Mei Yamaguchi

Mei Yamaguchi (山口 芽生), formerly known by her ring name V Hajime (V一), is a Japanese female mixed martial artist and kickboxer.

Her former nickname comes from the V1 armlock wrestling move.

Yamaguchi currently fights as a Super Atomweight in the Rizin Fighting Federation promotion.

She has a notable victory over Yuka Tsuji and was the final Valkyrie Featherweight Champion.

She has also competed in Deep Jewels and ONE Championship.

She is currently ranked #5 in the ONE Championship Women's Atomweight rankings.

Yamaguchi was born in Tokyo, Japan on February 3, 1983, and grew up with a sister and a little brother.

While living in Los Angeles, California, she studied some of her elementary school years before returning to Japan following her mother's unexpected death.

Yamaguchi began to learn karate during her residence in the United States around the age of 7, yearning to be like Jackie Chan.

In junior high she played softball, and during college she started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

She also studied abroad in the United States during her university years: she first attended Japan Campus of Temple University before transferring to El Camino College, from where she graduated.

After returning to Japan, she joined Butoku Kai.

She currently serves as the leader of the Morishita branch.

In 2005, Yamaguchi entered into the Max Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

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, 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.

On September 6, 2007 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 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.

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 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, 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 Japanese 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, Yamaguchi faced Kyoko Takabayashi in a rematch of the 2009 featherweight tournament final and Yamaguchi's first defense of Valkyrie's featherweight title.

Yamaguchi barely retained with a contentious majority draw in which the dissenting judge scored the fight in favor of Takabayashi at Valkyrie 08.

On February 5, 2011, Yamaguchi announced that she would begin competing as a freelance fighter and changed her ring name to V.V.

Yamaguchi faced "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba at Pancrase Impressive Tour 3 on April 3, 2011.

She defeated Sunaba by majority decision.

Yamaguchi next faced Akiko Naito at Pancrase Impressive Tour 4 on May 3, 2011.

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.

She was defeated by unanimous decision.

Yamaguchi faced Mika Nagano at Jewels 17th Ring on December 17, 2011.

She won the fight by split decision.

Yamaguchi fought outside Japan for the first time in her MMA career when she faced Katja Kankaanpää at Botnia Punishment 11 on March 23, 2012 in Finland.

She was defeated by unanimous decision.

On July 21, 2012, Yamaguchi faced Emi Tomimatsu in a rematch at Jewels 20th Ring.