Like any sport, MMA also has its fair share of notable pioneers and figures that helped build it up to where we are today. Becoming ‘Mega Megu’: The Megumi Fujii story provides an in-depth look into the mind of a woman who crafted a lasting, yet overshadowed, legacy in the world’s fastest-growing sport.
Chpt. 1: Fanning the Flame
The year 2000 is coming to its end. Three days short of Christmas day, Fighting Network Rings provided fight fans with an early gift in the form of mixed martial arts action. It was Rings: King of Kings 2000 Block B—an event that acted as one of three hosting a heavyweight tournament. Of the various names that were in action, one stood out above the rest. Unknown to the world at the time, undefeated 3-0 Russian Sambo specialist Fedor Emelianenko was on the verge of rattling off a legendary winning streak.
Among those in attendance that night was one Megumi Fujii. A Japanese Judoka who, like Emelianenko, would soon wind up finding herself sculpting out a truly iconic career of her own—whether she realized it yet or not.
Still a relatively new concept in the early 2000s, MMA was finding its place in cultures around the world… or it was at least trying to. Rules and boundaries were eventually needed to help evolve the sport from what was viewed in particular public visions as a form of human cockfighting. Actual guidelines gave it that sense of being a legitimate sport rather than merely a barbaric spectacle.
With all that in mind, the participants were exclusively men. And for many years to follow, the perception would remain that way in the few continents putting on events. Already as highly criticized as MMA was, having or seeing women participate was something almost unfathomable. You could even say it was looked down on.
Even for Megumi Fujii herself, someone who would become entrenched in a martial arts lifestyle almost immediately upon her arrival into the world, the first sight of MMA in full effect was jarring.
“After graduating college, I was introduced to a sport called Combat Sambo,” she recollected, “I think that was back in 1998 to 1999. And around that time, that was the first time I attended a professional mixed martial arts event. One way to describe it was as a very shocking experience. People getting punched in the face, bloodied up, faces swollen everywhere. It was definitely a non-everyday experience. Like a non-everyday atmosphere that was going on in a professional mixed martial arts event. So I was definitely scared. But also I got this thrilling experience and felt somewhat of an addicting excitement out of it.”
Continued: Becoming 'Mega Megu': The Megumi Fujii Story
