A late addition to this Saturday’s Jewels: “17th Ring” event has brought the all-female card to a total of 15 bouts. M-1 kickboxing champion Miiri Sasaki returns to Jewels to face Fuka Saito in a kickboxing matchup announced today. Jewels: “17th Ring” takes place at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan.
Sasaki most recently took part in the semi-finals of the inaugural Jewels Under-15 Amateur Kickboxing Tournament, which began in September at “16th Ring.” Sasaki suffered a competitive decision loss to finalist Chihiro Imoto and now welcomes Saito to the Jewels ring in a two-round bout.
Saturday’s Jewels card is headlined by a pair of title fights, and the promotion will crown at least one new champion. Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki (5-0-0) makes the first defence of her belt in a rematch with South Korean standout Seo Hee Ham (9-4-0). The pair first faced off one year ago in the finals of the Jewels Lightweight Queen Grand Prix, where Hamasaki emerged victorious via a hard-fought Unanimous Decision.
The first Jewels Featherweight Queen Champion will be determined at “17th Ring” at the conclusion of the promotion’s Featherweight Queen Grand Prix. In one semi-final, unbeaten prospect Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama (5-0-0) faces 2010 Rough Stone Grand Prix winner Kikuyo Ishikawa (6-2-0). Veterans Misaki Takimoto (14-12-4) and Yukiko Seki (10-20-0) clash in the other semi-final. The winners then face off later in the night for the title.
Jewels: “17th Ring” takes place on December 17th at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan. The fight card is available below and a bout order will be released later this week.
Jewels: “17th Ring” Fight Card (subject to change):
– Ayaka Hamasaki vs Seo Hee Ham [Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship – 3×5 Special Rules]
– Sugiyama/Ishikawa winner vs Takimoto/Seki winner [Jewels Featherweight Queen GP Final – 2×5]
– Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama vs Kikuyo Ishikawa [Featherweight Queen GP Semi-Final – 2×5]
– Misaki Takimoto vs Yukiko Seki [Featherweight Queen GP Semi-Final – 2×5]
– Yasuko “Ikuko” Tamada vs Sachiko “Sachi” Yamamoto [Featherweight Queen GP Reserve Bout – 2×5]
– “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi vs Mika “Future Princess” Nagano [Jewels 52kg Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino vs Celine Haga [Jewels 52kg Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Emi Tomimatsu vs Rina Tomita [Jewels 52kg Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Shino VanHoose vs Asami Higa [Jewels 48kg Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Yuka Okumura vs Anna Saito [Jewels 54kg Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Yukari Yamaguchi vs Nana “Chanchin” Ichikawa [Jewels Amateur MMA Rules – 1×4]
– “Muay Thai Genius” Saya Ito vs Chihiro Imoto [Jewels 46kg Under-15 Kickboxing Final – 2×2]
– Miku Hayashi vs Kanomu Shisso [Jewels 52kg Kickboxing Rules – 3×2]
– Mai vs Miyako “Smile” Mitsuhori [Jewels 49kg Kickboxing Rules – 3×2]
– Miiri Sasaki vs Fuka Saito [Jewels 48kg Amateur Kickboxing Rules – 2×2]
Is there anyway to watch Jewels outside of Japan? I haven’t been able to find a way yet.
Events have been airing on delay on The Fight Network in Canada, but I’m not sure whether there is any distribution in the U.S. or elsewhere yet.
Thank you for the response. It would be nice if they had a way to stream/download from their site, but I guess the interest just isn’t there?
They do have DVDs available for early events, as well as a Best of Jewels set that covers their first 11 events. You can order it from a few sites online if you’re interested.
I googled Best of Jewels DVD MMA and found a couple of sites, thanks a lot!
One last question before I leave you alone, do you know what fights are on the Best of DVD?
I do. Basically all of them. They have brief highlights of some/most fights and near-complete videos for the more notable bouts. It’s a good mix, so you’ll get to see pretty much every fighter who was on the first 11 cards.