Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki will make her U.S. debut against Austria’s Jasminka Cive at Invicta Fighting Championships 2 on July 28th in Kansas City, Kansas. MMARising.com learned of the bout’s possibility this past week. GroundandPound.de confirmed the fight today.
Hamasaki is coming off of a dominant first-round submission victory over Japanese legend Yuka “Vale Tudo Queen” Tsuji in May. The Megumi Fujii protégé is one of the sport’s premier female fighters. Cive has yet to go the distance in her career and most recently scored a TKO victory in March.
Hamasaki (7-0-0) and Cive (5-0-0) sport similar records on paper, but Hamasaki brings a significant experience advantage into the fight and has faced a much higher level of opposition. She became the first Jewels champion with two victories in one night at Jewels: “11th Ring” in late 2010 and has since made successful title defences against South Korean standout Seo Hee Ham in a December rematch and Tsuji this past month. The judo black belt is known for her strong ground game, but her striking skills are among the best of any competitor on the Jewels roster; a fact that was evident in Hamasaki’s first fight with Ham in 2010 when she outstruck the kickboxing veteran. Read Full Story
Credit: MMARISING.com