The first half of an all-day doubleheader of events kicked off this afternoon at Jewels: “13th Ring” from Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo, Japan. The event, which will aid in disaster relief in Japan, was headlined by a kickboxing match between Kozue “Azuma” Nagashima and Yukimi Kamikaze.

Also on the card, Jewels fighters clashed with rivals from Valkyrie in a pair of mixed martial arts bouts. Mongolia’s Bolormaa “Esui” Erdenebileg took on Chisa Yonezawa in one bout, while Asami Higa faced Megumi Morioka in another. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for Jewels: “13th Ring.”

 

57.15kg Kickboxing Match (3×3)

Kozue “Azuma” Nagashima vs Yukimi Kamikaze

Round 1:
Nagashima is very conscientious early on about circling and keeping the pressure on her opponent. Unfortunately, she’s circling into Kamikaze’s power side. Nagashima notches nice one-twos followed by hard low kicks, but Kamikaze is able to counter with right hands and low kicks of her own.

Round 2:
It’s hard to tell if Kamikaze is smiling or simply grimacing, but either way, she’s doing a lot better in the second period. Her slower punches are getting through Nagashima’s defences, and so are knees to Nagashima’s body. Nagashima is slowing some, but she’s also still landing with regularity. As Kamikaze is the one chasing her down now, she’s finding more success with her left hook counter. The fight is starting to even out in this second round.

Round 3:
It’s still tight in the third round as both women are fatigued and slowing. Kamikaze walks Nagashima down and lands slow single punches and push kicks, while Nagashima returns fire with counters; plunking her opponent with one-twos to the face.

Winner: Kozue Nagashima by Unanimous Decision (30-29, 30-29, 30-29) after three rounds.

 

47kg Kickboxing Match (3×2)

Madoka Okada vs Momoka Mandokoro

Round 1:
Mandokoro is the faster and more aggressive fighter in this round. She snaps off blistering three-punch combinations before colliding with Okada in the clinch. It’s all Okada can do to occasionally tag her with hard kicks to the body or the odd right hook. Dominant round for Mandokoro.

Round 2:
Mandokoro misses a lot more in this round, but she’s still faster and more aggressive than Okada. Okada, however, is starting to land more of her offence. She’s getting in snapping head kicks and hard punches that often derail Mandokoro’s berserker barrage of strikes; backing her up and forcing her to reset. A slightly more even round when compared to the first.

Round 3:
Okada has found her answer in the third: knees. As Mandokoro charges in with punches, Okada returns fire with big knees to the gut that slow Mandokoro down considerably. Mandokoro is more or less reduced to a windmill machine as Okada pulls ahead and clearly steals the round.

Result: Majority Draw (30-29 [Okada], 30-30, 29-29) after three rounds.

 

53.52kg Kickboxing Match (3×2)

Miku Hayashi vs Rio Kamikaze

Round 1:
Hayashi is the aggressor in the first round, throwing the most offence and backing Kamikaze into the ropes and corners. Kamikaze is good at covering up and countering, however, landing a number of hard left hooks thanks to Hayashi’s tendency to drop her right hand. Hayashi appears to have a very slight edge over Kamikaze in the opening frame.

Round 2:
Hayashi is still throwing and landing more punches and push kicks, but she’s also still not putting up that right hand. Therefore, Kamikaze’s left hook counters are still getting through regularly. Kamikaze is also able to score with a spinning back kick to the body and an axe kick to the face in this round.

Round 3:
Both women are quite fatigued in the third round, so they’re both connecting on each other with big punches. Still, it’s Hayashi with the crisper, more frequent shots, such that Kamikaze – who missed a handful of spinning back fists – leaves the fight with a bloody nose.

Winner: Miku Hayashi by Unanimous Decision (30-29, 30-29, 29-28) after three rounds.

 

61kg Jewels Special MMA Rules – Jewels vs Valkyrie (2×5)

Bolormaa “Esui” Erdenebileg vs Chisa Yonezawa

Round 1:
Referee for this bout is Yoshinori Umeki. Yonezawa comes charging in for the clinch. Erdenebileg, of course, responds with punches and hammerfists; many of which connect to the back of Yonezawa’s head. Yonezawa does manage to trip Erdenebileg up and take her down, however. After spending a brief moment putting the Mongolian in the head scissors, she takes side mount. Edenebileg scrambles, giving up her back, but Yonezawa doesn’t sink the hooks, allowing the Mongol to stand. Yonezawa still has Erdenebileg in the rear waistlock, but can’t get her down. Umeki breaks them up and calls a brief stop to check a cut on Yonezawa’s face.

As the fight resumes, it’s apparent that Yonezawa has eaten a big punch to her left eye, which is rapidly swelling shut. Erdenebileg tries her best to finish the fight by piling more punches on Yonezawa, and eventually drops her. She lays in with more punches, but Yonezawa quickly recovers and gets back to her feet, then puts Erdenebileg into a corner to stop her. Umeki calls another stop to have the doctors check Yonezawa’s eye. The fight resumes and Erdenebileg walks through a snapping head kick to bust Yonezawa’s face up more. A Yonezawa takedown is reversed, putting Erdenebileg on top in the judo press for the final 20 seconds. 10-9 Erdenebileg.

The doctors call a stop to the fight before the start of the second round, owing to Yonezawa’s swollen-shut left eye. With Erdenebileg’s win, the Jewels vs Valkyrie score becomes even at 1-1.

Winner: Bolormaa Erdenebileg by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at 5:00 of round one. She improves to 2-1-0.

 

50kg Jewels Official MMA Rules – Jewels vs Valkyrie (2×5)

Megumi Morioka vs Asami Higa

Round 1:
Referee for this bout is Yoshinori Umeki. Higa smashes Morioka with hard punches, but gives up a takedown. Morioka passes to mount and drops punches to Higa’s belly and ribs. Morioka overzealously goes for an armbar, but forgets to trap Higa’s head under a leg. She doesn’t give up, however, and eventually does get that leg over Higa’s face. Higa is forced to scramble, reaching her own leg over Morioka’s face make their bodies parallel.

This defence does nullify the armbar, however, and so referee Umeki stands the fighters up. Higa resumes bashing Morioka in the face and eventually takes her back off of a botched takedown. Umeki breaks them up – yes, from back mount. Before Higa can really put more of a hurting on Morioka, she gets taken down and neutralised by Morioka in the judo press until the bell. 10-9 Higa.

Round 2:
Morioka eats a few punches before getting a double-leg takedown. She passes from half-guard to side control easily. Morioka looks to be setting up an arm-triangle here. After a few moments of that going nowhere, she defaults back to the armbar. Higa drives Morioka outside of the ring through the bottom rope, and Umeki is forced to break the armbar and stand them up. Morioka shoots again for the takedown and puts Higa on her back.

Morioka takes mount and puches to the belly. Again, Morioka goes for the armbar, and again, she doesn’t quite get it. Higa drops her heel on Morioka’s back in defence. She can only afford doing this because the arm isn’t really cinched. Umeki realises this and breaks them up. Higa stuffs a takedown, finally, and gets busy punching Morioka’s ribs while pancaking her. Morioka persistently drives forward, however, making sure to end the fight by getting that takedown. 10-9 Morioka.

All three judges – Ryogoku Wada, Kenichi Serizawa and Akira Yamazaki – see the fight for Megumi Morioka. Valkyrie takes a 1-0 lead over Jewels.

Winner: Megumi Morioka by Unanimous Decision after two rounds. She improves to 3-1-0.

 

48kg Jewels Official MMA Rules (2×5)

Yukiko Seki vs Yuka Okumura

Round 1:
Referee for this bout is Kenichi Serizawa. Okumura gets a Yellow Card coming into the fight for being 300 grams over the weight limit. Seki charges in with punches and Okumura puts her in a guillotine choke. She falls back, but can’t wrap her legs around Seki’s middle, allowing Seki to take top position in side control. Seki drops a few punches and knees to the body. Okumura sits up and Seki locks on the guillotine this time.

Okumura escapes and goes for a reverse heel hook. It doesn’t get far, so referee Serizawa stands the fighters up. They clinch and trade knees. Seki gets the outside trip and takes top in half-guard. She drops a few punches to Okumura’s ribs before passing to full side control. Seki moves to North-South, then to the other side before Serizawa breaks them up. Seki chases Okumura into the corner again and there they stay until the bell. 10-9 Seki. 10-8 with point deduction.

Round 2:
Seki charges in for the clinch again and gets off a few good right hands from the single collar tie. Okumura lays into her with knees in response. Seki just bowls her over and takes top position in half-guard in defence. Serizawa stands them up before Seki can do anything. Undeterred, Seki again charges Okumura with big punches until she gets the clinch and a takedown. She moves to mount this time. Okumura squirms and spins to her belly, giving up her back.

Okumura defends the choke, but is almost caught by the armbar. Okumura narrowly escapes and dives for Seki’s leg. She almost has a heel hook, but Seki boots her off with her free leg. In the escape scramble, Seki gets back to her feet and both girls wail on each other with big punches. Okumura leans into Seki against the ropes, throwing knees, but eating a lot of punches. This is how the final ten seconds expire. 10-9 Seki.

Judges Yoshinori Umeki and Akira Yamazaki score the bout for Seki, while judge Ryogoku Wada strangely sees it for Okumura.

Winner: Yukiko Seki by Split Decision after two rounds. She improves to 8-20-0.

 

54kg Jewels Official MMA Rules (2×5)

Sadae “Manhoef” Suzumura vs Anna Saito

Round 1:
Referee for this bout is Kenichi Serizawa. Suzumura charges in with punches and cracks Saito with a hard right hand. Saito goes for a harai-goshi but gives up her back. She falls to the floor and drops to her back. Suzumura kicks Saito’s legs before referee Serizawa stands them up. This is followed by messy trading of punches until Saito finally gets the harai-goshi. Suzumura manages to reverse and take top position in side control, where she drops knees to Saito’s ribs. Serizawa stands them up again, and again it hits the floor with Suzumura punishing Saito’s ribs with knees and punches.

Serizawa stands them up again and Suzumura is connecting with knees to the face. Saito again goes for the throw, but she just can’t get it through her head that she’s giving up top position doing this. Break again after Saito’s eaten a fair amount of punishment to the body and legs. Saito charges into Suzumura’s punches looking for a throw. She latches on to an arm and goes for a messy arm-drag, giving up her back. Suzumura closes the round in mount, crushing her opponent with punches and knees to the ribs. 10-8 Suzumura.

Round 2:
Saito swings with abandon to close distance for the throw. She doesn’t get it and, again, gives up her back to Suzumura. Suzumura looks to be tired of beating Saito up, as she sinks in her hooks and starts looking for a rear-naked choke instead. Saito escapes the choke attempts by spinning around, but Suzumura stays on top in mount. Suzumura lays into Saito’s belly with punches. She methodically sets up an armbar and, just as she falls back, Serizawa calls the technical stop at 2:10.

Winner: Sadae Suzumura by Technical Submission (Armbar) at 2:10 of round two. She improves to 1-0-1.

 

Undercard Grappling Matches (1×4):

50kg: Satoko Kameda defeated Kayoko Yamazaki by Submission (Heel Hook) at 1:14.

49kg: Tamaki Usui defeated Nana “Chanchin” Ichikawa by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 0:35.