Half-Year Review -

After a busy June, the MMA scene is expected to slow down in Japan as the Olympics get under way. With just a couple events left in July, neither Shooto, Pancrase, Deep, Deep Jewels, or Rizin have an event scheduled for August. While this may change as Pancrase and Deep have not announced their schedules, post-July, Shooto and Deep Jewels have both announced that their next events will be in September. With the upcoming lull in action, it is a good opportunity to review what has happened so far in 2021. This article will examine Shooto, Pancrase, Deep, Deep Jewels, and Rizin’s events so far, focusing on the women’s divisions. It will also briefly mention the Japanese female competitors competing abroad.

Rizin

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MMA scene in Japan has obviously slowed down. While some of the effects are felt across all the promotions, some impact particular promotions more than others. A good example of this is the ability to bring in foreign fighters. With the exception of Deep Jewels, promotions have not been able to bring foreign female fighters into the country. No promotion has been affected by this more than Rizin. Rizin relies on foreign fighters, especially with their women’s divisions. This is clearly demonstrated by looking pre-pandemic to 2019, where Rizin had 15 women’s fights and all but one of them involved a Japanese fighter fighting a foreign fighter. Unlike some of the other promotions, Rizin has not had its number of events effected in 2021, yet it has only had 1 women’s fight with another loosely scheduled for September.

With vaccinations currently in process, it will be interesting to see what Rizin does after the Olympics. If they are able to bring foreign fighters in before the end of the year, we should expect to see an uptick in women’s matches. Also, Sakakibara was in attendance at Deep Jewels in June. It is likely that he was there to scout talent for the upcoming events in September and December.

Current Champions: Ayaka Hamasaki (49kg)

Shooto

Dating back to 2002, Shooto has a rich history of developing female fighters. It is where Hitomi Akano and Ayaka Hamasaki made their pro-debuts and both Ai Shimizu and Kanna Asakura fought there as amateurs. So far this year, they have had 8 events with 5 women’s fights. Another fight is scheduled to take place later this month. All of these fights were/will be near the Super Atomweight and Straweight divisons, with Miku Nakamura being the only fighter to fight more than once. By then end of the month, she will have fought 3 times this year.

So far this year, three women have made their pro-debuts for the promotion. The most notable of the 3 is Chihiro Sawada. As a high-level collegiate wrestler, she finished runner-up 3 times at the All Japan Student Wrestling Championship. The younger sister of One Championship’s Ryuto Sawada, she has trained at AACC for a long time and looks to be a promising prospect. While her debut was a draw, it is worth noting that the match was only 2 rounds and that it looks like she is still making adjustments as she had some problems in her opponent’s guard.

Champions: Mina Kurobe (50kg)

Pancrase

As mentioned above, some of the promotions have been impacted differently than others. While Rizin has been most impacted by their inability to bring in foreign fighters, Pancrase has put on less events than normal. They have put on roughly half as many shows so far this year as they had in 2019 and 2018. It would appear that after they had to cancel 317 in 2020, the promotion took a hesitant approach and held off scheduling events during the early part of the year, when COVID-19 numbers were on the rise. Now that vaccinations are underway, we should expect Pancrase to pick up where they left off when the Olympics wrap up.

So far this year, Pancrase has had 3 events and 2 women’s fights, both involving a member of Team Date. Now rebranded as the Bujitsu Sisters, Nori and Karen have made a big impression in their return to action. Undefeated at 3-0, Karen is now ranked as the number 1 contender and will likely be next in line to face Champion Emi Fujino whenever she returns to action from her injury. With the rebranding at Team Date, it seems that Karen and Nori will be concentrating more on MMA than they had in the past and we should expect to see them back in the Pancrase cage relatively soon.

Champions: Emi Fujino (52kg); Sidy Rocha (56.7kg)

Deep

Of the promotions that also put on men’s fights, Deep has put on the most women’s fights so far this year. Much like Shooto, Deep is developing young fighters. When you look at the fights that have taken place up through those scheduled for later this month, there were 3 amateur fights and 8 fighters with less than 2 fights. Not only are they developing fresh talent, they are also developing them across numerous divisions, with fights at 44kg, 48kg, 52kg, 56.7kg, and even 64kg.

When it comes to specific fighters, there are several that are worth noting. First, is Shizuka Sugiyama, who won her match at Deep’s 20th Anniversary show. Despite only competing once so far, Sugiyama has been busy, building her Youtube channel and opening a new gym with her husband. After her dominant win at the above mentioned event, it is clear that Sugiyama, who is on a 4-fight win streak, is capable of fighting on a bigger stage. It will be interesting to see if she gets called back up to Rizin, as it seems like she is the type of fighter they are interested in.

Outside of Sugiyama, it is worth noting that another one of their big names King Reina also fought this year, but wasn’t able to come up with the win. Before the fight, most of the coverage was about how Reina had switched to a vegan diet and gotten her weight under control, but that was not enough for her to win the fight. It seems like Reina made need to switch up her training, if she is to turn this slump around and start picking up wins again.

Champions: Amanda Lucas (Open); Saori Oshima (44kg)

Deep Jewels

Deep Jewels has had a great year so far in 2021. With 3 events under their belt so far, the promotion has put on 29 fights and seen two new champions crowned. Much like their big brother, Deep, Deep Jewels has also been going out of its way to develop new talent, holding more than 10 amateur fights and giving young fighters like Eru Takeyabashi and Otoha a chance to develop. Most notable for the promotion were two happenings, the Atomweight tournament and the crowning of their new 52kg Champion, Seika Izawa. The Atomweight tournament successfully built up and established several fighters who are now in positions to fight in main events or became faces for the promotion. Most notable are Saori Oshima, Si Woo Park, and Hikaru Aono.

There are several fighters within the promotion worth keeping an eye on, but for the purpose of this article, I will limit it to Seika Izawa, Saori Oshima, Miki Motono, and Yukari Nabe. Seika Izawa is the clear break out star for the promotion. Despite competing in MMA for less than a year and only having fought 3 times, she has such a solid background and has advanced so quickly that it is clear that she is bound for bigger things. She has expressed a desire to represent Deep Jewels throughout the world and it seems likely to happen. 52kg is not a very deep division at the moment in Japan and unless Seika decides to drop to 48kg, she will either need to fight abroad or fight foreign fighters brought into Japan.

Saori Oshima is the second biggest breakout star for the promotion. Similar to Izawa, Oshima made her pro-debut in 2020 and has already become a champion. However, unlike Izawa, Oshima is now a multi-divisional and multi-promotional champion. At just 26 years old, the young AACC based fighter is well-spoken and has already appeared in several fight magazines. With her ability to fight in two divisions, it will be interesting to see how Saeki decides to use her moving forward.

While Miki Motono has had a rough 2021, first getting injured and then losing her title, she is clearly a high caliber, young, developing fighter. She trains at AACC with the above mentioned Oshima and has often been described as a young version of Ayaka Hamasaki. It will be interesting to see how she bounces back after these setbacks.

Finally, it is worth keeping an eye on Yukari Nabe. She is 2-0 so far in 2021 and she is motivated to fight abroad, like her friends Mizuki Inoue and Kanako Murata. Towards that end, we can expect her to look to fight again in September, when Deep Jewels returns to action, in order to build her case and appeal.

Champions: Ji Yeon Kim (56.7kg) ; Mizuki Inoue (52kg); Seika Izawa (interim 52kg); Saori Oshima (48kg); Amp the Rocket (44kg)

Japanese Fighters Competing Abroad

Its been a rough year for Japanese fighters fighting abroad so far in 2021. Kana Watanabe was defeated in the first round in her match against Liz Carmouche, Kanako Murata suffered an injury in her loss to Virna Jandiroba that will require surgery, and Mizuki Inoue has been sidelines with a knee injury. On a more positive note, Kana Watanabe did pick up a win in Bellator earlier this year and in doing so likely became the highest paid Japanese fighter to fight in the U.S. Having earned around $60,000, this puts her above both Hitomi Akano and Mizuki Inoue. However, it is rumored that Hitomi still holds the record for the highest paid Japanese female fighter in a single day, as she fought twice in one day. On another positive note, it seems likely that Mizuki will be ready to return to action later this year, so it remains to be seen if she will fight this year or sometime next year.

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