Does this look like the face of someone who could choke you into submission?
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Well, it is. In a stunning decision, Japan let a 12-year-old girl, who weighs 86 pounds, fight in the 95-pound minimum weight division in an amateur MMA match against a grown women twice her age.
The little girl won.
'Momo, a 12-year-old MMA hopeful, choked out Momoko Yamasaki at the Deep Jewels event in Tokyo. The New York Post reported that under the amateur rules both fighters wore headgear and strikes to the head on the ground were prohibited.
This training video gives you an idea of how small Momo is. Her training partner is all of 5-foot-4, and Momo is significantly smaller:
The International Sport Combat Federation — a sanctioning body for MMA contests — notes that it has a junior division for fighters age 8-17, but strangely notes, in bold caps on its website: JUNIOR OR YOUTH MMA IS NOT LEGAL OR REGULATED ANYWHERE IN THE USA.
So while a 12-year-old getting in the octagon may be part of the MMA culture, letting a girl who hasn't even become a teenager fight a grown woman seems out of bounds.
