Deep Jewels 31 was on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan and the event highlighted some of the young talent within the organization. In addition to highlighting the younger talent, the event also had some surprising results. Most notably, recently crowned interim Straw-weight champion Miki Motono lost to the now 2-0 Seika Izawa. Finally, the event set the stage for next year’s Atom-weight tournament, which will include the new Champion, Amp the Rocket.
One of the fighters highlighted at the event was Kate Lotus. The Kobe based fighter defeated her opponent in the first round, making her 1-0 as a professional. The attractive fighter is already drawing attention and we can expect to see her on future cards. At just 22 years old she showed good striking and ground skills, but even she admitted that she has a lot to improve afterwards. There are not a lot of fighters in Japan at flyweight at the moment, so it will be interesting to see who she is matched up against next.
In the opening fight, a high school student named Eru Takebayashi won her amateur fight against Saki and looked very good considering how young she is. The aggressive fighter looked to have an aggressive striking style and was also good on the ground. With such an impressive performance, we may expect her to make her pro-debut next year.
In another fight, AACC’s Otoha Nagao won her fight, moving the 17 year old fighter to 4-3. Nagao is interesting as she hails from a gym that tends to produce grapplers, yet she is predominantly a striker throwing long combinations of kicks and punches, including a number of switch kicks. As she matures, I expect to see more power coming from the strikes so she is a fighter to keep an eye on.
In the main event, Saori Oshima moved up in weight to fight Si Woo Park in a preview for next year’s Atom-weight tournament. The size difference between the two was noticeable immediately. Oshima desperately tried to get the fight to the ground and succeeded in the beginning but had a hard time keeping the bigger Park down. Park showed impressive takedown defense as the fight went on and landed some hard body kicks. Park who had to undergo a tough two-week quarantine in Japan before the fight will stay in Japan so that she can participate in the tournament next year in March and May. That tournament will also include newly crowned Champion Amp the Rocket.
In the most surprising fight of the night, newcomer Seika Izawa defeated Miki Motono in a non-title match. As is often the case between two skilled grapplers, the fight ended up being mostly a striking affair with Seika briefly taking Miki down several times. To many, Miki’s grappling credentials will be known, but Seika also has a long grappling history. At just 22 years old, Seika has been wrestling and doing Judo since she was in elementary school, earning high credentials in both. Seika has placed highly in many tournaments, notably winning the 2012 Junior Queen’s Cup wrestling tournament and advancing to the quarter-finals of the 2019 Tokyo Student Judo Tournament. She has even participated in Sumo. With such a strong grappling background, this might explain why Miki never attempted to take the fight to the ground. With this victory, Seika will have an immediate rematch with Miki, this time for the title.
Results below
Eru Takebayashi defeated Saki via Armbar (2nd Rd, 53kg)
In the opening match, Saki lost to Eru Takebayashi via an armbar in the second round. Throughout the round, Saki looked to grapple with Eru who came forward aggressively with strikes, landing some good punches. In the second round, Saki was able to take Eru down but got reversed and mounted. Because this was an amateur bout, Eru was not able to strike from mount but ended up getting an armbar to finish the fight. An impressive performance by Eru who I believe is still in high school.
Moe Sasaki defeated Moeri Suda via Must Decision (48kg)
Moe Sasaki was accompanied to the ring by Megumi Fujii, one of her coaches at Burst Gym. In the opening round was able to take Moeri to the ground with a body lock takedown, however Moeri reversed it and likely took the round because of it. In the second round, Moe dropped Moeri with an overhand right and landed hard punches from within Moeri’s guard. After Moeri got back to her feet, Moe took her back down with a body lock where Moeri went for a desperate knee bar as the fight ended. The judges ruled the fight a draw, giving each fighter one round a piece, and Moe got the must decision, with the knockdown being pivotal in this decision.
Ayaka Watanabe defeated Akari Jinno via TKO (1st RD, 52kg)
Megumi Fujii is back in the corner for Akari Jinno, another fighter from Burst. The beginning of the fight saw some back and forth striking until Ayaka took Akari down and started to take over. Akari tried to get back up but Ayaka threw her back down in the corner. Akari was able to briefly get back to her feet before Ayaka hip tossed her back to the ground. Ayaka then got the mount and finished the fight with GNP.
Otoha Nagao defeated Mika Sakimoto via UD (49kg)
The young Nagao opened the fight aggressively, throwing combinations, which included a number of kicks. Nagao landed a lot of strikes on Mika, but it wasn’t apparent whether or not they were causing any significant damage. Mika clinched with Nagao and ended the round as the aggressor. In the second round, Nagao threw combinations and they started to visibly affect Mika who slowed down considerably. The judges scored the fight 20-18 for Nagao who improves to 4-3.
Micco Nirvana defeated Arami via Must Decision (56.8kg)
In the opening round, Micco landed some good punches where Arami was able to take Micco down several times while having a body lock from behind. At the end of the round, Micco tried to lock on a standing double wrist lock, but the round ended. In the second round, Micco was able to land some good strikes and Arami was able to land some counters. After several scrambles, Micco went for a takedown near the end of the round and Arami rolled for a kneebar.
Kate Lotus defeated Marina Kumagai via Armbar (1st RD, 56.8kg)
Kate came forward aggressively and landed some strikes, Kumagai responded and Kate didn’t seem to like that as she went for a takedown immediately after.Kumagai, a kickboxer with only 1 pro mma fight, looked lost on the ground. Kate easily got to mount where she landed some hard punches and then finished the fight with an armbar, winning her pro-debut.
Seika Izawa defeated Miki Motono via Unanimous Decision (52kg)
In this non-title fight, the two grappling oriented fighters decided to strike for a majority of the fight. Seika landed a couple takedowns but Miki got back to her feet pretty quickly. Miki never went for a takedown, and despite pumping a quick jab, Seika controlled most of the striking and won the decision as a result after three similar rounds.
Si Woo Park defeated Saori Oshima via Decision (48kg)
As the fight started, it became very obvious that Park was noticeably larger than Oshima, who came up in weight for this fight. Oshima immediately went for a takedown from the outside and after a series of scrambles was able to get Park down, but had a hard time keeping her down. Oshima went for an armbar but Park escaped. Oshima locked in what appeared to be a deep kneebar, but Park was able to push her off with her free leg. As she escaped, Park hit Oshima in the back of the head and was warned by the referee for the illegal strike.
In the next round, Oshima continued to go for takedowns, but Park was able to sprawl. Park stood over Oshima and landed punches. Park was then given a yellow card for another illegal strike. She hit Oshima in the head with a knee when she was on the ground while going for a takedown. For the remainder of the round, Oshima shot for takedowns, which Park avoided, and Park landed strikes, including a couple of hard kicks to the body.
The final round was very similar to the second, with Park landing hard strikes, avoiding takedowns, and sprawling and landing hard hammerfists. Oshima actually found a little success with some strikes, but did not throw enough to set up her takedown attempts. Park was awarded the decision, but two were must draws because of the point she lost in the 2nd round.
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