Shooto 2022 Vol. 7: Sawada wins tournament and title -

As one of the oldest MMA promotions in Japan, Shooto has an excellent system in place for developing young fighters. This system has seen fighters like Ayaka Hamasaki and Saori Oshima fight as amateurs and eventually make their pro-debuts for the promotion. Following in her teammates footsteps, Chihiro Sawada joined Shooto in 2021 and made her pro-debut against Yuki Ono, where they fought to a draw. Later that year, the 2022 Infinity League tournament was announced. Participants were to include Sawada, Ono, Shooto staple Miku Nakamura, MMA legend Hisae Watanabe, and Haruna Kato. This past Sunday, on her brother’s birthday, just a week after her own and roughly a year after she defeated Miku Nakamura in the opening round, Chihiro Sawada won the tournament and was crowned the promotion’s inaugural Atomweight champion. She’s already told us that she’s dreamed of fighting abroad since she got started, so it will be interesting to see what the future has in hold for the young champion. (All photos used in this were taken by @Executioner893 and are used with his permission)

Sawada goes undefeated, defeats Ono in rematch

Unlike most MMA tournaments that follow a single-elimination model, the Infinity League followed a point-based system and all the fighters were scheduled to face each other, with whoever scored the most points being declared the winner. As quick finishes received the most points, there was an incentive for quick action. The scoring went as follows:

1st Round Finish: 4 points
2nd Round Finish: 3 points
Decision Win: 2 points
Draw: 1 point

While Sawada was the only undefeated fighter going into Sunday’s event, she still needed at least a draw to guarantee overall victory. Going into the final round ,she had 8 points, twice as many as anyone else, but Nakamura, Ono, and Watanabe were still in positions to tie her, if they got first round finishes and she failed to get any points. In the end, Sawada remained undefeated and defeated Ono, whom she fought to a draw in her pro-debut. Going into the fight, she told us that she was motivated to show how much she had grown since then and that is exactly what happened. She showed improved striking and looked to easily avoid Ono’s submission attempts, while using her wrestling to repeatedly get Ono down, land GNP,. and even go for an armbar near the end of the fight. Her performance was so dominant that one of the judges scored the two round affair 20-17. After defeating Ono, she was given two belts, one for the tournament, and one as the new Atomweight champion. Standing in the cage, with one belt wrapped around her waist and the other over shoulder, Sawada addressed the crowd, “Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the Infinity League after my pro-debut. I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my everyday, including my family and friends. I’m still inexperienced and have a lot of things I need to do. Thank you for your support. I know it’s not enough, but I’m happy to have won these two belts, something my brother couldn’t do.”