Eight Bouts Announced For Deep Jewels 13 Card In AugustFormer top Jewels star Mika “Future Princess” Nagano makes her official return from retirement when she competes on August 27th at Deep Jewels 13 in Tokyo, Japan. Nagano is set to face off against strawweight prospect Sachiko Fujimori in a three-round bout that may headline the card.

Nagano has not competed in MMA since Deep Jewels 2 in late 2013, and she announced her retirement the following year after revealing that she was pregnant with her first child. Also booked for Deep Jewels 13 next month is an atomweight contender’s bout between Mina Kurobe and Tomo Maesawa.

Nagano (14-9-0) has been one of Japan’s most popular female fighters since debuting in MMA at the end of 2007. Her strong grappling skills propelled her to victories over formidable opponents including former Deep Jewels Interim Strawweight Champion Emi Tomimatsu, but championship titles eluded Nagano throughout her career. Following a loss to Tomimatsu in the pair’s November 2013 rematch, Nagano announced that she would be stepping away from MMA in order to focus on family life. She recently returned to grappling competition and now steps back into MMA in August.

Fujimori (4-1-0) kicked off her pro career on the inaugural Deep Jewels card in August 2013 and picked up a 49-second submission win that advanced her into a showdown with fellow prospect Megumi Sugimoto at Deep Jewels 2. Fujimori prevailed via a disputed Split Decision and kept her undefeated record intact with a swift submission victory at Deep Jewels 3. Sugimoto’s first setback came in the form of a Unanimous Decision loss to veteran grappler Yuko “Amiba” Oya at Deep Jewels 5, but she recently returned to the win column by stopping Karei Date at Deep Jewels 10.

 

Kurobe (7-2-0) looked to be on the fast track to capturing championship gold for Deep Jewels after opening her career with five straight victories including wins over Maesawa, Satomi “Sarami” Takano and Tomimatsu, but her title hopes were put on hold when she was defeated by “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi in the semi-final round of an atomweight championship tournament at Deep Jewels 8. She subsequently suffered a decision loss to current atomweight champ Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama at Deep Jewels 10, but has since posted back-to-back wins over Team Date members Hana and Renju.

Maesawa (6-5-0) got off to a rocky start in her professional career with three straight defeats, but after succumbing to a first-round rear-naked choke from Kurobe in the pair’s first fight, Maesawa put together a solid run that included victories in five of her next six fights. Like Kurobe, Maesawa was also defeated in the semi-final round of the Deep Jewels atomweight title tournament, but after taking a year off from MMA competition, she got back on track this past month by quickly stopping Karei Date in a one-sided matchup at Deep Jewels 12. She now seeks to avenge her loss to Maesawa in next month’s rematch.

 

In other action at Deep Jewels 13, German veteran Tanja Hoffmann (5-4-0) makes her promotional debut against Nori Date (1-3-0) at strawweight. Pan “Kai” Hui (2-1-0) battles Renju Date (0-2-0) in atomweight action. Also at atomweight, Yuko Kiryu (2-2-0) takes on 12-year-old Karen Date (0-0-0). In a flyweight fight, Yukari Nabe (0-0-0) meets Nao Date (0-0-0), and Sayuri Yamaguchi (0-1-0) seeks her first victory when she squares off against Ayumi Misaka (1-0-0) at atomweight. The card also features a 50kg kickboxing match between Eriko Nagata and Real Date.

Deep Jewels 13 takes place on August 27th at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan.

 

 

(Photo Credit: Deep Jewels)