PhotoCred: Wombat Sports
Megumi Fujii on possible comeback: ‘I owe Jessica Aguilar a favor’
When it comes to the bonafide legends of the sport, there aren’t many like Japan’s Megumi Fujii.
The Catch Wrestling wizard and Sambo world champion compiled one of the most impressive winning streaks in MMA history during her run. From August 2004 to October 2010, the Abe Ani Combat Club representative would win 22 fights in a row. 18 of which she ended via submission.
Fujii would end her career in 2013 with only three losses on her record as opposed to 26 victories. She would suffer defeat at the hands of two women, the second of that duo being former PFL strawweight champion, Jessica Aguilar.
“What I’ve realized during all these years is just that I love the fight game. I love MMA,” Fujii stated to MyMMANews on BROADENED HORIZIN, “I love fighting, I love practicing, I love everything about it and I still do. Do I not want to fight? No, that’s not the case. Is the possibility of me fighting zero? It’s not zero. I do not not want to fight.
“This is something that I’ve always been doing, even when I was fighting: I try to look at myself from a third-person point of perspective and always think about what performance I have to do in order to satisfy the spectators, the fans. And that’s how I would think. And my mindset would definitely be off of… am I performing in a way where I can please the people who watch me fight? That’s always been something that’s in my mindset. So when I think about that now, will I be able to perform in a way that people will be satisfied? Will I be able to do the moves to ‘wow’ the fans? Will I be able to move and perform in a way where it’s not rude to the people who paid to watch me fight? So when I think about it from that perspective, I think the answer will be no.
“When I don’t think that I will be able to perform to an extent where I won’t be able to satisfy the spectators, I don’t think I deserve to fight,” she continued, “It’s a very gray way of putting it. But do I not want to fight? No, I do not not want to fight. Is the chance zero of me fighting? It’s probably not zero. But do I think I have the ability and skill set to be able to be fighting in front of people? I’m not that confident, we’ll put it that way.”
Now 46 years old and happily retired, a return to action is a reality that has long evaded the icon. However, some notable figures such as RIZIN Fighting Federation founder, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, have still expressed interest in bringing back Fujii.
At this point, it’s unnecessary and unlikely that we’d ever see a Fujii return, but as mentioned, her last pair of losses came against Aguilar. The final coming in Fujii’s retirement bout — a rematch she requested.
With the 38-year-old Aguilar’s UFC tenure coming to an end this past year, she’s now looking to go on one last run before hanging up her gloves. It’s just a matter of for which organization. “JAG” came up with the cool idea of possibly having her idol and former rival in Fujii corner her for whatever her retirement fight ends up being. She was also open to the idea of maybe having some sort of trilogy contest…
Interestingly enough, that just might be the only thing that could bring back “Mega Megu” one final time.
“I owe her a favor,” Fujii said of Aguilar, “She flew all the way over from the states to fight me for my retirement fight in [Japan]. So if Jessica’s looking for somebody for her retirement fight, I do have to return the favor. But I’m not quite sure I can last for a minute (laughs). With all that being said, if she’s looking for something, if she wants something and asks for something special for her retirement fight, that’s something I would really have to think of doing. But I’m not quite sure I can last a minute.
“It would be very hard for me to refuse because I really owe her a favor for fighting me in my retirement fight. I asked for her. And a lot of people worked hard to make that happen. So it’s really hard for me to refuse if she asks. So maybe we can do a one-minute three-round fight.”
