Ayaka Miura Taps Laura Balin With Sensational Submission

Ayaka Miura put on a dominant judo clinic in her promotional debut at ONE: CALL TO GREATNESS, and she immediately announced herself as a force in the women’s strawweight mixed martial arts division. 

The Japanese athlete dispatched former ONE Women’s Strawweight World Title challenger Laura “La Gladiadora” Balin with an Americana shoulder lock after just 73 seconds of action inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, 22 February.

Miura — a third-degree judo black belt — wasted no time as she forced her way into a clinch in the opening seconds of the bout. Balin attempted to free herself, but the Tribe Tokyo MMA representative’s control was too strong. 

As soon as she saw an opportunity, Miura scored with a high-impact hip throw to toss the Argentinian to the canvas, and she fell straight into her favored scarf hold position.

The 28-year-old judoka instantly looked to attack Balin’s left arm. “La Gladiadora” seemed aware of it, but she could not stop it. 

Miura forced her opponent’s forearm underneath her left leg, and then turned her hips to apply tremendous pressure from the Americana submission to elicit the tap.

The Tokyo native was emotional in her post-bout interview with Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson, and she revealed she had battled hard to be in Singapore.

“I’m very thankful for [coach, Ryo] Chonan-san’s support, that’s how important this match was,” she explained. “This victory was all planned out. This is my style!”

Miura made a huge statement by submitting Balin in the first round, especially after the South American pushed the division’s reigning queen “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan for five rounds in June 2018.

With the victory, the Japanese star’s record improved to 8-2 (1 NC) and she extended her win streak to four.