The Thai fighter’s win came at her home in Bangkok, Thailand, and brought the crowd at the Impact Arena to their feet.
“My family’s name is Japanese, but I am 100 per cent Thai, and I am so proud to be Thai,” she said, afterwards, to cheers.
Ishige got the crowd involved even before the fight began, however, with almost unbelievable vamping during an entrance that included a skit, bodyguards, dancing, and lots of smiles and waves.
Boniface did her best to punch those smiles away from the start, storming out with big strikes and taking Ishige down.
Once on the mat, however, “Tinydoll” managed to put the Borneo Tribal Squad product on the defense with repeated armbar attempts from both the bottom and top.
Boniface defended them all well, but could not scramble up to regain top position after escaping the last arm lock attempt. Ishige took the mount and soon closed the show.
The Thai attempted an arm-triangle choke, but then soon settled on maintaining the mount and raining down punches, hammer fists, and pointed elbow strikes to the head of Boniface.
The Malaysian fighter hung tough, but made no attempts to escape and the referee was soon forced to stop the fight. The official end came at 4:32 of the first round.
Ishige’s mark now stands at 1-0, while Boniface’s dips to 0-2.
