A neck injury has forced former Strikeforce title challenger Roxanne “The Happy Warrior” Modafferi out of her planned bout with Shizuka Sugiyama on Saturday at Jewels: “22nd Ring” in Tokyo, Japan. Modafferi sustained the injury in training and her withdrawal from the card was announced today.
The remainder of the “22nd Ring” card remains intact, including the Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship main event between Ayaka Hamasaki and Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino. A total of 15 bouts have been confirmed for the event, plus six amateur grappling matches added to the card today.
Modafferi (15-10-0) had been looking to secure her first Jewels victory in the bout with Sugiyama (8-3-0), who returned to the promotion this year and picked up back-to-back wins. The fight will have to wait, however, as Modafferi’s injury was severe enough to force her off of the card. Sugiyama expressed her frustration with the short-notice cancellation of the bout, which had been scheduled to take place at a catchweight of 130 pounds.
The event will proceed as planned in spite of the cancellation of the featured main card bout between Modafferi and Sugiyama. Jewels announced six amateur grappling matches for the preliminary portion of the card today. Among those participating will be highly-touted 14-year-old Yukari Yamaguchi, a teammate of Japan’s top female prospect, Mizuki Inoue.
Jewels: “22nd Ring” takes place this Saturday, December 15th, at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan. For the first time in the promotion’s history, the event will be contested inside a cage instead of a ring.
Jewels: “22nd Ring” Fight Card (subject to change):
– Ayaka Hamasaki vs Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino [Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship – 3×5]
– Satomi Takano vs Yasuko “Ikuko” Tamada [46kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Mika “Future Princess” Nagano vs Rina Tomita [52kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]*
– Mizuki Inoue vs Hyo Kyung Song [52kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Kikuyo Ishikawa vs Tomo Maesawa [48kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Megumi Yabushita vs Jade Marie Anderson [65kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Miyoko Kusaka vs Celine Haga [51kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Yasuko Mogi vs Keiko Tomita [56kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Yurika Tanaka vs Rie Fukui [65kg Jewels Official Rules – 2×5]
– Naomi Taniyama vs Mina Kurobe [48kg Jewels Official Rules – 2×5]
– Emi Tomimatsu vs Nako Otsuka [50kg Shoot Boxing Rules – 3×2]
– Mayumi “Super Benkei” Aoki vs Satoko Ozawa [60.5kg Kickboxing Rules – 3×3]
– Reina Matsuda vs Harumi [51.5kg Kickboxing Rules – 3×2]
– Rikako Yuasa vs Yuko “Amiba” Oya [Jewels Grappling Rules – 2×4]
– Naoko Omuro vs Hisae Watanabe [Jewels Exhibition Match]**
*Tomita’s retirement bout.
**Omuro’s retirement bout.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)