This Saturday, two division champion Saori Oshima will return to action and face Hime at Deep Jewels 36. This fight will be her first in 2022, coming off the tails of an incredible 2021 where she propelled herself to the top of the Japanese scene. Also on the card is the opening round of the Deep Jewels Flyiweight Tournament, featuring Rin Nakai and Shizuka Sugiyama, as well as other key Atomweight fights, including Miki Motono, Hikaru Aono, Nisse, and Moeri Suda. With Rizin hinting that they would like to put on a Super Atomweight Tournament this year, one has to think that all of these women are motivated to put on a strong performance and secure a spot. (Photo courtesy of Marrion)
Rising to the top of the women’s scene
Two women had breakout years in 2021. Saori Oshima and Seika Izawa. The Japanese MMA scene has long been dominated by older fighters that the younger generation hasn’t been able to overcome. With regard to the Atomweight division, this looks to be changing. Saori, for example, made her debut in January of 2020. In her first year, she went 3-2, losing to the veteran Mina Kurobe and Si Woo Park. In the following year, she went 4-0, won the Deep Jewels Atomweight tournament, became their Atomweight Champion, avenged her loss to Si Woo Park, and perhaps most importantly, she defeated the extremely popular Kanna Asakura at Rizin 31. Her fight with Kanna is now the most watched women’s bout on Rizin’s Youtube channel, with over 4.1 million views, putting it firmly above the second most watched, Hamasaki vs Asakura II, which has just over 1.1 million views. A quick look at Google Trends makes it crystal clear the impact this match has made on Saori’s visibility. Searches aside, Saori is now a two division champion, holds a win over one of Rizin’s biggest stars, is ranked #3 in the world, and is still improving. If she wins on Saturday, she is an obvious candidate for the upcoming Super Atomweight Tournament.
From the mountains of Shimane to Rizin
While she may live in Tokyo now, Oshima hails from the rural Shimane prefecture. A place where she wore a bear-bell on the way to school. It was there, in the mountains, that she first got started in Judo, under the watchful eyes of her parents, who were both Judo instructors. As is common with high level Judoka, like Ayaka Hamasaki and Rin Nakai, she went to a junior high school with a strong team, where she moved into a boarding house. She then went to a high school that specialized in ground-fighting techniques but she had some problems there, requiring her to transfer to Osaka, where she graduated. After high school, she went to the prestigious Tokai University, where in her second year, she won the All Japan Junior Championship at 44kg, a national title. After university, she continued to compete for the All Japan Judo Federation for year, after which she got married to a fellow Judoka and gave birth to twins.
Having been involved in Judo since she was three, stopping was difficult. Her husband was still competing, which made her jealous, and she was busy caring for two children without a way to work out the stress. It was around this time that she went to Nagoya with a friend to watch her former teammate, Miki Motono, make her pro-debut. Not only did Monoto win her fight, she got Oshima interested. She contacted Motono who introduced her to AACC. When she started training at AACC, it was just for the joy of training. She didn’t think that she would compete at a professional level. Being married to a full-time athlete and a mother of twins means that she is constantly balancing various responsibilities and because of this busy schedule, she was only able to train once a week or once every two weeks. However, despite her inability to train consistently, she made her amateur debut shortly thereafter, in July of 2019, under the Shooto banner. Later that September, In a one day tournament, she defeated the first opponent with an armbar in the first round, the second with a key lock, and finally Miku Nakamura (a Shooto regular now) via decision, with one of the judges scoring the two round affair 20-17.
When she lost to Park in 2020, Oshima rethought her training and the results have been dramatic. While she still cannot train as much as some fighters, she has figured out a system where she can train more during fight camps. She really picked up her training ahead of her fight with the popular Kanna Asakura. In fact, she trained so much that she told us it got to the point that she didn’t even want to touch a pair of gloves anymore. Under her new system, she still trains only a couple times a week, but when she has a fight that all changes. When she is in fight camp, she trains several times a day and goes to different gyms for specific instruction. Amazingly, even under this new system, she tells us that she isn’t back to the same physical shape she was in university.
Judo versus Basketball
On Saturday, Oshima will face Namiko Kawabata, better known as Hime. While her age isn’t listed, Hime was in her second year of University in 2007 and graduated in 2009. This puts Hime at roughly 7 years older than Oshima, who is 27, meaning that Hime is likely around 35 years old. While she doesn’t have the martial arts background of Oshima, she was a high-level basketball player who played semi-professionally for Hitachi. This athleticism has shown in her short career. Motono was able to get her down and put her in bad positions but Hime was able to survive, so it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. Hime has also adopted more of a striking style, meaning that this match will likely be the classic striker versus grappler matchup. Having fought most recently at 52kg (115lbs), Hime is 4 inches taller than Oshima, making her the 2nd tallest opponent she’s faced. If the fight hits the mat, Oshima should have a clear advantage. With her size, she is used to facing bigger opponents. In fact her fight with Nisse is the only time her opponent wasn’t bigger than her, being merely the same size.
How to watch
You can watch Oshima and the rest of Deep Jewels 36 via PPV here. If you are outside of Japan, you can order it here. The PPV is 2,500 yen if you order in advance and 3,000 yen if you order on Saturday.
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