Medal record
Women'sfreestyle wrestling
Representing Japan
Asian Championships
	1997 Taipei	-51kg

Yuka Tsuji (辻結花,Tsuji Yuka; born(1974-12-11)December 11, 1974)^[1] is a Japanese femalemixed martial artist whose nickname isVale Tudo Queen.

Tsuji was a prolific female mixed martial artist in the 2000s. Tsuji is a formerSmackgirl tournament winner, Smackgirl Lightweight Champion and Valkyrie Featherweight Champion.MMAranking system portalFight Matrix ranked Tsuji as the No. 1 pound-for-pound Female Mixed Martial artist in the world in the years 2002, 2004 and 2005.^[3] Between 2002 and her retirement from MMA in 2012, she had frequently placed in the Top 5 of women's MMA fighters inflyweight andstrawweight classes.^[4]

Tsuji was born on(1974-12-11)December 11, 1974 inHirakata, Osaka, Japan. She graduated from the prestigiousChukyo Women's University; a university notable for itswrestling family. During her time there, Tsuji placed third in Women's Freestyle Wrestling (51 kg) in the 1997 Asian Championship.^[5][6][7]

Tsuji spent the majority of her career competing in the now-defunctSmackgirl promotion. She debuted with defunct promotion Ax on December 26, 2001 (2001-12-26) in the eventAx – Vol. 2: We Want To Shine with a victory bysubmission (armbar) over the previously undefeatedIkuma Hoshino, who at the time was the most accomplished female Japanese MMA fighter.^[8] This would be Hoshino's only loss in her MMA career.

Tsuji debuted inSmackgirl atSmackgirl – Royal Smack 2002 on April 7, 2002 (2002-04-07), defeating Hiromi Oka by submission due to arear naked choke. Including her debut, Tsuji would go on awinning streak of 8 consecutive victories; in the process winning the SmackgirlJapan 2002 Cup Middleweight Tournament on June 28, 2005 (2005-06-28). In her ninth professional bout, she faced Brazilian fighter Ana Michelle Tavares. Tavares defeated Tsuji with a triangle armbar submission in Tsuji's debut for theDeep promotion atDeep – 11th Impact on July 13, 2003 (2003-07-13). In this match, Tsuji injured her left shoulder. This was Tsuji's first defeat in MMA. She avenged this loss years later.

After her first loss, Tsuji won her next four fights and then faced Hisae Watanabe atSmackgirl – Road to Dynamic!! for the first Smackgirl Lightweight Championship on June 28, 2005 (2005-06-28). Tsuji won the title after defeating Watanabe by armbar at 3:51 of the first round. She would go on to successfully defend the title five times until the demise of the Smackgirl promotion.^[7]

On September 6, 2007 (2007-09-06), Tsuji would get the chance to face Tavares again. At the eventSmackgirl – Queens' Hottest Summer, Tsuji was able to avenge her only loss at the time by defeating Tavares via KO at 4:47 of the first round. After defending her title for the last time against South KoreanSeo Hee Ham, Tsuji debuted in Valkyrie at the promotion's inaugural eventValkyrie 1 on November 8, 2008 (2008-11-08), where she defeatedMei Yamaguchi by decision.^[9] Tsuji became the first Valkyrie Featherweight Champion on April 25, 2009 (2009-04-25) by defeating American fighter Kate Martinez.^[2][10]

Her 14-fight winning streak came to an end on February 11, 2010 (2010-02-11) when she rematched Mei Yamaguchi, who this time was able to defeat Tsuji with a rear-naked choke in only 76 seconds.^[11] This was just the second time that Tsuji was defeated and the first time that she was defeated by a fellow Japanese fighter.^[12] This is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of women's mixed martial arts.^[13]

Having recovered from surgery on her knee and shoulder, Tsuji returned to MMA in aJewels vs. Valkyrie bout againstSaori Ishioka atJewels 15th Ring on July 9, 2011 (2011-07-09) inTokyo, Japan.^[14][15] She defeated Ishioka by unanimous decision.^[16][17]

Tsuji facedAyaka Hamasaki in a Jewels lightweight title fight atJewels 19th Ring on May 26, 2012 (2012-05-26) in Osaka, Japan.^[18] She was defeated by submission due to a kimura in the first round.^[19]

On September 29, 2012 (2012-09-29), Tsuji faced Hyo Kyung Song atDeep Osaka Impact 2012.^[20][21] She defeated Song by technical submission due to an armbar in the first round.^[22]

• Bronze in Women's Freestyle Wrestling at 51 kg in the 1997 Asian Championship.^[30]
• 2002 JAPAN CUP middleweight tournament champion^[28]
• Inaugural Smackgirl Lightweight Champion (2005)^[28]
• Inaugural Valkyrie Featherweight Champion (2009)^[23]
• Fight Matrix
  • 2002 No. 1 Female Fighter of the Year^[3]
  • 2004 No. 1 Female Fighter of the Year^[3]
  • 2005 No. 1 Female Fighter of the Year^[3]

• List of female mixed martial artists

• Professional MMA record for Yuka Tsuji fromSherdog
• Profile at Fightergirls.com
• Official blog(in Japanese)

• Japanese female mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing freestyle wrestling
• Japanese female sport wrestlers
• 1974 births
• Living people
• Shigakkan University alumni
• Asian Wrestling Championships medalists
• Martial artists from Osaka
• 20th-century Japanese women
• 21st-century Japanese women

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