Mei Yamaguchi
Mei Yamaguchi (山口 芽生, yamaguchi mei, born (1983-02-03)February 3, 1983), formerly known by her ring name V Hajime (V一, vī hajime), is a *anese female mixed martial artist and kickboxer. Her former nickname comes from the V1 armlock wrestling move.
Yamaguchi currently fights as a lightweight in the Jewels promotion. She has a notable victory over Yuka Tsuji and was the final Valkyrie Featherweight Champion. She is currently ranked #5 in the ONE Championship Women's Atomweight rankings.
On February:5,:2011:(2011-02-05), Yamaguchi announced that she would begin competing as a freelance fighter and changed her ring name to V.V.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Mixed martial arts career
- 3 Submission grappling and shoot boxing career
- 4 Mixed martial arts record
- 5 Submission grappling record
- 6 Shoot boxing record
- 7 Championships and accomplishments
- 7.1 Mixed martial arts
- 7.2 Shoot boxing
- 8 See also
- 9 References
- 10 External links
Early life
Yamaguchi was born in Tokyo, *an on (1983-02-03)February 3, 1983. While living in Los Angeles, California, she studied some of her elementary school years before returning to *an. She also studied abroad in the United States during her university years.
Yamaguchi began to learn karate during her residence in the United States around the age of 7 years old, yearning to be like Jackie Chan. During college, she started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. After returning to *an, she joined Butoku Kai. She currently serves as the leader of the Mori*a branch.
In 2005, Yamaguchi entered into the Max Jiu-Jitsu Academy.
Mixed martial arts career
Yamaguchi started her professional career in MMA in the lightweight tournament of Smackgirl-F 2007: The Next Cinderella Tournament 2007 First Stage on March:11,:2007:(2007-03-11), where she defeated Anna Saito by submission due to a rear naked choke.
Yamguchi won her next fight in Smackgirl, defeating Saori Ishioka with a kneebar, forcing Ishioka to tap in the second round in the semi-finals at Smackgirl-F 2007: The Next Cinderella Tournament 2007 2nd Stage on May:19,:2007:(2007-05-19).
On September:6,:2007:(2007-09-06) at Smackgirl 2007: Queens' Hottest Summer, Yamaguchi defeated Emi Tomimatsu by split decision, winning the final of the Next Cinderella Tournament 2007 in the lightweight division.
In her last fight with the promotion Smackgirl and her fourth professional match, Yamaguchi was defeated via split decision by Emi Fujino on December:26,:2007:(2007-12-26) at Smackgirl 7th Anniversary: Starting Over.
Her next bout would be at the first event for the promotion Valkyrie, Valkyrie 01, where she lost by unanimous decision against women's MMA legend Yuka Tsuji on November:8,:2008:(2008-11-08). It was just the fourth time that Tsuji had been taken to a decision.
Yamaguchi rebounded by winning her next two bouts in the inaugural Valkyrie women's featherweight tournament. The first was a unanimous decision win over Emi Fujino on April:25,:2009:(2009-04-25) at Valkyrie 02 in a rematch of their 2007 bout. The second tournament bout was against Kyoko Takabayashi, whom Yamaguchi was able to defeat with a close split decision at Cage Force & Valkyrie on July:12,:2009:(2009-07-12), winning the tournament in the process and earning the right to face Yuka Tsuji for Valkyrie's Featherweight championship.
At Valkyrie 04, in her second match against Tsuji, Yamaguchi was once again the underdog, but she managed to defeat Tsuji with a rear naked choke in only 76 seconds. This was the first time that Tsuji was defeated by a fellow *anese fighter and only the second time that she had been defeated in her MMA career. Yamaguchi became Valkyrie's Featherweight Champion in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of women's mixed martial arts.
On November:28,:2010:(2010-11-28), Yamaguchi faced Kyoko Takabayashi in a rematch of the 2009 featherweight tournament final and Yamaguchi's first defense of Valkyrie's featherweight *le. Yamaguchi barely retained with a contentious majority draw in which the dissenting judge scored the fight in favor of Takabayashi at Valkyrie 08.
Yamaguchi faced "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba at Pancrase Impressive Tour 3 on April:3,:2011:(2011-04-03). She defeated Sunaba by majority decision.
Yamaguchi next faced Akiko Naito at Pancrase Impressive Tour 4 on May:3,:2011:(2011-05-03). She defeated Naito by armbar submission in the first round.
Yamaguchi faced Seo Hee Ham in a Jewels vs. Valkyrie match at Jewels 15th Ring on July:9,:2011:(2011-07-09). She was defeated by unanimous decision.
Yamaguchi faced Mika Nagano at Jewels 17th Ring on December:17,:2011:(2011-12-17). She won the fight by split decision.
Yamaguchi fought outside *an for the first time in her MMA career when she faced Katja Kankaanpää at Botnia Punishment 11 on March:23,:2012:(2012-03-23) in Finland. She was defeated by unanimous decision.
On July:21,:2012:(2012-07-21), Yamaguchi faced Emi Tomimatsu in a rematch at Jewels 20th Ring. She defeated Tomimatsu by unanimous decision.
Yamaguchi next faced Megumi Fujii at Vale Tudo *an 2012 on December:24,:2012:(2012-12-24). She was defeated by unanimous decision.
On May:25,:2013:(2013-05-25), Yamaguchi faced Seo Ye Jung at Jewels 24th Ring. She defeated Jung by submission due to an armbar in the first round.
In her second fight outside *an, Yamaguchi faced Patricia Vidonic at Pacific Xtreme Combat 40 on October:25,:2013:(2013-10-25) in Guam. She was defeated by split decision.
Yamaguchi faced Julie Mezabarba as part of an alternate bout for the Atomweight World Grand-Prix at ONE Championship: Empower on September 3, 2021. She lost the bout via unanimous decision.
Yamaguchi faced Jihin Radzuan at ONE Championship: Bad Blood on February 11, 2022, as a late notice replacement for Jenelyn Olsim. She lost the bout via unanimous decision.
Submission grappling and shoot boxing career
Yamaguchi tried her hand in submission grappling, first in the Abu Dhabi Combat Club *an Trial final qualifier in the under-55:kg cl*, where she was defeated by points by Yasuko Mogi on April:15,:2007:(2007-04-15). In her second and final submission grappling match, she was once again defeated by points; this time by women's MMA star Miku Matsumoto at DEEP X03 on July:5,:2008:(2008-07-05).
Yamaguchi has had a more successful run in shoot boxing. She began competing on August:23,:2009:(2009-08-23), in the shoot boxing tournament Girls S-Cup 2009, where she defeated by decision South Korean female Muay thai kickboxer Su Jeong Lim and fellow mixed martial artist and karateka Madoka Okada before losing against female shoot boxing rising star Rena Kubota in the tournament final. Yamaguchi won her next two bouts by decision. She participated in the shoot boxing Girls S-Cup 2010, defeating Samanta van Dole by technical submission (standing guillotine choke) and losing against Ai Takahashi by unanimous decision after an extra round.
On August:19,:2011:(2011-08-19), Yamaguchi entered the 2011 Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup tournament. She faced Mina in the opening round and was defeated by majority decision.
Yamaguchi entered the 2012 Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup on August:25,:2012:(2012-08-25). She defeated Namtarn Por Munagpetch and Lorena Klijn to advance to the final round, but lost to Rena Kubota via unanimous decision in the tournament final.
Yamaguchi faced Lorena Klijn in a rematch at Shoot Boxing 2013: Act.3 on June:23,:2013:(2013-06-23). She was defeated by unanimous decision.
Yamaguchi was scheduled to compete against Du Peiling at the 2013 Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup *an Midsummer Festival on August:3,:2013:(2013-08-03). However, Peiling suffered an injury and Yamaguchi instead faced Chihiro Kira. She defeated Kira by unanimous decision.
Yamaguchi faced Danielle Kelly in a grappling match at ONE X on March 26, 2022. They grappled to a draw after 12 minutes after neither could find the submission.
Mixed martial arts record
Submission grappling record
Shoot boxing record
Championships and accomplishments
Mixed martial arts
- Deep Jewels Atomweight Champion (one time)
- Smackgirl-F The Next Cinderella Tournament 2007 Lightweight winner
- Valkyrie Featherweight Tournament winner
- Valkyrie Featherweight Champion
- MMAJunkie.com
- 2016 May Fight of the Month vs. Angela Lee
Shoot boxing
- 2009 Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup runner-up
- 2012 Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup runner-up
See also
- List of current ONE fighters
- List of female mixed martial artists
- List of female kickboxers
References
External links
- Professional MMA record for Mei Yamaguchi from Sherdog
- Profile at Fightergirls.com
- Profile at shoot boxing (in *anese)
- Official blog (in *anese)