Having just given birth to her daughter a couple of months ago, Mizuki Furuse is set to return to action on September 4th, at Deep Jewels 34, where she will face Nisse, who participated in the Atomweight Tournament earlier this year. (Header is courtesy of Akihito Tatematsu)
Armed with a background in Judo, Furuse made her pro-debut when she was 16 and quickly became a workhorse in the Deep Jewels Atomweight division, fighting 5 times in her first year as a professional. This is a pace that she maintained for the early part of her career, fighting 7 times in 2018 (includes 4 amateur fights) and 5 times in 2019. While this active pace was giving Furuse a lot of fight experience, it was not producing solid results, as she went 2-5 in her first 7 fights. Perhaps in attempt to reset or get some experience, she would take some amateur fights after turning pro.
Her big break came near the end of 2018, when she took place in the third season of Abema TV’s “Fighting Agent War.” For those who are unfamiliar, Abema TV is a popular streaming app in Japan that airs all kinds of content, including Rise, K-1, Shooto, and One Championship. Currently, they average roughly 12 million active users a week. “Fighting Agent War” is a reality show where “legendary” fighters each recommend one developing fighter that they think has potential. Those fighters then fight in a tournament, with the winner getting a contract with One Championship. In the 3rd season, fighters like Mio (popular Shoot Boxer now in K-1), Ai Shimazu (Rizin fighter), and Itsuki Hirata (popular One Championship fighter) were all entered. Furuse made it to the finals, where she lost to Hirata. Despite losing in the finals, Furuse gained a lot of exposure and performed well.
After the reality show, she returned to her workhorse-like schedule and went 5-1, with her sole defeat against the veteran, Emi Tomimatsu. This success led to Furuse getting a shot in Rizin, where she fought Kanna Asakura in August of 2020. In the fight, Furuse was not able to get her offense going and lost via TKO at 1:35 of the first round. Afterwards, when she spoke to the media, she mentioned that she felt that fighting so frequently had been detrimental and that it makes it difficult for her to develop herself in training. She then unexpectedly told the media that she was going to take some time off, at least a year.
It turns out the year comment was pretty accurate as she is returning to the ring roughly 1 year and 1 month since she announced her intention to take a break. During that year, a lot has happened. Regarding her personal life, she got married and gave birth to their daughter. Regarding her fight career, she switched gyms and is now training at K-Place. With all of these changes, it will be interesting to see how her career will move forward. Will she return to her workhorse-like scheduling or will she take a more balanced approach? Only time can tell.
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