Former Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki picked up another impressive victory tonight in a featured bout at Deep: Dream Impact 2014 in Saitama, Japan. Hamasaki defeated former Valkyrie Featherweight Champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi in an entertaining 48kg fight on the card.

Deep Jewels star Shizuka Sugiyama earned her second win in fewer than two months tonight. Sugiyama finished boxing champ Emiko “Fujin” Raika with a first-round armbar. Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino outpointed Emi Tomimatsu tonight, and “Princess” Satoko Shinashi mauled Rika Hamada.

Hamasaki (11-1-0) and Yamaguchi (12-8-1) exchanged big punches in the opening seconds of their bout and Hamasaki forced Yamaguchi to backpedal by throwing a series of hooks. Yamaguchi answered back with a right hand and she avoided Hamasaki’s kicks, but Hamasaki closed in and landed another combination. She caught a kick and took Yamaguchi down against the cage, then spent the remainder of the round landing punches and elbows from Yamaguchi’s half-guard.

Yamaguchi opened round two with a head kick, but Hamasaki threw her to the mat and the fighters battled in a clinch against the fence. Hamasaki dragged Yamaguchi down on two more occasions and she trapped Yamaguchi’s left arm behind her back. Yamaguchi punched with her right hand and the fighters were abruptly stood up. Yamaguchi landed combinations and she threw Hamasaki on her head, but Hamasaki got back to her feet and the fight ended with both women throwing punches.

All three judges scored the two-round bout for Hamasaki, who took the Unanimous Decision victory. She has won back-to-back fights since dropping down to 48 kilograms earlier this year.

“My conditioning wasn’t as good as I had expected,” Hamasaki told MMARising.com after the fight. “I tried to submit [Yamaguchi], but she is strong. I learned better striking recently, but I did not get to show it. I want to fight abroad and challenge for the [Invicta FC atomweight] title. I want the belt.”

“[Hamasaki] earned points on the ground and she has a strong heart,” Yamaguchi said. “My [use of] elbows needs to improve. For next year, I want to fight for the Deep Jewels title.”

Fresh off of a victory at Deep Jewels 6 on November 3rd, Sugiyama (13-4-1) made it two in a row with a first-round finish of Raika (0-2-0), who remains winless in MMA following a storied run in boxing.

Sugiyama pressed forward with kicks and she looked to take the fight with Raika to the ground early on. Raika stayed on her feet and boxed from a distance until Sugiyama clinched and scored a slick takedown into the scarf hold position. She landed punches from the top and held Raika in a headlock. Raika eventually escaped to her feet and was immediately taken down again. Sugiyama mounted her, then spun into an armbar and wrenched back on Raika’s arm until referee Kenichi Serizawa intervened for a technical submission stoppage at the 4:06 mark.

“I honestly feel relieved,” Sugiyama said while speaking with MMARising.com following the bout. “Once Raika gains more MMA experience in the future, she will be a strong fighter.”

A pre-fight video package highlighted Sugiyama’s desire to compete in the UFC in the near future. Her husband, veteran fighter Keita “K-Taro” Nakamura, is a three-time Octagon veteran.

In a battle between two of Japan’s top female strawweights, recent WSOF title challenger Fujino (15-8-0) outpointed former Deep Jewels Interim Lightweight Champion Tomimatsu (8-9-0) after two rounds of action that were contested entirely on the feet.

Both women landed jabs and right hooks in the opening round, but Fujino’s crisp combinations allowed her to hold an edge in the striking exchanges as the round progressed. She backed Tomimatsu up with a flurry of left and right hooks and Tomimatsu struggled to find her range. She landed occasional right hands over the top, but Fujino scored with more combinations in the final minute.

Fujino countered an early right hook from Tomimatsu with another quick combination in round two. She followed with a one-two and kept her chin tucked in order to avoid Tomimatsu’s overhand rights. Fujino continued to land at will with her punches and Tomimatsu came up short with counters. The fighters clinched on two occasions as time ticked down and Fujino kept Tomimatsu on the defensive by walking her down with punches.

The bout went to the scorecards and all three judges scored it for Fujino, who earned a Unanimous Decision victory. Like Sugiyama, she has won back-to-back fights in a span of two months.

“[Tomimatsu] is a jiu-jitsu brown belt and I know she is a technical fighter,” Fujino told MMARising.com. “I did not want to fight in her area of strength, so I decided to strike. There are no fighters left [for me to face] in my weight class in Deep Jewels, but I want to continue to fight as many times as possible.”

Tomimatsu attributed her loss to spending too much time watching Fujino’s movements and not enough time implementing her own game plan that involved more varied strikes. She told MMARising.com that she plans to drop down to the 48kg division next year.

The first of four women’s bouts on the card ended in one-sided fashion, as Deep Women’s Flyweight Champion Shinashi (31-2-2) made quick work of idol-turned-fighter Hamada (1-1-0), who was vastly overmatched and never got anything going in the 45kg fight.

In the opening seconds, Hamada sprinted forward at Shinashi, who responded by throwing her to the mat with a harai goshi. She transitioned to an armbar and rolled through, but Hamada managed to escape. Shinashi spent the next three minutes punishing Hamada with punches from mount position and threatening with rear-naked chokes when Hamada tried to roll to escape. From the top, Shinashi worked for a keylock and she quickly spun into a tight armbar that prompted referee Kenichi Serizawa to stop the fight. The technical submission came at the 3:29 mark of round one.

Shinashi is 2-0 since returning to MMA in October following a six-year retirement. She remains the first and only woman to hold the Deep women’s flyweight title at 99 pounds.

“I have much more experience than [Hamada],” Shinashi admitted after the fight. “I have had a long career, but I have never fought abroad and so I want to fight abroad in 2015.”

(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)