As will become patently clear, I am an ardent fan of women's fighting. I love it. It captivates me. It's controversial. I want more and I want it prime time in North America and globally. With the exciting style and dynamism of fighters such as Megumi 'Mega Megu' Fujii (sometimes spelled 'Fuji'), it's conceivable. 'Mega Megu' is a submission specialist who fights mostly in Japan but has squared-off against opponents on foreign soil, including at Abu Dhabi and in Canada and the U.S.A. Maybe she'll end up fighting over at Strikeforce someday soon? Who can say? Today, all I could do was dig through the Pink-robed submission queen's fight reels and marvel at her awesomeness. For the record, Fujii is like many Japanese fighters, in that she's not afraid to break somebody's bones if they don't tap fast enough: stone cold (okay, not totally fair to say since it happened via toe-hold and ankles are pretty fragile--but I've also heard that it was Serin's shin that broke). In fact, when I first started getting interested in MMA, that submission of Serin Murray, ankle-break and all, was one of the first MMA clips (a.k.a. 'broken foot - ninja girl (MMA)') I stumbled across on YouTube.
First, here's a brief bio of the athlete ('quoted' from MMAForum.com):
"Fujii is considered one of the best female MMA fighters in the world. She specializes mainly in submission fighting, and is renowned for her quick takedowns and submissions. Her most popular move is the Inazuma Toe Hold submission, dubbed the Megulock. Megumi also holds a black belt in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, and was trained in MMA by Shooto veteran Hiroyuki Abe and Pro Wrestler, PRIDE Fighting Championships alumni, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, and King of Pancrase, Josh Barnett. She has also trained other female MMA fighters like current top fighter Hitomi Akano. Fujii is also a highly decorated fighter outside of Mixed Martial Arts. Some of her accomplishments are: Japanese National Sambo and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu champion, Five 2nd place finishes in the World Sambo Championships, Ground Impact professional BJJ tournament champion, 2004 and 2006 BJJ Pan-am champion, and in 2005 and 2007 she earned 3rd place finishes in the ADCC -60kg World Submission Championships. Megumi Fujii was also a multiple time contestant on the seasonal Japanese obstacle course Television show Sasuke (Ninja Warrior)."
Megumi would add (compiled from her MySpace page and MegumiFujii.com website), that she...
- is arguably the best P-4-P female fighter in the world and is considered the strongest female grappler in Japan.
- formerly trained undefeated Smack Girl lightweight champion, Satoko Shinashi.
- currently trains top fighter Hitomi Akano and of 2007 ADCC champion and BJJ World Runner-up, Sayaka Shioda.
- has defeated accomplished and previously-undefeated adversaries.
- can finish an opponent in under a minute (she's done that more than 8 times in competition).
- has been All-Japan Sambo Champion 9 times.
- has disposed of considerably heavier foes than herself in numerous match-ups.
- is known for her aggressive attacking style of wrestling, with dynamic and explosive submissions punctuating her matches.
- is looking to prove her ranking as the number one fighter in the world at 52kg across the globe.
- has blood type O-.
On a more personal note: Megumi's dad had a Judo dojo, so she started training at age 3; she fights out of a Tokyo gym called AACC, where she also teaches classes; she loves cats and children's books. She's an incredibly popular fighter in Japan (in fact, check out the Sherdog forum to get a taste of North American Fujii fans), so much so that her fans have created a manga comic about her, Kanojoiro no Kanojo (彼女色の彼女; Kanojo Iro no Kanojo; Unordinary Life (French)). There's a two part fighter profile called "Megumi Fuji: Queen of the RIng" produced by Sebastian Stein, on QOOB.tv. The camera follows her around and gives an inside peek into her life and training (in English with Italian subtitling of the spoken Japanese (Part 1. Part 2.). My Italian is pretty poor, so any help with the translating would be welcomed.). In the film, Josh Barnett tells the camera he thinks she's "one of the absolute best fighters in the world, not for men, not for women, but all around." Strong words, Josh.
Fujii's fighting styles: Boxing, Kickboxing, Sambo, Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Catch Wrestling.
| Name | Megumi Fujii |
| Nick Name | Mega Megu |
| Record | 19 - 0 - 0 (Win - Loss - Draw) |
| Wins | 16 Submissions ( 84.21 %) 3 Decisions ( 15.79 %) |
| Association | Abe Ani Combat Club (AACC) |
| Height | 5'3" (161cm) |
| Weight | 114lbs (52kg) |
| Birth Date | 1974-04-26 |
| City | Ibara, Okayama |
| Country | Japan |
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Since Fuji is undefeated in this list of bouts, click the 'win' link for the fight you want to view. I tracked down as many of the clips as I could find. If anyone finds video clips, please share.
Take a peek at Fujii competing at Abu Dhabi (she's defeated in 2 of the videos):
Kyra Gracie vs. Megumi Fujii ADCC 2005 (semifinals)
Megumi Fujii vs Gazzy Parman ADCC 2005
Felicia Oh vs Megumi Fujii ADCC 2007
And, here's a 2001 SAMBO exhibition match with Satoko Shinashi, a 2002 grappling exhibition versus Jet Izumi, and LA Sub X Highlights of Megumi Fujii vs. Michele Mills.
Plus, here's Megumi Fujii Smack Jiu Jitsu GIG 01, the 'girl KOs guy w/ body shot' clip, and a Mega Megu fight highlight montage.
P.S. The formatting is so whack, but I don't know how to edit the HTML (It looks fine in 'compose' but gets screwy when I hit 'publish'). I've been trying to embed the vids, but it keeps getting rejected!
Photo by Daniel Herbertson on Sherdog.com.
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