Strawweight Queen of Pancrase Champion Haruka “Salt” Hasegawa made a successful defence of her title with a five-round Unanimous Decision win tonight at Pancrase 347 in Tokyo, Japan. Hasegawa defeated former Queen of Pancrase and current Shooto titleholder Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino.
Pancrase 347 featured three additional women’s matchups. Atomweight Queen of Pancrase Champion Satomi “Sarami” Takano defeated Yerin “Ghost” Hong in a non-title bout. Fumika Watanabe upset Takayo Hashi at flyweight, and Karen outpointed Edna “Trakinas” Oliveira Ajala at 115.
Hasegawa (5-4-0) and Fujino (30-15-1, 1 NC) circled each other early on and Hasegawa landed leg kicks and straight right hands. She targeted Fujino’s body with knees and avoided a one-two. Before the second round, the doctor checked on Fujino’s damaged left eye, but the fight continued and Hasegawa landed a front kick. Fujino clinched and landed short punches, which Hasegawa responded to with knees to her thigh. The fighters separated and Hasegawa landed a front kick. Fujino connected with a left hook, but Hasegawa landed another front kick in response.
Hasegawa jabbed to begin the third round and Fujino attempted a standing guillotine choke. Hasegawa freed her neck and landed a left knee to the body, and Fujino clinched once more after scoring with a right hook. In the fourth round, Hasegawa jabbed and followed with two body kicks. Fujino caught the second one and clinched, but Hasegawa kneed her in the midsection. The fighters broke apart and Hasegawa landed a front kick and a spinning backfist. Fujino clinched and Hasegawa fought her way out of it by landing an elbow followed by one more front kick.
The final round began with Hasegawa landing a front kick to Fujino’s face. She threw more front kicks until Fujino chased after her and clinched. Fujino took Hasegawa’s back, but Hasegawa turned into the clinch and kneed her in the body before backing away. Fujino caught a kick from Hasegawa and backed her up to the cage, but Hasegawa quickly responded with knees to the body and she pushed Fujino away. One more front kick landed for Hasegawa before the end of the championship fight.
The judges returned scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47 in favour of Hasegawa for a title-retaining Unanimous Decision victory. While she has endured ups and downs recently, Hasegawa is a perfect 3-0 under the Pancrase banner.
Takano (20-14-0) initiated an early clinch with Hong (4-5-0) and she landed knees and elbows in close. More knees scored for Takano, who threw Hong to the mat and took mount. Takano punched as Hong gave up her back and then scrambled up to her knees, but Takano sprawled and punched from side control after pushing Hong back down. Hong stood and Takano hunted for a standing rear-naked choke that she used to drag Hong down, and Takano switched to an armbar attempt late in the round.
Hong landed a right hook and a leg kick in the second round, and the fighters exchanged punches until Takano ultimately scored a takedown from a waist tackle. She moved to side control and landed punches and elbows to Hong’s head. In the final round, punches were once again exchanged until Takano shot in for a takedown, but this time Hong stayed on her feet and she landed counter elbows in the clinch. Takano used a kosoto gari throw to get Hong down and then attempted an armbar. Hong escaped and Takano punched her body until Hong got back to her feet. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 in favour of Takano for a Unanimous Decision triumph.
Watanabe (2-1-0) opened the action with multiple kicks to the lead leg of Hashi (19-10-1), and she followed with a right cross as Hashi’s movement already began to slow. Hashi tried to clinch and Watanabe countered with two more leg kicks and a right hook. She sprawled out of a Hashi takedown attempt and separated from the clinch. Watanabe knocked Hashi down with a right hook early in round two and Hashi held on to her from the bottom. Watanabe stood and Hashi followed, but she was not able to take Watanabe down. Watanabe scored another brief knockdown with a left hook and then defended against Hashi’s clinch and takedown attempts.
Watanabe sprawled in defence against a Hashi takedown in the final round and she countered two Hashi jabs with a Superman Punch. Hashi could not close the distance and Watanabe mixed things up with jabs and leg kicks while maintaining movement. Hashi finally latched on to a single-leg that went nowhere, and then to a double-leg takedown that briefly got Watanabe down, but Watanabe stood and time expired. Scores were 30-27 across the board for Watanabe for a Unanimous Decision victory.
Karen (10-2-0) took control of the centre of the cage in the opening round and Oliveira (11-14-1) scored with a series of leg kicks. Karen landed a straight right hand and Oliveira continued to attack with kicks to Karen’s leg and body. Karen took Oliveira down and fought her way out of a guillotine choke, which had its impact limited by the cage. Karen landed a front kick and she avoided combinations from Oliveira in the second round. Oliveira struggled to land anything and Karen connected with another front kick before taking Oliveira down into side control. Oliveira got back to half-guard and Karen landed elbows to her leg and face.
In the final round, Karen tripped Oliveira and worked from her open guard. Karen landed punches as Oliveira set up an armbar, then defended against the armbar by landing knees to Oliveira’s body and an elbow to her face. Karen landed more punches and knees before the end of the fight, and her strong performance in the final ten minutes earned her a Unanimous Decision win with scores of 29-28 thrice.
(Photo Credit: Pancrase)