Former Deep Jewels Interim Strawweight Champion Emi Tomimatsu earned one of the biggest victories of her career this afternoon at Deep Jewels 11 in Tokyo, Japan. Tomimatsu submitted popular contender Saori “Shooting Star” Ishioka in round two of the Deep Jewels 11 atomweight main event.
Reigning Deep Jewels Strawweight Champion Mizuki Inoue cruised to a quick and dominant win in today’s co-feature. The highly-touted 21-year-old finished Nori Date with a first-round armbar. In featured atomweight action, Mina Kurobe halted a losing skid by defeating Nori’s teammate, Hana.
Tomimatsu (11-10-0) solidified her spot as one of the top atomweight contenders on the Deep Jewels roster with her impressive victory today. She showcased her underrated striking skills by landing some nice combinations in the opening round and avoided most of Ishioka’s (13-9-0) right hook counters. Tomimatsu secured a late-round takedown, but Ishioka escaped to her feet and she closed out the round by landing knees in a clinch.
The fight returned to the mat early in round two after Tomimatsu scored a leg-sweep takedown into side control. She passed to North-South position and hunted for a kimura. Ishioka tried to explode out, but Tomimatsu dove on her back and maintained her grip on Ishioka’s arm. She transitioned to a rear-naked choke and Ishioka was forced to submit at the 4:49 mark of round two.
With today’s finish, Tomimatsu has won three straight fights in the Deep Jewels atomweight division.
“Of course I wanted to win,” Tomimatsu stated following the fight before elaborating on some bad blood with Ishioka. “Saori has a big mouth, and I felt pressure on me because of her big mouth. I wanted to win because she said that Deep Jewels needed her because she brings in bigger crowds. I fought for all of the other Deep Jewels fighters today. Please support Deep Jewels and bring friends next time.
“Before today, I was unable to get a finish,” Tomimatsu added backstage. “Today, I stayed calm and got the choke. I had heard that Saori was strong, but I shut her down technically. I don’t want a title fight against Mei [Yamaguchi] because we are friends and I think that Mei wants to fight abroad, so I don’t want to fight her again.”
Fresh off of her victory at Invicta FC 15 in January, Inoue (11-4-0) made a successful return to the Deep Jewels ring by steamrolling Nori (0-2-0) in a non-title matchup. Nori began the fight with two Yellow Cards due to missing weight by 950 grams (2.1 pounds), but the penalty proved to be irrelevant and Inoue earned a quick finish.
After avoiding early spinning attacks from Nori, Inoue dropped her opponent with a left hook and she immediately followed with more hard punches from mount. Nori turtled and Inoue alternated between punches and armbar attempts until she was able to secure an armbar that prompted referee Masato Fukuda to wave off the fight at the 3:12 mark of round one.
“I’m not good at talking,” Inoue confessed after the fight. “I won at Invicta [FC 15], too, so I have some good momentum now and I want to fight more times this year. Thanks for all of your support. It’s because of you that I’m here.
“I wanted more of a striking fight, but I did land some nice ground and pound,” Inoue later noted when speaking backstage. “My opponent was overweight, but that did not have much of an effect on the fight since I did not have an opponent change and my training was still the same. I want to appear on TV in the future. Since Rena [Kubota] had a good performance for Rizin, I’ve been really excited for female MMA to make a splash on television.”
Deep Jewels 11 was originally set to feature two atomweight bouts pitting Inoue’s unbeaten teammate, Yukari Yamaguchi, against Hana Date, and Mina Kurobe against Renju Date. Due to training injuries this week, both Yamaguchi and Renju were forced to withdraw from the card. Deep Jewels officials instead matched Kurobe up against Hana at 105 pounds.
Kurobe (6-2-0) countered early strikes from Hana (1-1-0) by taking her down with a quick double-leg into mount. Hana escaped to her feet, but Kurobe secured another takedown into mount and she threatened with an armbar from the top. Kurobe mounted Hana two more times in the second round, and she attacked with punches and more armbar attempts. Hana defended each time, and she tried to knee her way free, but Kurobe maintained her grip on the armbar until the final bell.
Judges Hidenobu Koike, Masato Fukuda and Yoshinori Umeki all scored the fight for Kurobe, who bounced back from the first two losses of her career with the Unanimous Decision victory. In spite of her recent setbacks, she remains a top atomweight contender for Deep Jewels.
Earlier on the card, Mei Umeo edged out a contentious Split Decision win over Satomi “Sarami” Takano in an atomweight kickboxing match. Takano countered Umeo’s kicks in round one by landing right hands, but Umeo chased her down and threw jabs and hooks before the bell. Takano landed numerous left and right hooks in rounds two and three, and she appeared to have done enough to win the fight, but two judges favoured Umeo’s body kicks and knees in close. The result was a Split Decision victory for Umeo at the end of nine minutes of action.
Pan “Kai” Hui (2-1-0) got back on track after suffering her first professional loss by dominating Real Date (0-1-0) in atomweight MMA action. Hui mixed things up with punch-kick combos in round one and she took Real down into side control. In round two, she backed Real up with punches and countered her body kicks by landing right hooks and knees. All three judges scored the fight for Hui, who walked away with a well-deserved Unanimous Decision victory.
Natsumi Mukai made a strong statement by finishing Deep Jewels mainstay Tomo Maesawa late in the opening round of a strawweight grappling match. Mukai worked for a kimura throughout the round until she was finally able to fully lock in the hold. Referee Hidenobu Koike had seen enough and he called for a technical submission stoppage at the 3:30 mark of round one.
Opening up the card today, Kana Inamura stopped Natsumi Sugie with an armbar in a 46kg amateur MMA bout. Inamura scored two takedowns in round one and she held mount and back control before time expired. In round two, Inamura took Sugie down into side control and she threatened with kimuras and armbar attempts. A final armbar had Sugie in danger and referee Kenichi Serizawa stopped the fight at the 2:40 mark of round two.
“Saori was defeated by Emi’s more technical skills,” Deep Jewels boss Shigeru Saeki commented after the event. “I advised her to catch up more with current MMA. Saori did sell the match well with her pre-fight talk, though, which was nice.
“Nori was not ready for Mizuki,” Saeki added. “I think that [Yuko “Amiba” Oya] is a good matchup for Nori, but Amiba needs to cut weight first. The [judges’] decision in Satomi’s fight did not seem right, but I’ve heard that kickboxing judges favour more volume. The next Deep Jewels event will be on June 5th.”
Full play-by-play for all bouts on today’s Deep Jewels 11 card can be found here.
(Photo Credit: Deep Jewels)