After narrowly coming up short in two prior interim title bids, Machi Fukuda at last captured championship gold tonight at Deep Jewels 50 in Tokyo, Japan. Fukuda avenged one of those past losses and edged out Si Woo “Korean Queen Bee” Park to become the new Deep Jewels Strawweight Champion.
Tonight’s headlining rematch featured far less action than the first meeting in May 2024, which ended with Park’s hand raised, but Fukuda’s increased offence in the final round propelled her to victory. Elsewhere, Keito “Kate Lotus” Oyama stopped veteran Emi Tomimatsu in the 50kg co-main event.
The first two rounds of tonight’s main event were uneventful, with Fukuda (9-2-0) and Park (12-6-0) both receiving multiple warnings for timidity. Fukuda appeared to be the slightly more active striker, as she landed a few leg kicks and then mixed in some straight left hands in the second round, but the action was so sparse that referee Masato Fukuda gave both fighters a one-point deduction in the form of a Yellow Card prior to round three.
Action did pick up in the final round and Fukuda scored two brief takedowns after taking Park’s back. She controlled the clinch battles and closed out the fight by landing jabs and a lead right hook. Despite Fukuda seemingly winning the final round, the overall outcome of the fight was still very much in question due to the razor-thin nature of the lacklustre opening ten minutes.
Judges Tatsuro Nagase and Akira Shibata scored the close fight 28-27 for Park. They were overruled by judges Naoya Uematsu, Ryosuke Uchida and Takashi Hashimoto, who all returned scores of 28-27 for Fukuda to give the 22-year-old a 3-2 Split Decision victory. Fukuda’s two bids for the Deep Jewels Interim Strawweight Championship had both ended in contentious decision defeats, but tonight she earned the undisputed title – which was vacated by former champion Seika Izawa earlier this year – with her biggest win to date.
“I did it! I wanted a belt like my mentor fighters and I’ve finally done it,” an elated Fukuda said in the cage following her victory. “I feel heavy now with the title belt,” she added when speaking backstage. “This was my third title fight, and I needed to win badly, but I feel that I was too calm in the first two rounds by having a standup fight when I am a grappler. I’m glad about the belt, but I cannot be satisfied about the content of the fight. [Emi] Fujino and [Satomi] Takano both praised me but they said that, content-wise, I need to reflect.”
While the main event lacked sustained action, the co-feature between the wildly popular Oyama (8-7-0) and 19-year veteran Tomimatsu (16-21-0) had plenty, though it was largely one-way traffic in favour of the younger Oyama. The 27-year-old southpaw landed straight lefts and backed Tomimatsu up with a combination before stuffing a Tomimatsu takedown attempt. Following a lengthy clinch, Oyama dropped Tomimatsu with a left hook to the body. Tomimatsu regained her footing, but Oyama attacked with more punches late in the round.
Oyama hurt Tomimatsu and bloodied her nose with punches early in the second round. Tomimatsu again pressed on, but the bout was becoming more and more one-sided as Oyama picked her apart. Tomimatsu was wounded two more times by Oyama’s punches, and tried in vain to get Oyama down by diving at her ankle. Oyama swarmed on her downed foe one final time with punches and the bout was stopped at the 4:03 mark of round two.
“I landed good body punches and crescent kicks,” Oyama said backstage following her third straight victory. “My hard training every day has led to this result. I will fight against anyone if I can compete for Rizin again in Kobe.”
In a featured 49kg bout, Sarah Ellen (2-1-0) punished opponent Yuko Kiryu (13-14-0) for missing weight by knocking her out in the first round. Sarah sprawled out of a Kiryu takedown attempt and pushed her down to the mat, where Sarah punched from Kiryu’s half-guard. Kiryu eventually escaped to her feet and she landed a right hand after another failed takedown attempt. Seconds later, Sarah connected with a big right hook that momentarily shut Kiryu’s lights out and gave Sarah a knockout victory at the 2:16 mark of round one.
An intriguing 50kg bout between Princess Saaya (2-3-0) and Junna Tsukii (1-2-0) ended abruptly when an upkick from Tsukii damaged Saaya’s left eye. While Saaya was not a grounded fighter at the time of the strike, upkicks of any sort are not permitted under the Deep Jewels rules and Tsukii seemed to be well aware of her mistake right after it landed. Prior to that, Saaya had done well with a takedown into back control and a rear-naked choke attempt before settling in to Tsukii’s full guard. It was when Saaya stood up that Tsukii landed an upkick with her heel that struck Saaya directly in her left eye. Time was called, but Saaya was unable to continue following a lengthy break and she was awarded a disqualification win at the 3:36 mark of round one.
Nonoka Sakamoto (2-0-0, 1 NC) remained undefeated and spoiled the pro debut of Misaki Horiuchi (0-1-0) by choking her unconscious just over one minute into their strawweight bout. Sakamoto began the fight by diving at Horiuchi’s ankle and then hopping on her back. She pulled Horiuchi down to the mat and then locked on an arm-triangle choke. Horiuchi initially tried to escape by kicking her legs for momentum, but she could not do so and lost consciousness, ending the fight at the 1:03 mark.
In 52kg kickboxing action, Manaka took a Unanimous Decision victory over Riko Kita after three entertaining rounds. Manaka’s straight left punches got her off to a good start in the opening round, and she countered Kita’s aggression in the second round by targeting her body with knees and kicks. Kita landed some good punches of her own in the round, and she walked Manaka down with more punches throughout round three, but that late rally was not enough. Scores were 30-27 and 29-28 twice in favour of Manaka for the win.
After going winless dating back to her amateur debut for Deep Jewels in February 2020, Yuko “Pochan Z” Matsuura (1-8-0) at last had her hand raised following a strong showing tonight against Hitomi Taniyama (1-4-0) at featherweight. Matsuura’s knees and left hands to the body were very effective in the first round and they allowed her to control the clinch battles. Taniyama’s clinches in the second round did not yield success and Matsuura continued to land knees and short punches. All three judges scored the fight 20-18 in Matsuura’s favour.
Opening up the professional portion of the card, prospect Suzu Ooi (1-0-0) made a successful pro debut by taking a clear-cut Unanimous Decision win over Kimika “Jaka” Kawaguchi (2-3-0) in their 44kg microweight bout. Ooi immediately stunned Kawaguchi with straight lefts and an early combination, but Kawaguchi regained her composure and she attempted a triangle choke and an armbar when the fight hit the mat. Ooi escaped and resumed her striking dominance on the feet. She hurt Kawaguchi again with punches in the second round, and bloodied her nose with jabs, en route to a one-sided decision win with scores of 20-18 across the board.
Marin Yamabuki (2-0-0 amateur) remained undefeated by dominating former Rizin FF ring girl Akipi (1-3-0 amateur) en route to a Unanimous Decision win in amateur strawweight action. Yamabuki scored two takedowns in the first round and punched from top position. She mounted Akipi in the second round and landed more punches, but an ill-advised twister attempt from Yamabuki allowed Akipi to sweep. Back on the feet, Yamabuki took Akipi’s back and pulled her to the mat with a tight rear-naked choke, but time expired. All three judges scored the bout 20-18 for Yamabuki.
An amateur 49kg bout between Asuka Yokoe (2-0-0 amateur) and Serina Wada (0-2-0 amateur) ended with Yokoe winning a commanding Unanimous Decision. Yokoe controlled the grappling in the first round and spent time in mount and in back control. She secured two more takedowns in the second stanza and closed out the fight with hammerfist strikes. Scores were 20-18 across the board for Yokoe.
The most dominant performance on the preliminary card came from Yuna Suyama (1-1-0 amateur), who steamrolled Chanrina (0-1-0 amateur) and finished her in the first round. Suyama scored a takedown into mount and she maintained the position until the final minute. When Suyama postured up, she dropped heavy punches to the face of Chanrina, who could do nothing but roll to her side and cover up. The fight was stopped at the 2:23 mark, giving Suyama an impressive TKO win.
In the opening amateur prelim bout, Kokoro Taniyama (1-0-0 amateur) began her Deep Jewels career with a close but well-deserved Split Decision win over Mion Wachi (0-2-0 amateur) at strawweight. Wachi started well with an overhand right and two more right hands after catching a kick. She switched to straight lefts as the round progressed and Taniyama responded with a combination before the bell. Taniyama was more aggressive in the second round and she backed Wachi up with punches. Wachi began to slow down and Taniyama kept the pressure on with more flurries. Judge Hashimoto scored the fight even at 19-19 and awarded his Must Decision to Wachi. Judges Uematsu and Shibata also had it 19-19, but their Must Decisions went to Taniyama for the narrow Split Decision win.
Full play-by-play for the Deep Jewels 50 card can be found here.