This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Megumi Fujii Turns 42

She was for a time the benchmark in women’s MMA. Megumi Fujii will celebrate her 42nd birthday on April 26.

Fujii started her remarkable career 22-0 with 19 finishes, as she utilized armbars, heel hooks, keylocks and various chokes to blitz through Shooto and Smackgirl. “Mega Megu” was past her prime when she joined the Bellator MMA ranks but continue her run of excellence until a split decision loss to Zoila Frausto in October 2010 snapped her long winning streak. Fujii rebounded with three straight victories before being outpointed by American Top Team’s Jessica Aguilar at Bellator 69. She retired following a technical decision loss to Aguilar in their rematch on Oct. 5, 2013 in Tokyo.

A black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Fujii closed the book on her career with a 26-3 record. She finished six of those wins in less than a minute.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of April:

APRIL 1

Vitor Belfort (39)
Derek Campos (28)
Ramsey Nijem (28)

APRIL 2

Luiz Cane (35)
Cole Konrad (32)
Yi Sak Kim (30)
Benedict Ang (20)

APRIL 3

Chael Sonnen (39)
Kazunori Yokota (38)
Travis Reddinger (34)
Su Noto (31)

APRIL 4

Ray Mercer (55)
Stephan Bonnar (39)
Rafael Cavalcante (36)
Brian Foster (32)
Riku Shibuya (31)
Ruben Esparza (28)

APRIL 5

James Wilks (38)
Jianbing Yang (32)

APRIL 6

Marcus Brimage (31)
Geje Eustaquio (27)

APRIL 7

David Baggett (36)
Russ Miura (35)
Michael Page (29)

APRIL 8

Ovince St. Preux (33)
Milana Dudieva (27)
Manny Lozoya (27)
Taylor Lapilus (24)

APRIL 9

Andrew McInnes (31)

APRIL 10

Luis Alberto Nogueira (34)
Sakae Kasuya (33)
Michal Materla (32)
Shinji Maeguchi (31)
James Moontasri (28)

APRIL 11

Gary Quan (45)
Krasimir Mladenov (30)
Kailin Curran (25)

APRIL 12

Nobuhiko Takada (54)
Roman Savochka (38)
Gilbert Melendez (34)
Robert Whiteford (33)
Brent Primus (31)
Tiago dos Santos e Silva (29)
Rick Glenn (27)

APRIL 13

Emi Tomimatsu (34)
Ben Saunders (33)
Yuko Oya (29)
Justine Kish (28)

APRIL 14

Ebenezer Fontes Braga (47)
Anderson Silva (41)
Jessica Rakoczy (39)
Anthony Hamilton (36)
Jussier da Silva (31)

APRIL 15

Enson Inoue (49)
Kenichi Hattori (38)
Leonardo Guimaraes (34)
Magomed Saadulaev (32)
Gabrielle Holloway (26)

APRIL 16

Jason Norwood (32)
Nate Diaz (31)
Pat Audinwood (30)
Alexandre Pantoja (26)
April Osenio (22)

APRIL 17

Benjamin Smith (36)
Martin Kampmann (34)
Tyron Woodley (34)
Siyar Bahadurzada (32)

APRIL 18

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (32)
Gian Villante (31)

APRIL 19

Farkhad Sharipov (32)
Kelli Gottardo (29)
Pascal Krauss (29)

APRIL 20

Dean Storey (48)
Sheila Bird (40)
Moise Rimbon (39)
Daiju Takase (39)
Nate Marquardt (37)
Tyson Griffin (32)

APRIL 21

Kajan Johnson (32)
Ronny Markes (28)
Alex Oliveira (28)
Adriano Moraes (27)

APRIL 22

Eric Schambari (38)

APRIL 23

Josh Bryant (36)
Diego Saraiva (34)
Sam Stout (32)

APRIL 24

Marcio Cruz (38)
Achmed Labasanov (38)
Cosmo Alexandre (34)
Shoji Maruyama (33)
Alan Belcher (32)
Germaine de Randamie (32)
Nick Hein (32)
Michael Chandler (30)

APRIL 25

Kazuo Misaki (40)
Alexandre Ferreira (37)
Clifford Starks (35)
LaRue Burley (32)
Paul Felder (31)
T.J. Waldburger (28)
Enrique Barzola (27)
Leonardo Mafra Texeira (27)

APRIL 26

David Abbott (51)
Megumi Fujii (42)
Carlos Condit (32)
Cole Miller (32)
Bartosz Fabinski (30)
Marlon Moraes (28)

APRIL 27

Paul Cressaty (45)
Justin Wren (29)

APRIL 28

Leopoldo Serao (37)
Takasuke Kume (31)
Jonavin Webb (27)

APRIL 29

Valerie Letourneau (33)
Dustin Hazelett (30)

APRIL 30

Jeff Joslin (41)
Yoel Romero (39)
Jimmy Yabo (35)
Al Iaquinta (29)
Kinberly Tanaka Novaes (25)
Smealinho Rama (24)