Megumi Yabushita

Megumi Yabushita (藪下 めぐみ) is a retired Japanese female mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and judoka.

She has participated in several Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotions.

She is a Japanese national judo champion and a former Smackgirl open weight champion and tournament winner.

Yabushita was born on March 2, 1972 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.

Her father introduced her into judo, training her before entering elementary school.

Yabushita excelled at judo starting in high school and became a regular participant in national championships.

Yabushita graduated from Asahikawa University High School, where she won the judo club competitions in the less than 48 kg division in 1988 and 1989.

Scouted by Japan's corporate judo team Miki House, she won the all-Japan individual championships in 1993, in 1994 she placed third in the Fukuoka international women's judo championships in the 52 kg class and in 1995 she placed fifth in the World Masters Munich in the 52 kg class.

and also participated in the 52 kg class in the 1995 World Judo Championships celebrated in Chiba, Japan.

When she joined women's wrestling promotion Jd' in 1996, she met Yoko Takahashi, "Japan's First Woman MMA Fighter."

At the time, Takahashi, injured with a hernia that made her retire from pro-wrestling and focus on MMA, was working as pro-wrestling referee and also trained in MMA, which was the reason why Yabushita started training in MMA.

In 1996, Yabushita joined Jd' wrestling promotion, She made her debut on April 20, 1997 in a match against Sumie Sakai at Korakuen Hall.

On September 7, 1997, Yabushita won the Jd' Junior title in Tokyo by winning a round-robin tournament where she defeated Sakai in the final match and she would lose it on her first defense against The Bloody on October 22, 1997.

On December 8, 1997, Yabushita made her MMA debut against South Korea Ji Hee Yu, defeating her with an armbar submission at 2:51 of the first round at Central Martial Arts Association event Octagon Challenge, held at the Nagoya Congress Center Century Hall in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.

She would regain the title on January 24, 1999 by defeating Sakai once again and this time went on to successfully defend it three times before vacating it.

On October 9, 1999, Yabushita and Sakai became the Trans-world Wrestling Federation

World Women's Tag Team champions.

Yabushita also won the American Wrestling Federation World Women's Title on August 22, 1999 and on November 28, 2000.

and defended it one time before losing it on March 7, 2000 against Crusher Maedomari and Drake Morimatsu.

On November 26, 2000, Yabushita defeated The Bloody to win the BS Japan Queen of the Ring Title, and with his victory of the AWF title, she unifies both titles that then became the Jd' Double Title.

Her next bouts and her rose to prominence would take place during Smackgirl's ReMix World Cup 2000 celebrated on December 5, 2000 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

The tournament held a ¥10,000,000 for the winner, ¥1,000,000 for the runner-up and ¥500,000 for both third places.

Yabushita's first match in the tournament was against American kickboxer Bambi Bertoncello, whom Yabushita defeated with an armbar submission.

Her spotlight in the tournament was in her match against Russian judoka Svetlana Goundarenko, who had submitted American Erin Toughill, outweighed Yabushita for over 200 lb and had a height advantage of 33 cm. Despite these disadvantages, Yabushita was able to control the fight with her quickness and takedown skills, earning a unanimous decision victory and a spot in the final.

In the final, Dutch fighter Marloes Coenen defeated Yabushita by unanimous decision.

With her performance in the tournament, Yabushita and women's MMA became one of the hottest topics in Japanese fight sports.

Yabushita lost her next bout by technical submission (armbar) against Erin Toughill on May 3, 2001 in the ReMix's event Golden Gate 2001.

In a rematch of their 2001 bout, Yamaguchi and Erin Toughill fought in the tournament final.

Megumi Yabushita and Sumie Sakai would regain the title one more time, by pinning Kazuki on February 10, 2002 and Sachie Abe on February 7, 2002 in a couple of special stipulation matches.

Yabushita left Jd' gym in 2002.

Yabushita's next match was on 2002-01-13 in Jd' wrestling promotion event No holds barred 2002 in a MMA rules bout where she was once again defeated by Marloes Coenen, this time by a rear naked choke submission.

Yabushita would lose for the third time in a row against Japanese Asako Saioka who, contrary to Yabushita's previous opponents, matched her in height and weight and defeated Yabushita by unanimous decision on June 1, 2002 in ReMix promotion successor, Smackgirl, in the event Smack Legend 2002 at the Differ Ariake Arena.

She would win the Tag team title one more time with Maru as her partner on June 22, 2003 by winning the final of an 8-team tournament against The Bloody and Yumi Ohka, who would in turn gain the title in Yabushita's and Maru's first defense on August 10, 2003.

On June 4, 2003, Yabushita got another victory by submitting Japanese kickboxer Naoko Sakamoto with an armbar at 0:23 of round one in Smackgirl Third Season-IV.

At All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling event Tag League: The Best, Yabushita defeated fellow pro-wrestler Shioya Yoshimi by armbar submission in a MMA bout on December 19, 2003.

Yabushita made her debut in Shooto promotion on November 26, 2004 in the event G-Shooto Japan: Activation, defeating Hitomi Akano in Akano's professional debut and in a match in which Yabushita applied a giant swing on Akano.

On December 19, 2004, Yabushita participated in Smackgirl's World ReMix 2004 held on Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in the open weight queen decision tournament, which would crown the first Smackgirl open weight champion.

Josh Barnett's student, American fighter Shannon Hooper, was Yabushita's first opponent whom Yabushita defeated at 0:29 of round one with a wristlock.

Yabushita next faced American grappler Roxanne Modafferi in the semi-finals, defeating Modafferi by unanimous decision.

Yabushita along with Command Bolshoi became the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and JWP Tag Team Champions on April 12, 2009.