Jewels title contender Kikuyo Ishikawa avenged a past defeat in quick and impressive fashion on Sunday at Pancrase: “Sakaguchi Dojo vs Pancrase” in Okinawa, Japan. Ishikawa stopped Miyoko Kusaka with a right cross in the first round of their atomweight bout. The fighters first faced off in 2010.
On Saturday night in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, Vanessa Guimarães picked up her first professional victory in violent fashion at Striker’s House Cup 25. Guimarães fought off a takedown attempt and knocked out opponent Bruna Paiffer with a devastating knee in the early stages of the opening round.
Ishikawa (9-3-0), Okinawa’s first female mixed martial artist, made short work of Kusaka (3-6-1) in Sunday’s rematch. She pressed the action in the striking exchanges and kept Kusaka on the defensive. Just over 90 seconds into the first round, Ishikawa landed a hard right cross that dropped Kusaka and referee Yoshinori Umeki intervened for the TKO stoppage at the 1:43 mark of round one. Ishikawa has won seven of her past eight fights since dropping a Split Decision to Kusaka at Jewels: “7th Ring” in March 2010 and she is currently one of the sport’s premier female atomweights.
Guimarães (1-1-0) defended against takedown attempts from Paiffer (1-3-0) throughout the first minute of round one as the fighters battled for position against the cage. Paiffer was relentless in her pursuit of the takedown and it looked like she would be successful, but Guimarães sprawled out and remained on her feet. She punched to the body and landed a crushing left knee that sent an unconscious Paiffer careening backwards to the mat. The official time of the highlight-reel knockout was 1:44 of round one.
(Photo Credit: Jewels blog)