Hiroko Yamanaka - The Best Female MMA Fighter In The World?

MMA Rising has it's April rankings out, and even though “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey (5-0-0) defeated Miesha Tate (12-3-0) at Strikeforce - Tate vs. Rousey on March 3rd, 2012 for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship, Ronda still comes in second on the Featherweight list.
For Ronda to take the top position there, she needs to defeat Hiroko “Cat’s Eye” Yamanaka .
Her current record is 12-3-1

This five foot eleven, 143 pound female mma fighter was born on October 24th, 1978 in Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan.
She not only does MMA, but Submission grappling and Shoot boxing as well.
Of course you may know her as the fighter that Cristiane Santos beat down in the first 16 seconds of her last fight.
But due to the drug test afterwards, that decision was over turned.
I have to wonder though just how Ronda would do against Hiroko.

    http://sports.sho.com/

Hiroko Yamanaka vs Cyborg Santos?

While female MMA in the US is not really flourishing, it's doing quite well in Japan.
And one of the reasons it's doing well is fighters like five foot eleven, 143 pound Hiroko Yamanaka.
Hiroko is currently 12-1-0 with her last fight being a win over Bolormaa "Esui" Erdenebileg (2-2-0) at Jewels - 15th Ring on July 9th, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.

Why am I mentioning Hiroko now?
Since Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos has re-signed with Strikeforce, they are probably gonna want someone good for her to fight.
As in not get killed instantly.
I think Hiroko fills that bill.

Like I said she is 12-1-0.
8 of her wins were by decision, 2 by submission and 2 by TKOs.
MMARising has Hiroko ranked number two in the featherweight division, right behind Santos.
The "Incomplete Queen" (I have no idea what that nickname means) is not only trained in MMA, but also in submission grappling (1-2-0) and shoot boxing (2-0-0).
She was the final Smackgirl Open Weight Champion and she won the Super Gals Mix Cup Open Weight Tournament.

One problem here is logistics.
Hiroko is in Japan and Cris is in the US.
There are actually rumors that Strikeforce offered Hiroko a bout with Cris earlier this year, but travel issues killed it.
If the travel issues could be resolved, maybe Strikeforce could make this happen.

Another problem is...well...to put it nicely...who cares?
Hiroko is a Japanese star and Cris is popular here.
Like I said earlier, female MMA in the US seems to be treading water.
How would they generate buzz for a fight between Cris and Hiroko?
Well that's a game for the publicists and I wish them well.

Meanwhile, female MMA fans can speculate and hope that somehow this match turns into reality.