Mixed martial arts became popular in part because of freak-show fights like the one between 200-pound Keith Hackney and 600-pound Emmanuel Yarborough at UFC 3 in 1994.
The UFC has largely done away with such oddities, and now is characterized by high-stakes bouts of physical chess between opponents who are roughly the same size.
That does not mean the crazy old days of MMA are truly gone. Take, for example, an upcoming fight in Japan between a 12-year-old girl and a 24-year-old woman.
The pre-teen amateur, simply called Momo in promotional materials, is currently in the seventh grade and weighs just 86 pounds.
Her opponent, Momoko Yamasaki, is a professional fighter with a 2-3 career record. According to Deep Jewels, which is promoting the fight, Yamasaki was bullied when she was in junior high school and then became a street fighter before finally making her way to MMA.
Momo’s backstory is more mysterious. All that is known about her is that she trains at Hakuhinkai Karate, a gym that produced a few Japanese fighters, including the undefeated 19-year-old Naoki Inoue, who just signed with the UFC, and Mizuki Inoue, a respected 22-year-old fighter with a 12-4 record.
Inoue, who is just 5-foot-4, posted a couple of very short videos on Facebook of her training with the tiny “Momo-san.”
Momo’s fight with Yamasaki will go down on May 20 at Deep Jewels 16. It will be contested in the 95-pound minimum weight division.
Amateur rules will be in effect, which means that both fighters will wear headgear and strikes to the head on the ground are prohibited.
http://nypost.com/2017/04/24/12-year-old-to-make-mma-debut-against-woman-twice-her-age/
The UFC has largely done away with such oddities, and now is characterized by high-stakes bouts of physical chess between opponents who are roughly the same size.
That does not mean the crazy old days of MMA are truly gone. Take, for example, an upcoming fight in Japan between a 12-year-old girl and a 24-year-old woman.
The pre-teen amateur, simply called Momo in promotional materials, is currently in the seventh grade and weighs just 86 pounds.
Her opponent, Momoko Yamasaki, is a professional fighter with a 2-3 career record. According to Deep Jewels, which is promoting the fight, Yamasaki was bullied when she was in junior high school and then became a street fighter before finally making her way to MMA.
Momo’s backstory is more mysterious. All that is known about her is that she trains at Hakuhinkai Karate, a gym that produced a few Japanese fighters, including the undefeated 19-year-old Naoki Inoue, who just signed with the UFC, and Mizuki Inoue, a respected 22-year-old fighter with a 12-4 record.
Inoue, who is just 5-foot-4, posted a couple of very short videos on Facebook of her training with the tiny “Momo-san.”
Momo’s fight with Yamasaki will go down on May 20 at Deep Jewels 16. It will be contested in the 95-pound minimum weight division.
Amateur rules will be in effect, which means that both fighters will wear headgear and strikes to the head on the ground are prohibited.
http://nypost.com/2017/04/24/12-year-old-to-make-mma-debut-against-woman-twice-her-age/
