Hopefully this will be stickied so FeMMA discussion won't fall to the wayside on this board.
Ok, so to get started, lets list some recent changes and upcoming stuff:
-
Kyoko Takabayashi furthered
Masako Yoshida's losing streak a few weeks ago in Smackgirl. Yoshida has fallen from beating damn near 1/3 of the 48kg division to losing to its every prospect and elite. The problem lies in her game, which is dangerously 'loose': allowing opponents to dictate where the fight is fought; lack of aggressive, killer instinct, etc. Its biting her in the ass now and she needs to stop and think instead of taking her 15295636th fight this year. She has tools, she just needs to use them; perhaps she needs to turn
Yuka Tsuji for guidance, whose single-handedly turned
Ayumi Saito into THE 48kg prospect and showed
Hisae Watanabe the ropes on the ground. Takabayashi herself possess a very forward grappling style, constantly on the look out for the submission, though her stand-up can use some work. A bout with the 5-0
Emi Fujino would be healthy for both prospects as it'd force Takabayashi to train against Fujino's disciplined jab and straight while Fujino gets a saavy grappler as an opponent.
- As is well-known,
Roxanne Modafferi won the K-GRACE tourney, defeating
Megumi Yabushita for the second time en route to a finals victory over the acclaimed
Marloes Coenen. Coenen's previous and only other loss was to Erin Toughill in the semifinals of the ReMix tournament where the two compeitively exchanged despite Toughill's outstanding size advantage. The bout was dubiously called to a halt when the referee ruled that a sizeable blow from Toughill had "KO'd" Coenen standing despite Coenen demonstrating the contrary.
After a shocking submission loss to
Shayna Bazler in BoDog, Modafferi's victory here repositions her in the upper echelongs of Women's MMA. Perhap a rematch with Bazler is due.
-
Tara Larosa vs.
Laura D'Auguste is the crowning bout for the 135lb division and will form, chronologically, the second most important bout to take place in contemporary Women's MMA, Watanabe/Shinashi II preceding it. The style match-up is an almost perfect opposition: D'Auguste's long, stiff jabs and follow-ups versus Larosa's less refined but powerful strikes; D'Auguste's dangerous guard game versus Larosa's physically overwhelming top game. If D'Auguste wins here, she should look to regain her Middleweight title from the elusive
Hitomi Akano and further her legacy. A win for Larosa may just be the tipping point for proclaiming her one of the best ever in women's game.
- BoDog needs to set its sights on
Takayo Hashi. Hashi may be the most unsung heroine in the 128-135lb range despite quite possibly possessing the most complete game (striking, wrestling, submissions). While Smackgirl is building her for an eventual title fight with Akano, I'd rather see her establish a foothold on the world level.
-
Kanako Takeshita needs to fight somebody her size, stat.
Discuss, add, comment, this is what the thread is for.
