Strawweight Queen of Pancrase Champion Miki Motono successfully retained her title and denied Satomi “Sarami” Takano’s bid to become a two-division champ tonight at Pancrase 366 in Tokyo, Japan. Motono stopped the reigning atomweight titleholder in the second round of the main event.
In the co-main event, Flyweight Queen of Pancrase Champion Shizuka Sugiyama went out on top by winning her non-title 54kg retirement match against long-time friend and 50-fight veteran Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino. Elsewhere, Chiara “Beasty Barbie” Penco defeated Karen at strawweight.
Early in the champion versus champion headliner, Motono (11-5-0) landed straight left hands and she quickly returned to her feet when Takanao (20-15-0) caught a kick and briefly took her down. Motono continued to thrive in the boxing exchanges and she appeared to comfortably win the first round.
Takano opened the second stanza with a quick takedown, but Motono promptly reversed into the scarf hold position and she began to land rapid-fire punches to Takano’s face with her left hand. Motono attempted two scarf hold armlocks, which Takano bravely refused to submit to, and then continued to land punches. Takano could not move, and she absorbed dozens upon dozens of punches to her face until referee Tomomi Takarada finally waved off the action at the 4:09 mark of round two.
Following her title-retaining TKO victory, Motono spoke in the cage and cited a comment made by a teammate that had motivated her. The teammate did not think that Motono would be able to finish Takano, but the champion did so in dominant fashion.
“I felt that I could not lose, and I am glad that I got the finish today,” Motono continued when speaking backstage. “At first, I tried to land strong strikes, but when we were grappling I could feel the weight difference [Takano moved up from atomweight] and [coach] Katsumura taught me that finish. I would like to go on ‘Road To UFC’ again and to prove that I am the strongest Japanese strawweight.”
While many fighter retirements end poorly, Sugiyama (25-8-1) celebrated hers with a well-deserved victory. The two-time Flyweight Queen of Pancrase had intended to retire after regaining her title in March, and she was slated to engage in an exhibition match with Fujino (31-17-1, 1 NC) tonight, but the bout was changed to an official match and that allowed Fujino – who is Japan’s most experienced female MMA fighter – to commemorate her 50th professional fight at the same time.
From the outset, it was clear that the long-time friends were not going to go easy on one another. Sugiyama fought from the southpaw stance and landed jabs and lead right hooks, while Fujino answered with a pair of right hands and a successful defence of a Sugiyama takedown attempt. In the second round, Fujino knocked Sugiyama down with a right hook and she got the better of the boxing exchanges until Sugiyama took her down into side control and then moved to mount. Sugiyama scored with punches and elbows, and Fujino was warned after landing an illegal upkick.
Sugiyama took Fujino down in the final round and kept her on the mat until the midway point, when Fujino briefly scrambled up to her feet and tried to re-establish her boxing. Sugiyama tripped her again and punched from top position. Late in the fight, Fujino marched forward and Sugiyama landed two left hooks to her jaw. Scores were 30-27 across the board for Sugiyama, who earned a Unanimous Decision victory.
Sugiyama thanked Fujino for the fight during her post-fight comments in the cage and also shared her gratitude and appreciation for her fans and supporters throughout her 18-year MMA career. She stated that she hoped that the children who were in attendance tonight grow up to be fighters themselves so that they can be heroes to someone watching. Sugiyama also referenced her eight career losses, and treated them as positives since each one had taught her something and made her better.
“I think I had a good match,” Sugiyama added when speaking backstage. “I was concerned before the fight that the choice to compete in a real match may not feel good for Fujino, and early on I did not want to punch her in the head on the ground, but I had to forget about that. Pancrase has a long history, and me winning a title here gave me confidence after my long career, so Pancrase changed my life.”
Fighters and family members celebrate Shizuka Sugiyama’s retirement.
Making her Pancrase debut, Italian rising star Penco (12-5-0) made an instant impact by defeating former Pancrase champion Karen (10-4-0) in their strawweight contest. The Bellator veteran used her reach advantage well in the first round, and she scored with long jabs and right hands while Karen’s best success came in the form of leg kicks. Penco landed more punches and then took Karen down late in the opening round.
It was more of the same in the second round for Penco, who again landed strong jabs and right hands, until Karen hurt her with a liver kick. That was the most significant strike of the round, but Karen could not follow up and her right eye began to swell as Penco targeted it with jabs. Karen controlled the majority of the final round in clinches, though Penco’s knees to the body forced Karen to reposition multiple times. The judges were divided, with one scoring the contest 29-28 for Karen and the remaining two both seeing it 29-28 for Penco, who took the Split Decision victory.
“I’m happy,” Penco exclaimed backstage. “I missed many chances, but I got the victory. I chose to strike because I know that [Karen’s] ground game is strong and that she is good at closing the distance. I would like to have a title match [against Motono] in the near future.”