While it may not be like it was in the past, MMA is becoming more popular in Japan. With the success of Rizin, MMA is back on live TV, new stars have been created, and a new generation of fans have emerged, many of whom aren’t old enough to remember Pride. With this increase in popularity, more people have taken an interest in trying mixed martial arts. This has led to an influx of developing fighters for promotions like Deep Jewels. Their upcoming show this Saturday, Deep Jewels 34, is a good example of this. Aside from the main event and the grappling match, not a single fighter has more than 3 fights. In fact, most of them have only been training for a couple of years. One of theses young prospects, is the sushi loving Te-a. (photo courtesy of Akihito Tatematsu)
Making the transition
Like so many others, Te-a got involved in mixed martial arts by chance. As a member of Japan’s Self-Defense forces, she was required to learn martial arts. Everyone trained together and this motivated Te-a. She wanted to be able to compete with the men. This led to her constantly training with the combat instructor, who eventually introduced her to a MMA gym, AACC. As you may be aware, AACC has been a breeding ground for some of the top female talent in Japan for close to 2 decades now. Current champions like Ayaka Hamasaki and Saori Oshima train there was well as other famous fighters like Rena. Eventually, Te-a came to the decision that she wanted to be a professional fighter, so she left the military and started training full-time.
No longer motivated by a desire to compete with the men in her unit, Te-a is now looking to catch up to her new training partners, and despite her relative newness to the sport, she has already found success. Separated by only three months, she made both her amateur and pro-debuts earlier this year. She won both fights, including an armbar over Marina Kumagai, who defeated King Reina in a kickboxing match. When asked about the win, Te-a commented, “I was very happy to make my pro-debut, but to be honest, I felt it was a little early. I tried to learn as much technique as I could, but I ended up using my physicality to take over. Also, I was only doing what my cornermen were telling me to, I wasn’t able to do it on my own, so I think I need to learn more to be like a pro.”
Outside of her training, Te-a hates being idle or having nothing to do. Instead, she prefers to hangout with her training partners or try new things. She told us that she has a somewhat addictive personality and as a result, she tends to go through new obsessions at a pace of about one a month. Recently she was into Korean dramas. It may be fun to see these new interests unfold as her career progresses.
This Saturday
While she may have thought her pro-debut was too soon, she is already set to return to the ring this Saturday against fellow newcomer, PochanZ. When asked about this upcoming fight, Te-a offered the following, “I first saw Pochan Z fight in an amateur tournament. All of her strikes looked powerful, so I think she is very physical. I saw her last fight, and in that she was very aggressive and came forward, so I think our fight will be another exciting fight.” Going into the fight, Te-a is 1-0 and PochanZ is 0-1, so it will be interesting to see what happens between these 2 newcomers.
To the readers, Te-a would like to add, “In order to have professional and interesting fights, I am going to keep training at AACC, so please look forward to my evolution.”
Deep Jewels 34
Deep Jewels 34 takes place on September 4th at Shinjuku Face.
- It will be available on PPV: https://event.spwn.jp/_events/21090417-jewels34
- Price: 3,000 yen day off, 2,500 if ordered in advance
- Guest commentator: Yukari Nabe
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