Amber Brown Shocks Kikuyo Ishikawa at Pancrase 250
You have to travel nearly 6,000 miles from New Mexico to see the venue where our 2013 Upset of the Year took place. The event was Pancrase 250 where Albuquerque’s Amber Brown (3-1) of FIT NHB, would defeat the #6 world ranked atomweight in the world Kikuyo Ishikawa (9-4) at Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Ishikawa was in her home country and came into the fight victorious in seven of her previous eight bouts while Brown was coming off a submission loss to Emi Fujino just two months before.
The control that Brown would have from the onset of the contest would take Ishikawa off guard.
The fight would start with both women cautiously stalking each other. It would be Brown who would initiate a clinch in Ishikawa’s corner. A small cut would develop over Brown’s left eye forcing the referee to momentarily stop the action.
Once the fight resumed the women would once again take a technical kickboxing approach.
Brown’s southpaw stance appeared to have Ishikawa extremely patient, carefully picking her shots which Brown would occasionally counter.
Living up to her nickname Brown would once again bully her opponent, this time to her own corner and land some very clean knees in the clinch, ending the round strongly.
Remaining aggressive in the second round, Brown outlanded and oustruck Ishikawa. Fine kickboxing and work in the clinch would easily win her the first half of the round. During one of the clinches, Ishikawa would use the corner padding to hurl herself forward and take Brown to the ground. The Albuquerquean would immediately reverse to top position but would soon see herself in an armbar attempt.
The round would end during the power struggle.
In the final stanza, Brown’s Muay Thai clinch and knees would continue to reign over Ishikawa. The veteran would tie Brown around the waist and manage a takedown whereshe worked effective ground and pound as the feisty Brown defended extremely well.
Amber Brown def. Kikuyo Ishikawa via Armbar in R3 at 3:27
Photo: boutreview.com
While working from full guard, Ishikawa would make an uncharacteristic mistake for a veteran of hammerfisting across her body, reluctantly stretching out her off-arm and leaving it vulnerable. She would pay for her novice act as Brown would maneuver into a slick armbar that forced the highly ranked atomweight to tap.
Just this week Ishikawa announced that she is expecting her first child and would be retiring from the sport of MMA.
See the full fight between Amber Brown and Kikuyo Ishikawa below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88-30efa8IY
