Bantamweight Queen of Pancrase Rin Nakai picked up one of the biggest wins of her career tonight at Pancrase 258 in Tokyo, Japan. Nakai earned a clear-cut Unanimous Decision victory over Invicta FC contender Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio in a non-title bout during part one of tonight’s card.

Nakai kept D’Alelio pinned down throughout the three-round fight and she threatened with numerous kimura attempts from top position. D’Alelio’s defence was solid, but Nakai dominated the action on the mat and cruised to victory on the judges’ scorecards. She has now won six straight fights.

Nakai (16-0-1) wasted little time in closing the distance in round one and she used a body-lock takedown to get D’Alelio (7-6-0) down to the mat. From there, Nakai transitioned to side control and briefly threw elbows, but they had little effect. She switched her focus to a kimura attempt and worked to secure the submission for close to two minutes, but D’Alelio refused to tap out. D’Alelio scrambled and tried for a kneebar, but Nakai kicked her way free and stood up before the bell. All three judges scored the first round in Nakai’s favour.

It was more of the same in the second stanza and Nakai took D’Alelio back down early on. This time, she worked for a kimura from side control for a full four minutes while D’Alelio defended from the bottom. In spite of her best efforts, Nakai could not force a tap from D’Alelio, but her ground dominance was enough to earn her another shutout on the scorecards. One judge scored the second round 10-8 for Nakai, while the remaining two both had it 10-9 for the Japanese star.

As round three began, D’Alelio appeared to be wary of Nakai’s takedowns, but she pressed forward with strikes in an effort to get Nakai off of her game. Nakai stayed calm and took D’Alelio down into side control. She once again hunted for a kimura, but D’Alelio managed to scramble free. Nakai moved to mount position and D’Alelio fought back to half-guard before the end of the fight.

Judges Yoshifumi Oyabu, Tomoki Matsumiya and Hirotaka Tomiyama all scored the fight 30-26 for Nakai, who has defeated four straight American opponents. The eccentric champion has shown marked improvement in many areas of her MMA game during the past year and she has at last become a true contender in the stacked women’s bantamweight division.

Winner: Rin Nakai by Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26) after three rounds. She improves to 16-0-1.

(Photo Credit: GBRing.com)