Girl Power - SmackGirls

[Sfelk]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UlaYbm4iR_4/V_GhilZMkVI/AAAAAAAACPM/Sr8CfFr2LXs9CV3EM9fzmfzZrxKXHoK1wCK4B/s1600/Smackgirl.png

 

Mod: WEC's 1997 Historical Mod (With some additions)

Year: 2000

Avatar: Yuki Nakai

Company Size: Mid-Level Regional (National at first, to hire the fighters)

 

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Girl Power

 

Honestly, i felt like it was about time. The year is 2000 and since my forced retirement in 1995 this sport, Mixed Martial Arts, has grown into something huge. And i bet i will continue getting bigger and bigger.

I mean, PRIDE just held their first Openweight Grand Prix and Kazushi Sakuraba and Royce Gracie blew my mind with their epic 90 minute battle. Shooto, Pancrase and Rings are putting great events and the Japanese market is booming.

Overseas, there are talks about creating an unified ruleset and gain the trust of the american politicians. Even with this whole UFC controversy and bankruptcy talk, apparently, some Las Vegas big shots are negociating to buy it from SEG and i think they will be able to recover from this slump.

 

But there's still one last hole to fill before MMA can truly grow as a sport: the female scene.

I know, LLPW held a few events and there has been some fights in the USA. But there isn't really a company dedicated to give the girls a place where they can showcase their abilities and grow as fighters. A place where we could not only find who the best is, but where they could become their best selves.

And that's why i met with Shinobu Kandori, the Joshi Puroresu star and LLPW founder. We discussed what should be our focus and if it was financially viable to create this company right now.

The first question was an easy one, at least for me. We should be a little bit like the UFC, with strong champions and divisions, and a little bit like PRIDE, with huge tournaments once in a while. I was happy to see that Kandori quickly agreed over this and we moved to our biggest concern, the money.

Through some contacts i had managed to raise about $100,000 but, without a TV broadcast deal, that wouldn't be enough to hold more than a few shows. Kandori decided to give us $50,000 more, through the LLPW and, while it wasn't enough to ensure our future, we both agreed that it was something important enough to try.

Shinobu also ensured me that she would try to bring more Joshi Puroresu wrestlers to fight in our events and even herself was interested in competing. And that's how Smackgirl was born.

 

There was no time to waste and it only took me one week to find 21 girls willing to fight for us:

There's Angel Amoroso (0-5), a pro wrestler from the USA. Becky Levi (5-0), and amazing athlete and Judo Black Belt. Casey Noland (0-2), an american Boxer and Kickboxer. Erin Toughill (0-0-1), a pro Boxer with a 2-1 record. Flor Holman (0-1), a dutch Kickboxer. Irma Verhoef (2-2-2), a Dutch kickboxer and former pro Boxer. Junko Yagi (1-0), a Japanese judoka and Joshi wrestler. Lisa Bjornstad (5-0), an already veteran in the american scene. Marloes Coenen (0-0), a Dutch Jiu Jitsu fighter. I'm not sure, but at 19 years old she might be too young for this. Mayra Conde (2-0), a Guatemalan Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert. Michelle Farrow (2-0), and american Judoka and Jiu Jitsu practicioner. Mizuki Endo (0-1) and Sayuki Okino (0-0), two LLPW Joshi wrestlers. Shannon Hooper (0-0), a Catch Wrestler and Josh Barnett understudy. Shinobu Kandori (3-1), the face of LLPW and former Judoka. Svletana Goundarenko (3-1), the huge Russian Judoka and former Olympian. Terry Lukomski (0-2), one of the american pioneers in the women mma scene. Lioness Asuka (3-1), one half of The Crush Gals, the most successful women's tag team of all time. Yoko Takahashi (2-3), a Kickboxer and former Joshi wrestler. Yumiko Hotta (5-2), an AJWPW Joshi wrestler and a really experienced MMA fighter and Zee Vjesalicu (7-0-1), an ukranian Hockey player and BJJ practioner.

 

We have some good talent here, I'm sure of that. But, with the amount of money and lack of exposure we have, i need to find out who is worth a "push" as soon as possible. As sooner we have main eventers, the better. So, i decided to put together our first event with this objective in mind.

Since we don't have a even number of fighters, i'll let Goundarenko sit this one out. She's our most expensive and well recognized fighter already, no need to test her. Let's hope everything goes according to our plan. This might be the beginning of something huge for Women's MMA.

This is what i came up with for our inaugural event:

 

Smackgirl: Episode 0

Saturday, week 3, November 2000

 

- Main Event -

Shinobu Kandori vs. Lioness Asuka

- Co-Main Event -

Yumiko Hotta vs. Junko Yagi

Main Card

Mayra Conde vs. Irma Verhoeff

Angel Amoroso vs. Lisa Bjoernstad

Becky Levi vs. Mizuki Endo

Michelle Farrow vs. Flor Holman

Casey Noland vs. Yoko Takahashi

Sayuki Okino vs Terry Lukomski

Erin Toughill vs Zee Vjesalicu

Marloes Coenen vs Shannon Hooper

[JGreyA]

<p>Awesome. Someone actually trying to do women's MMA from the beginning. Great change of pace. Looking forward to this one.</p><p> </p><p>

BTW, you're welcome for the header/Smackgirl logo. That's from my blog!</p><p> </p><p>

JA</p>

[Sfelk]

<p>(Phew, sorry for taking so long to continue this! Also, thanks for the header JGreyA! Looks way better than the other one i found haha)</p><p> </p><p>

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</p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><strong><span style="font-size:14px;">Smackgirl: Episode 0</span></strong></p><p>

Saturday, week 3, November 2000</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>- Main Event -</strong></p><p>

Shinobu Kandori defeated Lioness Asuka by UD (Fight of the Night)</p><p>

<strong>- Co-Main Event -</strong></p><p>

Yumiko Hotta defeated Junko Yagi by UD</p><p>

<strong>Main Card</strong></p><p>

Irma Verhoeff defeated Mayra Conde by UD</p><p>

Angel Amoroso defeated Lisa Bjoernstad by UD</p><p>

Becky Levi defeated Mizuki Endo by SD</p><p>

Flor Holman defeated Michelle Farrow by UD</p><p>

Yoko Takahashi defeated Casey Noland by UD</p><p>

Sayuki Okino defeated Terry Lukomski by UD</p><p>

Erin Toughill defeated Zee Vjesalicu by UD</p><p>

Marloes Coenen defeated Shannon Hooper by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in the 1st Round (Sub of the Night)</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>

So, i should say that this first event was a HUGE success for us! We had an attendance of 860 people (way more than i expected) and, more importantly, we raised $60,984. This was incredibly unexpected for me and i'm really excited to see what we can accomplish in the future.</p><p>

Speaking about future... i got to admit, i was completely wrong about that Coenen girl. She dominated Shannon Cooper in such a way... she was so calm that i still can't believe she's just 19 years old! Can't wait to see how see will hold up against tougher competition, like the Joshi girls.</p><p>

By the way, the japanese wrestlers did pretty well. Shinobu Kandori and Lionness Asuka had a great bout, with lots of striking and, surprisingly, a lot of blood too. In the end, the crowd loved their effort and that's what really matters.</p><p>

Toughill and Vjesalicu really surprised me as i thought that the Ukranian would've dominated with her wrestling. But Erin did an amazing job of using her bigger reach to strike and fending off Vjesalicu's takedown attempts. She's another on to keep an eye on.</p><p> </p><p>

Oh, another thing came out of this event! A bunch of other fighters approached us and we signed some interesting new prospects:</p><p>

<strong>Atsuko Sakuraba</strong>, a 24 years old Gravure Idol. Yep, that's right. A Gravure Idol. I don't really know what to do with her, since i don't think she can really fight. But she's really famous and i had to sign her. <strong>Bambi Bertoncello</strong>, a american Pro Boxer with a 2-2 record. <strong>Irina Rodina</strong>, a Russian Olympian Judoka, she already has 3 victories in MMA, including wins against Yumiko Hotta and Yoko Takahashi. <strong>Jennifer Howe</strong>, one ofthe MMA pionneers in America with a 4-0 record. <strong>Kathy Brothers</strong>, the first American woman to earn a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. <strong>Kyoko Inoue</strong> a Joshi wrestler, founder of NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling. <strong>Mari Kaneko</strong> a Karateka, runner-up in the Real Fighting Karate-do Championships in 1999 and 2000. <strong>Misae Watanabe</strong> a Joshi wrestler for Big Japan Pro-Wrestling. <strong>Miwako Ishihara</strong>, the Real Fighting Karate-do Championships winner in 1999 and 2000. <strong>Tatiana Kovochinova</strong> another great Russian Judoka. <strong>Yuuki Kondo</strong>, a Japanese Judoka. <strong>Megumi Yabushita</strong>, a decorated Judoka and Pro wrestler. And, finally, the brawler <strong>Mika Harigai</strong>.</p><p>

These additions are everything i've expected and even more. It gives us depth and a deeper talent pool to grow this sport.</p><p> </p><p>

But, enough about the past. Let's think about the future. And the future is our next event: Episode One.</p><p>

From now on, i decided to start hyping our impressive youngsters Marloes Coenen and Erin Toughill. For Coenen, i want to giver her a slightly tougher match, and i think Flor Holman is the perfect girl for this. She's a better striker than Marloes and proved herself on the ground against Michelle Farrow in our first event. I'll be interested to see how Marloes will fare against her.</p><p>

For the main event, i'll bring our best fighter: Svletana Goundarenko to face the newly signed Kyoko Inoue, the Joshi wrestler. This fight is interesting because Inoue is the fighter that come the closest to Svletana's weight, even tough she's a lot smaller. But i'm curious to see what happens when Goundarenko loses some of her "power" advantage.</p><p>

I'll be putting the Gravure Idol in the Co-Main Event, also. Against Lisa Bjornstad... nothing against her, but she did lose to the, previously, 0-5 Angel Amoroso. She might be the safest match for Sakuraba.</p><p>

In the end, that's what our first official event looks like:</p><p> </p><p>

</p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><strong><span style="font-size:14px;">Smackgirl: Episode 1</span></strong></p><p>

Saturday, week 1, February 2001</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>- Main Event -</strong></p><p>

Svletana Goundarenko vs. Kyoko Inoue</p><p>

<strong>- Co-Main Event -</strong></p><p>

Atsuko Sakuraba vs. Lisa Bjornstad</p><p>

<strong>- Main Card - </strong></p><p>

Marloes Coenen vs. Flor Holman</p><p>

Kathy Brothers vs. Junko Yagi</p><p>

Tatiana Kovochinova vs. Jennifer Howe</p><p>

Bambi Bertoncello vs. Mari Kaneko</p><p>

Yoko Takahashi vs. Zee Vjesalicu</p><p>

Mika Harigai vs. Angel Amoroso</p><p>

Irma Verhoeff vs. Miwako Ishihara</p><p>

Becky Levi vs. Megumi Yabushita</p></div><p></p><p></p>