Pancrase 326: a new venue, a new structure, and a new challenger -

This Monday, a national holiday in Japan, Pancrase is scheduled to hold their first event of the year, Pancrase 326. This event is noteworthy for several reasons. First, this will be their first event since they restructured. Masakazu Sakai, who purchased the promotion in 2012, will now be serving at the Director of Sales with Hidetaka Fukui now serving as the Executive Director. Second, this will be their first event since Studio Coast closed their doors. Studio Coast had served as their Tokyo venue since Differ Ariake closed its doors near the end of 2017. For this upcoming event, they will be using the Belle Salle Takadanobaba, a 2,000 seat hall that has also played host to the pro-wrestling promotion Stardom. Third and last, this event will be headlined by three title fights. Of particular note is the match between Karen and Emi Fujino.

Having emerged around 2014, Team Date has had a presence on the local Japanese fight scene for some time now, with their members competing across different promotions and different disciplines. However, it is worth noting that Team Date is not exclusively a martial arts team. It is more of a talent group. The members do comedy, act, fight, and even pro-wrestling. So when Karen, Nøri, and Darani decided to focus on MMA, it makes sense that they formed a new team, Team Pravajra. Of all the members, the youngest, Karen has found the most success. At 4-0, with all of her wins coming inside the Pancrase cage, Karen is coming off of three straight finishes. Having now earned a title shot, she is set to face her biggest challenge to date. The current Queen of Pancrase, Emi Fujino, is 23 years older than Karen. In fact, Fujino made her pro-debut before Karen even turned a year old. Since then, Fujino has put together a record of 25-12-1, a total of 34 more fights than Karen.

Despite the massive gap in experience, Karen has several things going for her. First, she strikes at range. This is important because Fujino will likely have a physical and grappling advantage going into this fight. She will need to hit and move to keep Fujino off of her. Like her teammate Nøri, she likes to throw a variety of kicks, which could help her keep some distance between herself and the champion. Second, Fujino cuts easily. She has only ever been finished by cuts and has suffered them throughout most of her career. This may be good for Karen as she likes to throw elbows. In fact, her last fight was stopped due to a cut that she opened with an elbow. If she is able to land a sharp elbow early on, it could drastically change how the fight plays out. Finally, Karen has youth on her side. Over the course of a long career, Fujino has undoubtedly suffered injuries and taken damage in her many wars, like those with Megumi Fujii, Ayaka Hamasaki, and Jessica Aguilar.