori rallied back and she dominated the middle stanza with submission attempts and ground and pound. A late takedown from Fissori in round three was not enough, and Schneider eked out the win.
Schneider (9-6-0) opened the action with a variety of kicks that were met by punching combinations from Fissori (2-1-0). Schneider stuffed a takedown and tripped Fissori down into side control. Fissori scrambled and kicked her off, and the fight soon returned to the feet. Once there, Fissori caught a body kick from Schneider and the round ended with a clinch battle against the cage.
The second round also began with Schneider landing kicks to Fissori’s lead leg and upper body, but Fissori caught a spinning wheel kick and took her down. Schneider rolled for a heel hook and Fissori escaped by dropping punches and elbows from the top. She took Schneider’s back and nearly secured a rear-naked choke before posturing up and landing more ground and pound.
With the fight seemingly even heading into round three, Fissori got off to a good start by landing a series of straight right hands. Schneider responded with kicks and she landed a nice right cross that led to a clinch near the cage. Both women scored with knees to the body and Fissori secured a headlock throw that allowed her to finish the round with punches on the ground.
Fissori’s late takedown was only good enough to convince one judge, who scored the fight 29-28 in her favour. The remaining two both saw it 29-28 for Schneider, who walked away with a razor-thin Split Decision win. She has now earned victories in three straight fights in three different countries this year since suffering a quick loss to Irene Aldana at Invicta FC 11 in February.
“[Fissori] isn’t well-known yet, but she did have a fight in Bellator, which is a large promotion, and she is very aggressive,” Schneider said of her opponent following the fight. “I lost position on the ground [in round two], but at the same time I still attacked her legs. I think that I could have fought better, though.
“I was surprised by the scores,” Schneider added. “I scored it 29-28 in my favour. I need to defend my Super Fight League title next, but I would really like to come back to Japan. I’d like to fight Rin Nakai.”
Winner: Colleen Schneider by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) after three 3:00 rounds. She improves to 9-6-0.