Akano is a bantamweight fighter with a background in Judo. She is best known for her armbars which 13 of her 18 wins have come by a variation of the submission. She has fought in Smackgirl, BodogFight, JEWELS, Strikeforce, Pancrase, ProElite, and Invicta FC. She has fought a who's who of WMMA including Megumi Yabushita, Tara LaRosa, Takayo Hashi, Vanessa Porto, Hiroko Yamanaka, Cristiane Santos, Miesha Tate, Carina Damm, Roxanne Modafferi, Sara McMann, and Alexis Davis.

Akano started her career 9-2 when she fought Molly Helsel for the Smackgirl Middleweigt (128 pounds) championship. She won the title with her trademark armbar submission. She would defend the title once before relinquishing it to Takayo Hashi, who got revenge on Akano for beating her previously. Akano would lose her next match in a close decision to Vanessa Porto. Next Akano entered the Smackgirl World Remix Tournament which she won with a heel hook over Megumi Yabushita and an armbar over Hiroko Yamanaka. 

Akano signed to Strikeforce and fought Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. The fight was a catch weight bout due to Santos missing weight by 6 pounds, Akano would lose by TKO, the first time in her career that she had been finished. Akano would fight twice in Jewels before returning to Strikeforce to be a part of the Bantamweight Tournament. Akano defeated Carina Damm in the semifinals by triangle armbar and lost in the finals to Miesha Tate by decision.

Akano then fought Roxanne Modafferi in Jewels, winning by decision. She next signed on to fight Olympic Wrestling silver medalist Sara McMann. Akano would find herself stifled on her back for most of the fight and dropped the decision. In her last fight Akano made her Invicta FC debut against Alexis Davis as the co-main event. Akano would be submitted for the 1st time and finished for only the second time in her career.