On Sunday, Deep jewels 32 went down at the famed Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Despite losing the main event due to an injury and several Weight issues, the event highlighted the opening round of the atomweight tournament and felt like a big night for the promotion. In a night of back-and-forth fights, three fighters stood out. Those were Seika Izawa, Saori Oshima, and Yukari Nabe. In this article we will discuss the weight issues, why those three Stood out, the next round of the tournament and the fight between Motono and Izawa.
- Missed weight
Missing weight in Japan has always been a much bigger issue than missing weight abroad. As a result, missing weight happens a lot less in Japan. I can remember Daniel West being upset at the penalties levied against her when she missed weight at Pancrase before her fight with Rin Nakai. I can also remember how surprised people were when Mizuki lost to Tomimatsu despite finishing her with an arm bar because she had missed weight. So it should be no surprise that it was a big deal when two fighters missed weight for this event. Amiba, a popular fighter amongst fans and fighters chose to continue with their fight despite not being able to win, reportedly falling ill during her weight cut and having a heavily taped knee.
Sakura on the other hand did not fight. In a story that has received a lot of attention, it appears that there might be some issues with her camp. Most of these rumors come from Shinya Aoki who described the issue in detail on his podcast. If you haven’t heard it, I will be discussing it on the next podcast with Shu.
As a result of Sakura missing weight, Aya Murakami automatically progressed to the semi- finals. The grappler turned fighter made an appearance in the cage. Known for her love of cosplay, she entered the cage dressed as Hakkekkyū from Cells At Work! and addressed the crowd before being given flowers by Saeki as it was her birthday. With Sakura and Tomimatsu out of the tournament, it is safe to say that Aya is the most talented jiu jitsu based fighter left in the tournament.
- Fighters that Stood Out
Without a doubt, Seika, Saori, and Yukari made the biggest impressions. It wasn’t that they won, it was who they beat and how they beat them.
Going into the night, it was pretty clear that Seika Izawa is an extremely talented grappler who has excelled in both wrestling and judo for most of her life. While her opponent may not have had the same credentials, she was a high level collegiate wrestler. That seemed to matter little as Izawa tripped her to the ground several times and forced her to tap with a RNC in under a minute. Afterwards, Izawa was joined in the cage by Miki Motono and they talked about their eventual rematch for the title when Miki is recovered. In my opinion, this actually worked out better for Deep Jewels. Now that the fans are aware of how talented Seika is, the hype for their rematch should be even bigger. Whoever wins that fight stands a good chance of being the face of this new generation of fighters that is emerging.
Next is Saori Oshima. According to our poll, a majority thought that Tomimatsu would win. That ended up not being the case, as the smaller Saori took Emi down almost immediately. After Emi got back up, Saori was able to take her back down with a double wrist lock, force Emi to roll and finish her with the submission in under a minute. Coming off of her loss to Park, some wondered how she would fare against these larger opponents and she answered that question emphatically. With over 20 years of Judo experience, the Microweight champion may be the smallest fighter in the tournament but it is clear that she is also one of the best grapplers in it too.
Last we have Yukari Nabe, training partner of both Shizuka Sugiyama and Kanako Murata. Having not fought since 2019, some were curious how the 8-3 fighter would look. She looked very good against a game Mikko Nirvana. Her takedowns were aggressive and forceful and she threw punches with bad intentions. She actually appeared to rock Mikko early in the fight. After such an impressive victory, it is worth noting that her only losses are a majority decision loss to Kana Watanabe, a decision loss to Murata, and a split decision loss to Sugiyama. At 33 years old she is on a 6 fight win streak and it will be interesting to see what Deep Jewels does with her. For being as new to the sport as she is, Mikko also looked good in the match, showing a mental strength and refusal to give up that will surely come in handy in future bouts.
- Next Round of the Tournament
In an interesting twist of fate, every fighter in the opening round of the tournament who selected their opponent lost or was disqualified in the opening round.
1st Pick Nisse chose Park, lost via UD
2nd Pick Sakura chose Aya, disqualified
3rd Pick Emi chose Saori, lost via Submission
The semi-finals and finals will occur in one night, which I believe is scheduled to be in May. There will likely be a similar draw to decide the matches like happened before. Going into the semi-finals, it is likely that many will consider Park the favorite to win, having already defeated Hikaru Aono and Saori Oshima. However, a one night tournament can have many factors and it will be interesting to see how they all perform.
Results
Amateur Fights
- Sara and Ragina fight to a Majority Draw (Kickboxing)
- Karin Horii defeated Momoka Yoshikawa by SD
Non-Tournament Bouts
- Hime defeated Kate Lotus by UD
- Shoko Fujita defeated Amiba by UD
- Yukari Nabe defeated Mikko Nirvana by UD
- Seika Izawa defeated Megumi Sugimoto by Submission (Grappling Bout)
Tournament Bouts
- Hikaru Aono defeated Emi Sato by UD
- Si Woo Park defeated Nisse by UD
- Saori Oshima defeated Emi Tomimatsu by Submission (Double-Wristlock), RD 1
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