GIRL FIGHT | Mei Yamaguchi (top) rains down heavy strikes on Angela Lee in the main event of ONE: ASCENT TO POWER (Photo : ONE Championship)
Mei Yamaguchi has shared the cage with the likes of female MMA notables Ayaka Hamasaki, Megumi Fujii, and Seo Hee Ham in her highly-successful MMA career.
Yamaguchi, though, experienced something quite different from those previous battles after going 25 minutes with Angela Lee for the ONE Women's Atomweight World Championship at ONE: ASCENT TO POWER.
Lee, just 19 years old, scored a unanimous decision and the title against Yamaguchi in front of a packed 12,000-capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium.
"Angela Lee is such a great fighter," Yamaguchi said. "I knew she was great, but I had experience and a strong spirit. I thought I would be able to knock her out or submit her.
"She is really good. She's young, but she is great. I did the best I could, but she was better."
Yamaguchi had her three-fight win streak snapped with the decision loss, which was her first setback since a 2014 decision defeat at the hands of Hamasaki, who is the current Invicta FC atomweight champion. The 33-year-old from Japan is now 15-9-1 over her 25-fight career, with all nine setbacks coming by way of decision.
"I have a lot of weaknesses still (that I need to work on)," she said. "I know that. I still have a desire to learn more. I really respect (Lee), but I still want to train and come back for ONE Championship."
"V.V." added that the constant pressure Lee put on her impressed her the most about "Unstoppable", adding "I just think she was better than me (on this night)."
Yamaguchi entered the contest coming off three wins for the Deep Jewels promotion, including a second round finish of Satomi Takano last May. She also landed a flying knee that knocked out Miyoko Kusaka in 44 seconds early in 2015.
As for her five-round performance vs. Lee, Yamaguchi stated she had "no regrets" over how the contest went.
