Deep Jewels 42 announced for September 10th -

On August 31st back in 2013, Emi Fujino choked out Hyo Kyung Sung in the main event of Deep Jewels 1 at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. Today it was announced that in just a couple months on September 10th, 10 years later, Aya Murakami is set to challenge Amp the Rocket for the Microweight title at Deep Jewels 42. Other notable fights on the card include Si Woo Park vs Hime and Moeri Suda vs Kate Lotus. Staples like Eru Takebayashi, Hikaru Aono, Chibisai, Momoko Yamazaki, and Boss are all also set to take part. This event will mark an important milestone for the promotion as by surviving for 10 years, it is the longest running women’s only promotion in Japanese history, having now been around longer than Jewels and Valkryie combined.

Murakami returns to Microweight, set to challenge Amp

After returning to action in May for the first time in 3 years, where she lost to Rizin and Deep Jewels champion Seika Izawa, Amp the Rocket is set to finally defend her Microweight title against Aya Murakami. As you may recall, Amp won the title back in 2020 when Mizuki Furuse became pregnant and wasn’t able to fight in the tournament finals, leading to Amp being awarded the title. However, as a result of the pandemic, Amp, who lives in Thailand, wasn’t able to defend her title until now. Across the cage from her will be Aya Murakami, who is returning to Microweight for the first time since 2021, when she submitted Mizuki Furuse in the 1st round. Since then the BJJ blackbelt has gone 2-1 at Atomweight, but with her being only 4’11, a return to Microweight could be promising.

While both fighters come from a grappling background and are known for their submissions, Murakami will come into the bout as the more decorated grappler, having earned her BJJ blackbelt faster than any other woman in Japanese history. In Deep Jewels, Murakami also has three 1st round submissions under her belt and has never been finished, while Amp has been submitted three times. That being said, Amp does have a 100% submission rate in her victories.

Park returns to Deep Jewels, set to face fellow striker Hime

In a bout that fans have been secretly hoping for, two of Deep Jewels’ premier strikers will face off when Si Woo Park returns to the promotion to take on the former basketball player Hime. With both fighters coming off losses, we can expect both to be hungry for a win and with their power, it is possible the fight doesn’t see the distance. Even in her decision victories, Park has been able to land some devastating strikes, including both her losses to Izawa and her win over Hamasaki, where she broke the former champion’s arm with a kick. She also looked to be mere seconds away from finishing Asakura before the bell rang. Hime for her part landed some bombs against Oshima in their bout, repeatedly knocking her off balance and down, but her most impressive performance to date has to be the 1st round destruction of Yuko Kiryu.

With both fighters probably wanting to fight for Rizin again in the near future, a win here is vital.

Suda returns after first TKO loss, set to take on the popular Kate Lotus

Fresh off of her 1st TKO finish, Moeri Suda, who is one of the busiest fighters on Deep Jewels’ roster, is already ready to get back in the cage, this time against the popular Kate Lotus, who is coming off of a win at the same event. This will be an interesting matchup as the fighters are very different. Suda is a grappler, who specializes in the armbar and can throw it up from almost any position, while Lotus is more of a grinder who will be the more physical fighter. It is worth noting that despite losing, Suda has been working on her striking a lot recently and before she got caught while throwing a knee, her striking looked much improved in her last fight. Also, while Suda may not be as strong as Lotus, she has stamina and has put on some grinding performances in the past, so it will be interesting to see if that plays a factor in this two round affair.

Aono moves to Strawweight, faces veteran Yuko Kiryu

In an interesting move, Hikaru Aono is set to move to Strawweight for the first time in her 15 fight career when she faces Yuko Kiryu, who is also moving up in weight for this fight. Going into this bout, the two fighters are in two different situations. Aono, who comes from a prestigious wrestling background, is coming off a nearly perfect performance against Kate Lotus back in February, while Kiryu is coming off two-straight losses via finish, with one being the devastating TKO loss to Hime. Before that she picked up two wins via split-decision. It is true that Aono also has had some losses recently, but aside from the Suda loss they were fairly competitive.

As the fight approaches, it will be interesting to see if it is revealed why this fight is taking place at Strawweight. With the fight scheduled for mid-September there should be plenty of time for them to make Atomweight, unless Deep Jewels is trying to rebuild their Strawweight division now that fighters like Arisa Matsuda have emerged.