Mizuki Inoue Misses Weight, Deep Jewels 3 Title Bout ChangedJapan’s top female prospect, Mizuki Inoue, will no longer compete for the inaugural Deep Jewels Lightweight Championship tomorrow night at Deep Jewels 3 in Tokyo. Inoue missed weight during today’s weigh-ins and her bout with grappling specialist Emi Tomimatsu is now a non-title fight.

In addition to the non-title stipulation, a number of other changes have been made to the fight. Inoue will start the bout with two Yellow Cards and will be ineligible to win on the official record. Only a victory for Tomimatsu, who is now the interim Deep Jewels Lightweight Champion, will be officially tallied.

Inoue (7-1-0), who made her pro MMA debut at age 16 in 2010, has quickly become one of the most highly-touted female fighters in Japanese MMA history. She captured the 56kg Jewels Rough Stone Grand Prix title in her second fight and has enjoyed successful stints in kickboxing, shoot boxing and grappling outside of MMA. This past August, just one month after winning her North American MMA debut at Invicta FC 6, she became a two-time Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup 53.5kg Champion.

Following the collapse of Jewels this past year, a new faction of Deep was formed in order to provide female competitors with a promotion to compete for on a regular basis. Deep Jewels held its first event in August and kicked off its inaugural lightweight title tournament in November, where Inoue advanced to the finals by defeating rival Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino. On the other side of the bracket, Tomimatsu (6-7-0) avenged a past loss by defeating Mika “Future Princess” Nagano.

Deep Jewels had planned to crown its first 114-pound champion tomorrow when Inoue and Tomimatsu were to meet for the title, but the championship fight has now been put on hold. Inoue weighed in 800 grams (1.76 pounds) heavy on her first try at today’s weigh-ins and 550 grams (1.21 pounds) overweight on her second attempt. As a result, she begins tomorrow’s fight with two Yellow Cards and the bout will no longer be for a title. An Inoue win will be recorded as a disqualification loss.

For making weight, Tomimatsu was deemed to be the new interim Deep Jewels Lightweight Champion and she remains eligible to add an official victory to her record if she is able to defeat Inoue tomorrow night. Should she be able to avoid Inoue’s savvy submission skills, a decision win for Tomimatsu is a very real possibility due to Inoue’s two-card penalty.

In addition to the title fight change, the Deep Jewels 3 card may also incur one or more additional amendments. Satomi “Sarami” Takano, who is set to face former Jewels champion Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama on the card, is one of a number of fighters who has encountered difficulty in making it in to Tokyo due to a recent snowstorm. Saori “Shooting Star” Ishioka, who was originally scheduled to face Mika “Future Princess” Nagano in Nagano’s retirement match, is also experiencing travel woes.

Deep Jewels 3 takes place tomorrow night at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan.

 

Deep Jewels 3 Fight Card (subject to change):

– Mizuki Inoue vs Emi Tomimatsu [52kg Deep Jewels Special Rules – 3×5]
– Shizuka Sugiyama vs Mizuho Sato [Open-Weight Deep Jewels Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama vs Satomi “Sarami” Takano [48kg Deep Jewels Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Masako Yoshida vs Miyoko Kusaka [48kg Deep Jewels Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Yuko “Amiba” Oya vs Mamiko Mizoguchi [50kg Deep Jewels Official MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Sachiko Fujimori vs Shiori Hori [53kg Deep Jewels Newcomer MMA Rules – 2×5]
– Brittany Ann Decker vs Haruka Kojima [51kg Deep Jewels Grappling Rules – 2×4]

 

 

(Photo Credit: eFight)