Deep Jewels 39: Prospects Impress; Motono and Higashi victorious -

This past Wednesday, a holiday in Japan, Deep Jewels and Deep both held an event at New Pier Hall in Tokyo. Despite it raining non-stop, there was an atmosphere of excitement. Before the doors opened, fans gathered outside the venue, where some spoke to Saori Ishioka who was there to corner a young fighter, some chatted amongst themselves, and others waited to catch a glimpse of fighters as they arrived. Once the doors opened, Killer Khan was helping out at the goods booth, Kate Lotus could be seen getting ready at the commentary booth, and fans in the unassigned seating section rushed to get their seats. In the co-main and main event, both Motono and Higashi won, then spoke about their desires to fight abroad. Elsewhere, the popular Nøri narrowly defeated Nirvana, Kuriyama and Fujita brawled, and two prospects impressed the crowd.

Motono out muscles game Suda

Having recently returned from a brief trip to train in the U.S., the former Strawweight Champion Miki Motono climbed to 3-0 since dropping to Super Atomweight last year. This trip seems to have had a big impact on the judoka, as she is now saying that she wants to fight in the UFC. This is a good thing, since Miki is now in an odd position in Deep Jewels and Rizin. In Deep Jewels, she is clearly one of the top fighters in the division, but the champion is her long-time friend, Saori Oshima, who she actually motivated to start MMA. In Rizin, she has already faced the champion twice, making the odds of a rematch slim. At 28 years old, going abroad seems like the best option.

Going into Wednesday’s fight, most thought that Motono would win, as she is physically stronger and has more experience than the 18 year old Moeri Suda, who was out-muscled by Saori Oshima. However, Suda put on a hell of a fight. Training with her father at his gym, Suda has developed a truly dangerous and active guard, throwing up triangles and armbars whenever possible. She also used up-kicks to punish Motono for standing over her and trying to get around her guard. It got to to the point, that Motono’s corner, Rena and one other, started calling for their fighter to just stand up and stop grappling, a call that Motono generally ignored. Despite having a clear striking advantage in both technique and power, she was looking to take Suda down and aggressively throw GNP. It was this willingness to fight where Suda is strongest that led on judge to actually declare the fight a draw, even though he ended up ruling it for Motono under the must-system.

Higashi stops Rocket in 3rd

Like Motono, Higashi also went to the U.S. to train ahead of this fight. They actually trained at the same gym, Syndicate, in Las Vegas. Unlike Motono, Higashi’s opponent Diamond the Rose Rocket really only showed offensive capabilities on the feet. Once the fight hit the mat, which it did often, she scrambled and worked to generally defend herself. However, as the fight went on, Higashi got more aggressive with her GNP, until she got the stoppage. Afterwards, Higashi addressed the crowd, then pulled out a pre-written speech and spoke in English. She said that age is just a number and called for an opportunity to fight abroad, while cracking a few jokes. Since Bantamweight is essentially non-existent in Japan, the decision to go abroad seems like a wise one and at 36 years old, it will be interesting to see how far she can go.

Nøri gets the nod against Nirvana

As fans were waiting outside New Pier Hall, where there is thankfully an overhand that shielded them from the rain, a van showed up with Team Pravajra. As Nøri got out, it was clear that she was being followed by a film crew. While we don’t know who they were affiliated with, her teammate Karen was recently featured on Abema’s Youtube channel, so that seems like a possibility. In start contrast, Nirvana just walked up, talked to some of her fans, then entered with her teammate Motono who arrived at the same time. Fight-wise, Nøri got back into the win column with a split-decision. In a somewhat strange fight, it all came down to the first round. Nirvana clearly wanted to close distance in order to eliminate Nøri’s kicking game and get her out of her comfort zone, but Nøri was still able to land some flashy kicks, including a hook kick that hit Nirvana right in the face. She also hit Nirvana with a hard punch that knocked her off balance. In the second round, Nøri pulled guard in as part of a guillotine choke attempt and essentially remained in the position for the entire round, with Nirvana unable to get her head out, scooting them around the cage, landing some GNP. In the end, two judges saw it as a draw and as part of the must-system ruled Nøri the winner, while the 3rd judge saw it as 19-18 for Nirvana.

After her win, Nøri’s fans were pretty vocal and one could also see some representatives from Pancrase, who had come to support their fighter. Deep and Pancrase have been exchanging fighters to some extent and it is working out marvelously, especially for those in the more shallow divisions like Higashi, who actually fought for the title representing Pancrase against King Reina.

Young guns shine: Matsuda dismantles Nagano, Machi out grinds Arami

Deep and Deep Jewels went into overdrive during the pandemic, consistently producing new fighters, like Seika Izawa and Hime. At Deep Jewels 39, two young fighters stood out, Machi, now 1-0, and Arisa, now 2-0. Outside of a double wristlock attempt at the end of the 1st round, Arisa Matsuda handled Mika Nagano like a veteran. She showcased her athleticism and power to such an extent that it is hard to believe this was only her second pro fight. A former professional softball player who quit to pursue MMA, Arisa showcased her footwork, her brutal GNP, proved hard to take down, and even took the wrestler down herself. While Strawweight isn’t the deepest division at the moment, Matsuda has a bright future ahead of her and a potential matchup with the ex-basketball player turned power puncher Hime practically sells itself, Basketball vs Baseball. Nagano for her part came out with Seika Izawa in her corner and never gave up, pulling guard, rolling for a kneebar, and almost securing a double wristlock at the end of the 1st. She went 2-1 in 2022 and seems to have embraced a role testing young fighters.

Sporting an identical haircut to Emi Fujino and walking out to the cage with Mina Kurobe in her corner, Machi is clearly training with some high level fighters and it showed. While she was impressive as an amateur, a number of people thought that Arami, who beat Kate Lotus recently, may have been too much too soon for the young grappler. Arami, who has shown to have good stamina in the past, is an aggressive fighter who seems to never quit. However, Machi show cased her grappling skills, consistently getting Arami to the ground and winning the scrambles. She also showcased her stamina, maintaining a high pace for the entire fight. Near the end, she also landed some good GNP. Clearly, she is a fighter to keep an eye on.

Nøri & Motono lead glove sales

One of the interesting things that Deep and Deep Jewels has been doing, is selling the fighters’ fight worn gloves. The gloves can either be pre-ordered or ordered during the event, but once the event is over, the gloves are no longer sold. Heading in Wednesday’s event, two fighters’ gloves were pre-ordered, Miki Motono’s and Nøri Pravajra’s. By the end of the event, Suda, Nagano, and Kumagai’s gloves were also sold. For the most part, these sales seem to accurately reflect who the more popular fighters on the card were. Motono is a former champion, who recently took part in Abema’s program, Nøri has devoted fans, Nagano is a popular fighter that has been around for a long time, and Suda is a Rizin veteran that is on the cusp of being a top-level fighter.

Sarah wins at Tokyo Impact

Following Deep Jewels 39, Deep Tokyo Impact took place, where Sarah has now won 2 in a row. Having taken part in Mikuru Asakura’s Breaking Down and now training at Triforce, the young fighter has rebounded from a deceptive 0-3 start to her amateur career. I say deceptive since those opponents include the above mentioned Machi and Arisa, who despite being amateurs at the time were already fighting at a high level.