FO tracked her down in Tokyo. Tokyo is even more humid than usual. The city is everything you expect it to be: the clattering sounds and flashing lights of pachinko parlors, bustling yet cramped restaurants clustered under rumbling train tracks spewing steam into the night air and an incessant buzz of energy.
The inside of the Abe Ani Combat Club is no different. Where most are a small single matted room, AACC has wrestling mats, a full-sized boxing ring and a rare feeling of spaciousness. Megumi Fujii is rapidly becoming considered as the greatest pound-for-pound female fighter walking the planet. At the time of going to press she claims a perfect 22 fights with 22 wins β the first professional to establish such a record.
By the time you read this she could be and champion. A quick and powerful fighter with lightning fast takedowns and the ability to finish a fight in seconds with her arsenal of submissions, she stalks opponents across the ring with frightening efficiency: head down, eyes forward.
From compact and cute elementary schoolers to gangly college students, each one pushes, pulls and sweats. Several are tipped to be future wrestling Olympians, such is the reputation of the gym. When the class nears finish, the kids sit in a circle listening to their gurus. I had no idea. I train hard, and I focus on one fight at a time. I love mixed martial arts. Even training every day, I never get bored. And I want to achieve things that nobody else has done.
Where everyone else will quit, I will never quit. She arrived for the interview dressed in a loose, floral summer dress with neatly straightened hair. And yet, she is one of the most fearsome and successful competitors β male or female β to ever step foot in ring or cage. She has left a trail of destructed limbs in the wake of her perfect record: tough Australian Serin Murray got her ankle broken by Megumi in Masako Yoshida suffered injury from a heel hook at the hands of Fujii in Most of her ten armbar victories have left opponents dealing with busted elbows.
