Three-time Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup Champion Rena Kubota has been added to next Friday’s Shoot Boxing 2014: Act.2 event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Kubota is scheduled to face off against 18-year-old South Korean champion Seo Hee Im, who has won all 17 of her fights to date.

Kubota has endured a number of last-minute opponent changes during the past year and her most recent fight, a February bout with Katie Klimansky-Casimir, was scrapped when Casimir encountered immigration issues. Im competes in Japan for the first time after capturing a title in South Korea.

Kubota (24-5-1 SB/KB) became the first three-time winner of the prestigious Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup tournament in 2012 and she overcame injuries to win all four of her fights this past year. She was scheduled to face WPMF Women’s Flyweight Champion Phetyordying SithArchanSupoj and Korean kickboxing champ Jiwaen Lee in November and December, respectively, but both fights were changed on mere days’ notice and Kubota defeated her late-replacement opponents. She was then matched up against Klimansky-Casimir on February 23rd, but Klimansky-Casimir was denied entry into Japan.

Im (17-0-0) has the potential to be one of Kubota’s toughest opponents to date, provided that next week’s bout proceeds as planned. The 18-year-old striker competed extensively in the amateur ranks and she has not lost since turning pro. In her 17th fight, Im captured the Korea Contender Women’s Flyweight Championship, and she now plans to make a name for herself in Japan by upsetting her superstar opponent next Friday night.

“If I win against Rena, I will prove my skill and earn a spot in this year’s Girls S-Cup,” Im stated in a Shoot Boxing release. “Rena won her first Girls S-Cup at age 18 and now I will do the same this time.”

In a second women’s bout on the card, former Shoot Boxing Japan Women’s Flyweight Champion Ai Takahashi (18-5-0 SB/KB) takes on Matsukuma Kikukawa (0-1-0 SB). Much like Kubota, Takahashi was also left without an opponent on the February 23rd Shoot Boxing card when her planned foe, Miyumi Takahashi, fell ill in the hours before the event. The former champ’s most recent win came in November when she edged out Miyo Yoshida at Shoot Boxing: Ground Zero.

Kikukawa’s lone shoot boxing bout to date ended in a lopsided decision defeat against Rio Kamikaze in the quarterfinal round of the Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup 53.5kg tournament.

Shoot Boxing 2014: Act.2 takes place on April 18th at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

(Photo Credit: Shoot Boxing)