Murakami wins belt, Deep Jewels 42 Results -

Deep Jewels celebrated their 10th anniversary on Sunday in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event, the popular cosplayer/BJJ black belt Aya Murakami out-grappled Amp the Rocket en route to a unanimous decision victory. In doing so, she became the new Deep Jewels Microweight Champion, not to be confused with the Deep Microweight Champion, Saori Oshima. Elsewhere on the card, Si Woo Park defeated Hime, Moeri Suda tried her hardest to submit Kate Lotus, Yuko Kiryu rocked Hikaru Aono, and Saki and Eru Takebayashi did their best Hagler/Hearns impression for 2 minutes.

Murakami wins title, wants Rizin

Aya, who made her way to the cage dressed as an Akatsuki from Naruto, actively fought throughout the 3 round bout to keep the fight on the ground and this proved to be the right strategy. While Amp is no slouch on the ground herself, she looked to have a striking advantage, landing a couple hard calf kicks in the final round. However, this was the only moment in the fight where she looked to be in control. Throughout the majority of the fight, Aya showcased her grappling and her full repertoire of submissions, going for a heel hook, an achilles lock, armbars, a toe hold, and an omoplata. Afterwords, she addressed the crowd, stating among other things that she wanted to continue to challenge herself at Atomweight and also fight in Rizin. With her grappling skills and unique personality, Aya has a lot of potential and it will be interesting to see what she does next. Perhaps a showdown with Satoko Shinashi, who was sitting cage-side, or a unification bout with Oshima?

Suda goes for sub after sub, but Kate survives

Despite being labeled as a Kings Gym Kobe fighter, Kate Lotus has been training hard in Tokyo for some time now with the likes of Seika Izawa and it is paying off. She may have lost a decision to the young Moeri Suda on Sunday, but she showed much improved resilience on the ground. But, unfortunately for Kate, defending submission attempts without going on the offensive yourself isn’t how you win a fight. She may have defended all of Suda’s submissions, but that doesn’t change the fact that Suda locked on a couple tight armbar attempts, while also going for a heel hook and a triangle. With this win, Moeri bounces back from her TKO loss to Park earlier this year and continues to look like an exciting prospect. It will be interesting to see if she gets called back up to Rizin anytime soon.

Kiryu wears down Aono en route to victory

In a fun bout, the popular Yuko Kiryu survived Hikaru Aono’s wrestling, rocked her with punches, and almost got the finish with a RNC on her way to a decision victory. Throughout the fight, Hikaru was able to get Yuko down, but she had a problem keeping her there. Yuko refused to be controlled and used the cage or scrambles to get out from the bottom. Later on, in the 2nd, Yuko hit Hikaru with a big punch that really effected her, which led to Yuko throwing some more heat, landing some hard GNP, and going for a RNC. The punches that rocked her seemed reminiscent of when Park hurt her back in 2019.

Saki and Takebayashi brawl for 2 minutes

While the fight was lower on the card, Saki versus Eru Takebayashi stood out when it was announced and while it didn’t last long, it delivered. The two locked horns almost immediately and Saki dropped Eru with a high-kick and blasted her with a punch as she was getting back to her feet. Blood started coming out of Eru’s mouth, who to her credit didn’t back down. Instead, she rocked Saki with a punch and landed a Mortal Kombat-esque combo that looked to be close to finishing the fight, but Saki survived. This was unfortunate for Eru as more and more blood was coming out of her mouth and the doctor was forced to stop it. Afterwords, Saeki announced that her jaw was broken. It is worth noting that Saki got a big pop from the crowd, obviously bringing a lot of fans over from her Breaking Down experience. Despite now having a record of 3-4, Eru is an incredibly exciting fighter and I hope she makes a quick recovery and return.

All in all, Deep Jewels 42 delivered a lot of exciting fights. It is also worth noting that the production also continues to improve with each event. That does not mean there weren’t some oddities on the card, like Akari’s win being ruled a no-contest because she missed weight and Saito inexplicably throwing a grounded knee, which cost her a point and the fight.