Japanese mixed martial artist, judoka and professional wrestler
 is a retired Japanese female mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and judoka. She has participated in several Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotions. She is a Japanese national judo champion and a former Smackgirl open weight champion and tournament winner.
Background.
Yabushita was born on (1972--) , 1972 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. Her father introduced her into judo, training her before entering elementary school. Yabushita excelled at judo starting in high school and became a regular participant in national championships.
Judo career.
Yabushita graduated from Asahikawa University High School, where she won the judo club competitions in the less than 48 kg division in 1988 and 1989. Scouted by Japan's corporate judo team Miki House, she won the all-Japan individual championships in 1993, in 1994 she placed third in the Fukuoka international women's judo championships in the 52 kg class and in 1995 she placed fifth in the World Masters Munich in the 52 kg class. and also participated in the 52 kg class in the 1995 World Judo Championships celebrated in Chiba, Japan.
Professional wrestling career.
In 1996, Yabushita joined Jd' wrestling promotion, She made her debut on  20, 1997 (1997--) in a match against Sumie Sakai at Korakuen Hall. On  , 1997 (1997--), Yabushita won the Jd' Junior title in Tokyo by winning a round-robin tournament where she defeated Sakai in the final match and she would lose it on her first defense against The Bloody on  22, 1997 (1997--). She would regain the title on  24, 1999 (1999--) by defeating Sakai once again and this time went on to successfully defend it three times before vacating it.
On  , 1999 (1999--), Yabushita and Sakai became the Trans-world Wrestling Federation
World Women's Tag Team champions. and defended it one time before losing it on  , 2000 (2000--) against Crusher Maedomari and Drake Morimatsu. Megumi Yabushita and Sumie Sakai would regain the title one more time, by pinning Kazuki on  10, 2002 (2002--) and Sachie Abe on  , 2002 (2002--) in a couple of special stipulation matches. Yabushita left Jd' gym in 2002. She would win the Tag team title one more time with Maru as her partner on  22, 2003 (2003--) by winning the final of an 8-team tournament against The Bloody and Yumi Ohka, who would in turn gain the title in Yabushita's and Maru's first defense on  10, 2003 (2003--).
Yabushita also won the American Wrestling Federation World Women's Title on  22, 1999 (1999--) and on  28, 2000 (2000--). On  26, 2000 (2000--), Yabushita defeated The Bloody to win the BS Japan Queen of the Ring Title, and with his victory of the AWF title, she unifies both titles that then became the Jd' Double Title.
Yabushita along with Command Bolshoi became the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and JWP Tag Team Champions on  12, 2009 (2009--).
Mixed martial arts career.
When she joined women's wrestling promotion Jd' in 1996, she met Yoko Takahashi, "Japan's First Woman MMA Fighter." At the time, Takahashi, injured with a hernia that made her retire from pro-wrestling and focus on MMA, was working as pro-wrestling referee and also trained in MMA, which was the reason why Yabushita started training in MMA. On  , 1997 (1997--), Yabushita made her MMA debut against South Korea Ji Hee Yu, defeating her with an armbar submission at 2:51 of the first round at Central Martial Arts Association event "Octagon Challenge", held at the Nagoya Congress Center Century Hall in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
Her next bouts and her rose to prominence would take place during Smackgirl's "ReMix World Cup 2000" celebrated on  , 2000 (2000--) at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The tournament held a ¥ for the winner, ¥ for the runner-up and ¥ for both third places. Yabushita's first match in the tournament was against American kickboxer Bambi Bertoncello, whom Yabushita defeated with an armbar submission. Her spotlight in the tournament was in her match against Russian judoka Svetlana Goundarenko, who had submitted American Erin Toughill, outweighed Yabushita for over and had a height advantage of . Despite these disadvantages, Yabushita was able to control the fight with her quickness and takedown skills, earning a unanimous decision victory and a spot in the final. In the final, Dutch fighter Marloes Coenen defeated Yabushita by unanimous decision. With her performance in the tournament, Yabushita and women's MMA became one of the hottest topics in Japanese fight sports.
Yabushita lost her next bout by technical submission (armbar) against Erin Toughill on  , 2001 (2001--) in the ReMix's event "Golden Gate 2001". Yabushita's next match was on in Jd' wrestling promotion event "No holds barred 2002" in a MMA rules bout where she was once again defeated by Marloes Coenen, this time by a rear naked choke submission. ;ref name="1/13　Jd' - Kansenkinet" ; ;/ref ; Yabushita would lose for the third time in a row against Japanese Asako Saioka who, contrary to Yabushita's previous opponents, matched her in height and weight and defeated Yabushita by unanimous decision on  , 2002 (2002--) in ReMix promotion successor, Smackgirl, in the event "Smack Legend 2002" at the Differ Ariake Arena.
On  , 2003 (2003--), Yabushita got another victory by submitting Japanese kickboxer Naoko Sakamoto with an armbar at 0:23 of round one in "Smackgirl Third Season-IV".
 At All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling event "Tag League: The Best", Yabushita defeated fellow pro-wrestler Shioya Yoshimi by armbar submission in a MMA bout on  19, 2003 (2003--).
Yabushita made her debut in Shooto promotion on  26, 2004 (2004--) in the event "G-Shooto Japan: Activation", defeating Hitomi Akano in Akano's professional debut and in a match in which Yabushita applied a giant swing on Akano.
On  19, 2004 (2004--), Yabushita participated in Smackgirl's "World ReMix 2004" held on Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in the open weight queen decision tournament, which would crown the first Smackgirl open weight champion. Josh Barnett's student, American fighter Shannon Hooper, was Yabushita's first opponent whom Yabushita defeated at 0:29 of round one with a wristlock. Yabushita next faced American grappler Roxanne Modafferi in the semi-finals, defeating Modafferi by unanimous decision. In a rematch of their 2001 bout, Yamaguchi and Erin Toughill fought in the tournament final. Toughill, who had just defeated Marloes Coenen by TKO, outweighed Yabushita for around and was controlling the fight until Yabushita grabbed Toughill's left wrist in an effort to stop her attacks, to which Toughill responded with two elbows to the spinal cord, an illegal action. The referee immediately stopped the fight and gave Toughill a yellow card while Yabushita was writhing in pain. The ring doctor didn't allow the bout to continue after checking Yabushita, which resulted in an immediate disqualification for Toughill and this gave the open weight title to Yabushita. As a precautionary measure, Yabushita was carried to the waiting room in a stretcher and was taken to a hospital in which she was diagnosed with lumbar transverse processes fracture, according to the event organizers, and rendered Yabushita unable to fulfill her commitment to fight against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Felicia Oh in a grappling match on  , 2005 (2005--).
Yabushita's next fight was in the event "G-Shooto Japan 02", where American fighter Tara LaRosa defeated Yabushita by majority decision on  12, 2005 (2005--).
On  30, 2005 (2005--), Yabushita fought against South Korean kickboxer Hyun Sung Kim as part of the opening round of Smackgirl's first middleweight queen decision tournament in "Smackgirl 2005: Cool Fighter's Last Stand". In an unexpected development, as Kim advanced to attack, Yabushita used a judo throw on Kim which slammed Kim's face directly on the mat, knocking her out instantly, while Yabushita tried an arm submission, unaware of Kim's state. The referee rushed to stop the fight and Yabushita won at 0:29 of round one, with Yabushita not knowing what transpired until asking her corner. There was concern over Kim's health, as she had to be carried outside the ring on a stretcher but after being examined at the hospital there were no abnormalities found on Kim.
Yabushita fought in World X-Impact Federation's "X-Impact World Championships", an event held in Seoul, South Korea on  , 2005 (2005--), where she defeated local fighter Yong Joo Lee by unanimous decision.
On  17, 2005 (2005--), Yabushita returned to Smackgirl for the final part of the middleweight queen decision tournament that took place in the event "Smackgirl 2005: Dynamic!!" in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. In the semi-finals, Yabushita defeated Asako Saioka by armbar, avenging her 2002 loss against Saioka. Yabushita was defeated in a 1-2 decision in the tournament final by American fighter Laura D'Auguste, who became the first Smackgirl middleweight champion.
After the tournament, Yabushita lost against American Amanda Buckner by submission (guillotine choke) in "Smackgirl 2006: Advent of Goddess" on  15, 2006 (2006--). Yabushita had an exhibition match against Mika Nagano on  , 2006 (2006--). A few days after, Yabushita would have another defeat on  , 2006 (2006--) in "G-Shooto Japan 05" at the hands of Roxanne Modafferi by unanimous decision, in a rematch of their 2004 fight.
On  18, 2006 (2006--), Yabushita and Laura D'Auguste had a rematch in which D'Auguste was defending her Ring of Combat women's welterweight title in "Ring of Combat 11" held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. Yabushita's corner was forced to stop the fight after Yabushita got her forearm fractured during the first round.
Yabushita rebounded back with a majority decision victory against Japanese Mizuho Sato in Shooto's "Battle Mix Tokyo 02" on  30, 2007 (2007--). On  28, 2007 (2007--), Yabushita defeated Mayumi Aoki by unanimous decision in "Smackgirl 2007: The Dance of the Taisho Romance".
Yabushita participated in the event "K-Grace" on  27, 2007 (2007--) in the US$ contest open weight tournament. Her first bout was against Lithuanian kickboxer Jurgita Leitonaite, whom Yabushita defeated in 17 seconds with an armbar. For the third time, Yabushita clashed with Roxanne Modafferi, with Modafferi gaining a unanimous decision and advancing to the final which she eventually won.
Returning to the US, Yabushita participated in "Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship 2: The Crystal Brawl", where she faced another Josh Barnett's student, American Ginele Marquez, who defeated Yabushita by unanimous decision on  14, 2007 (2007--).
In the open-air event "Smackgirl in Summerfest!!" on  26, 2007 (2007--), Yabushita submitted Hiroko Kohata with an armbar in 15 seconds. On  , 2007 (2007--), Yabushita was defeated by American fighter Lisa Ellis with a unanimous decision in the event "Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship 3: War of the Roses". Facing another American fighter on  26, 2007 (2007--) in "Smackgirl 7th anniversary: Starting Over", Yabushita was once again defeated by unanimous decision, this time against Lana Stefanac, who had an advantage over Yabushita. ;ref name="SMACK GIRL - 12/26/2007: 'Yuka Tsuji Is No Longer Interested In Megumi Fujii?'" ; ;/ref ; ;ref name="12/26 SmackGirl - 7th Anniversary - RESULTS" ; ;/ref ;
During the open weight tournament in "Smackgirl world ReMix tournament 2008 Opening Round" held on  14, 2008 (2008--), Yabushita had a rematch against Hitomi Akano, whom Yabushita defeated in Akano's debut in MMA in 2007, and in this occasion it ended with Akano submitting Yabushita with a heel hook. ;ref name="2/14 SmackGirl - RESULTS" ; ;/ref ;
Yabushita had her four straight loss at the hands of Russian fighter Julia Berezikova, who won the match by unanimous decision in the event "FightFORCE: Russia vs. The World" held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on  19, 2008 (2008--).
Rebounding back from her losing streak, Yabushita scored a unanimous decision victory over Emi Fujino at Japanese event "Demolition 080721" on  21, 2008 (2008--). ;ref name="7/21 GCM Demolition - RESULTS" ; ;/ref ;
After a year without fighting in MMA, on  28, 2009 (2009--), it was announced that Yabushita would be making her debut with Jewels promotion in the event "Jewels 5th Ring" facing fellow pro-wrestler Atsuko Emoto. ;ref name="JEWELS 5 - 09/13/2009: Yabushita Making a JEWELS Debut, A Couple of MMA Bouts Between Pro-Wrestlers" ; ;/ref ; On  13, 2009 (2009--), Yabushita defeated Emoto by submission (armbar) at 2:43 mins. of round one after resisting Emoto's initial attack. ;ref name="JEWELS 5 - 09/13/2009: Yabushita Shows the Difference!" ; ;/ref ;
Yabushita returned to the United States on  30, 2010 (2010--) to participate in Freestyle Cage Fighting women's bantamweight grand prix at "Freestyle Cage Fighting 39". For the third time, Yabushita was facing another Josh Barnett's student, this time submission specialist Shayna Baszler, who dominated the fight and submitted Yabushita with a twister, a catch wrestling move rarely seen in MMA.
On  11, 2010 (2010--), Yabushita made her debut with Valkyrie promotion, defeating Japanese fighter Mutsumi Kasai with a scarf hold armlock submission, handling Kasai her first professional loss, in the event "Valkyrie 05". ;ref name="VALKYRIE - 04/11/2010: Takabayashi Edges Out Fujino, Yabushita Submits Kasai and More - Full Results" ; ;/ref ;
Yabushita next faced Japanese MMA rising star Rin Nakai at "Valkyrie 06" on  19, 2010 (2010--), losing by unanimous decision in a match that Nakai dominated to remain undefeated. ;ref name="VALKYRIE 06 - 06/19/2010: Tamada Wins Title, Nakai Dominates Yabushita