Weigh-ins for Deep Jewels 18 took place earlier today in Tokyo, Japan. Sunday’s 11-fight card is headlined by a trilogy bout between long-time rivals Satomi “Sarami” Takano and Tomo Maesawa, which will determine a future title challenger for the Deep Jewels Atomweight Championship.
Deep Jewels 18 also features a number of promotional debuts including that of powerful judoka Kana Watanabe, who is regarded as one of the top prospects on the Deep Jewels roster. Full weigh-in results, as well as pre-fight comments from Maesawa and Watanabe, are included below.
Tomo Maesawa: I won’t fight with power this time. I had confidence in my judo and power in our last fight, but [Takano] overpowered me and won. I will win with cardio and speed, and I don’t need to fight on power alone. She trash-talked me, saying, ‘Don’t compare us. I will show you true MMA,’ but you cannot compare efforts for each fighter. People can only compare results, and I will show results.
“[Masanori] Kanehara told me that I need to have character to be popular, but I’m not that kind of girl. I hope these idols and sports elites continue with their MMA careers because women have received attention recently and those girls came to the sport because of that. However, I will get my attention by reaching the top. I not only think about tomorrow, but also about avenging my losses to [champion Mina] Kurobe and taking the title. I will take my belt.”
Kana Watanabe: I think I will beat anyone with my physical strength. I prepared for striking and am not afraid of it, and I think the goal in the fight is to get a takedown, but I will beat [opponent Hikari Sato] everywhere. Rizin and foreign promotions are already in my sight. I resigned from my job to give 100% to my MMA career and I am determined.
“Many of my judo colleagues are cheerful, despite judo and MMA not having a great relationship, and I will have many supporters from judo tomorrow. My debut fight was in a different weight class, but I have been training my striking for half a year and I get to use all of my weapons in MMA. I train really hard in wrestling as well and I will finish her, either by submission or with strikes. Expect a good fight!”
Deep Jewels 18 Fight Card:
– 48kg Atomweight: Satomi “Sarami” Takano [48.00kg] vs Tomo Maesawa [47.75kg]
– 58kg Catchweight: Yukari Nabe [57.65kg] vs Yurika Nakakura [57.70kg]
– 48kg Atomweight: Yuko Kiryu [48.00kg] vs Kyu Kitano [47.65kg]
– 57.15kg Flyweight: Kana Watanabe [56.75kg] vs Hikari Sato [56.30kg]
– 48kg Atomweight: Emi Sato [46.95kg] vs Hikaru Aono [47.80kg]
– 48kg Amateur Atomweight: Nanaka Kawamura [47.80kg] vs Reica [47.70kg]
– 52.65kg Strawweight Grappling: Mika “Future Princess” Nagano [51.70kg] vs Yuko Saito [52.25kg]
– 49kg Catchweight: Mizuki Furuse [48.30kg] vs Mika “Arami” Arai [48.90kg]
– 57.15kg Flyweight: Sayuri Yamaguchi [56.50kg] vs Ryoko “Ryo The Skywalker” Miyata [56.10kg]
– 48kg Atomweight: Tomomi Souda [47.50kg] vs Madoka Ishibashi [45.00kg]
– 48kg Amateur Atomweight: Momoka Yoshikawa* vs Momoko Yamazaki [45.80kg]
*Event-day weigh-in