Sixteen-year-old grappler Shino VanHoose will make her mixed martial arts debut against Nana “Chanchin” Ichikawa at Pancrase Impressive Tour 10 this Sunday in Tokyo, Japan. The bout was announced earlier this month and is now set for the “Pancrase Gate” undercard portion of the event.
VanHoose earned a pair of submission victories at an April “Roll Festival” grappling event and debuted for Pancrase in August by defeating Satoko Kameda in a catch wrestling match. She will make her MMA debut against the much more experienced Ichikawa, who looks to capture her first win.
VanHoose began training in jiu-jitsu at the age of eight. While born in Japan, her father is American and she has lived outside of the country for years at a time. VanHoose currently resides on a base in Tokyo and trains with Paraestra Hachioji, which includes former Sengoku champion Masanori Kanehara and other notable Japanese fighters. On August 7th, VanHoose stopped Kameda with a first-round armbar in a Pancrase catch wrestling match and she now makes her MMA debut.
Ichikawa (0-11-0) holds a significant experience advantage over her high-school opponent, but has struggled throughout her mixed martial arts career and has yet to pick up her first victory. Debuting on February 3, 2002, Ichikawa suffered submission losses in each of her five fights before the end of the year. She fought five more times before taking a lengthy hiatus and returned in 2008, where she was knocked out by Yoko “Iron Beauty” Yamada.
Recently, Ichikawa fought twice in amateur bouts at Jewels: 15th and 16th Ring. In both appearances, she fell victim to first-round armbars from Tamaki Usui. With Ichikawa’s shaky submission defence, VanHoose should hold an edge on the ground and will look to make her MMA debut a successful one. The bout between VanHoose and Ichikawa will be contested in the strawweight (105-pound) division.
Pancrase Impressive Tour 10 takes place this Sunday, October 2nd, at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan.
Go Yamamoto contributed to this report.
Shino VanHoose won by Ezekiel Choke, 51 seconds in Rd 1
Yeah, Technical Submission because rules are lame. Either way, she won easily.