Saori “Little Giant” Oshima earned a swift victory and another championship title in the Deep Jewels 45 main event tonight in Tokyo, Japan. Oshima stopped Aya Murakami to unify the Deep and Deep Jewels Microweight Championships, then announced that she had signed with Invicta FC.
Also on tonight’s Deep Jewels 45 card, Si Woo “Korean Queen Bee” Park scored a hard-fought Split Decision victory against Machi Fukuda to win the Deep Jewels interim strawweight title, and Rin Nakai choked out Namiko “Hime” Kawabata in the third round of their 58kg catchweight matchup.
Oshima (14-4-0) caught a kick from Murakami (7-2-0) in the opening seconds of tonight’s main event and she attempted a toe hold before Murakami scrambled free. Oshima scored two more takedowns including a throw into her signature scarf hold armlock position. Murakami fought off the submission attempts and refused to submit, but Oshima completely trapped her left arm and that allowed her to land numerous unanswered punches to Murakami’s face. Referee Minoru Toyonaga had eventually seen enough and he called off the fight at the 3:05 mark of round one.
Immediately following her TKO triumph, Oshima spoke briefly about overcoming a knee injury in order to compete tonight and she also noted that she wants to prove her ability in Invicta FC. That was further elaborated upon backstage when Oshima showed and discussed her Invicta FC contract.
“I really wanted to win and I trained hard in my striking because [Murakami’s] striking is not predictable,” Oshima said backstage. “I hurt my knee and I’m not satisfied with my fight, but I was able to finish it with punches when I could not get the submission.
“I’ve got my [Invicta FC] contract here,” she added. “I wanted to avenge my loss to ‘Sankaru’ [Si Yoon Park], but she retired, and I hoped to fight Seika [Izawa] before heading to Invicta FC, but I can’t. I’m thankful to my husband, who will take care of our children when I am away from home.”
Unified Microweight Champion Saori Oshima Shows Invicta FC Contract.
In the co-main event, Park (12-5-0) edged out Fukuda (4-2-0) in a competitive three-round matchup to claim the Deep Jewels Interim Strawweight Championship that was recently vacated by Arisa Matsuda.
Fukuda took Park down after catching a kick in the first round. Park countered with a triangle choke attempt from the bottom and she landed punches before getting back to her feet. Following a timeout when Park landed one illegal grounded knee, action resumed and Park reversed a takedown into Fukuda’s guard.
The second round began with a quick takedown for Fukuda, who attacked with Achilles lock and heel hook attempts on the ground before taking Park’s back. Park fought her way back to full guard, then briefly hunted for a rear-naked choke during a scramble before trapping Fukuda in a reverse triangle choke in the dying seconds.
Midway through round three, Fukuda took Park down and Park answered with punches from the bottom. Park initiated a scramble and took mount, then moved to Fukuda’s back and trapped her in a rear-naked choke. Fukuda was able to spin to her side to escape, and she later moved to side control, but Park countered with an inverted triangle choke before the end of the back-and-forth fight.
Judge Shibata scored the close fight 29-28 for Fukuda, but her was overruled by judges Hashimoto, Ishikawa, Toyonaga and Matsumiya, who all had it 29-28 for Park.
“I’m not happy about the fight’s content and I need to improve,” a reflective Park said backstage after her interim title win. “[Fukuda] is getting a lot better in all aspects, so I could not predict how the fight would go. I used to be a striker, but I’m a complete fighter now. I’ve done martial arts for ten years, but I have not been able to show my true potential yet. I received support from both Japanese and Korean fans for this, and I thank them. I want to fight Seika [Izawa] again.”
“I thought that she would be tougher, and I was able to fight more than I had thought, so I am glad,” Fukuda said. “I was hopeful when it went to a decision, but I needed to move forward more. I wanted to engage in more scrambles, but I felt like my striking was good today and so I did more of that. I will come back and win.”
After two lacklustre and uneventful rounds, Nakai (27-2-1) rendered Kawabata (4-4-0) unconscious with a standing guillotine choke during the third round of their 58kg catchweight bout, which Kawabata took on short notice after Aoi Kuriyama withdrew due to injury.
Very little transpired in the first two rounds as Kawabata circled and jabbed while Nakai committed to zero offence whatsoever. Only when Nakai was able to get takedowns late in the rounds did she immediately take control with strong ground and pound and an Achilles lock attempt. In round three, Nakai pinned Kawabata against the cage and then locked on a standing guillotine choke. Kawabata was choked out and the fight was stopped at the 1:33 mark of round three.
“I felt that I could finish her at any time, but I went to a third round,” Nakai stated backstage. “We both tried to counter each other and she wanted to counter my takedowns. My reach is shorter, but I got the finish and it was my first win via front choke. I want to compete abroad.”
Earlier on the card, Momoko Saito (1-2-0, 1 NC) finally secured her first pro win with a second-round TKO stoppage against Tae “Te-a” Murayama (3-6-0). Saito, who would have defeated Yuka Okutomi in March, had to settle for a No Contest due to missing weight for that fight, but that was not a problem tonight. In both rounds, Saito was able to take Murayama down and keep her there. She pinned down Murayama’s arm and unloaded with hammerfists for a TKO stoppage at the 3:39 mark of round two.
Competing on one day’s notice and giving up a significant size advantage, Hikaru Aono easily defeated Haruka “Boss” Suzuki in a 59kg grappling match. Suzuki was originally set to compete in a flyweight MMA bout on the card before opponent Juki Sue sustained an injury. Aono scored a takedown, then spent the remainder of the five-minute match attacking with choke attempts and a face crank late in the bout. Scores were 10-9 and 10-8 twice for Aono, who took the Unanimous Decision win.
In a 49kg amateur bout, Misaki Suda (2-5-0 amateur) put forth the best performance of her career by steamrolling Seari Sumimura (4-2-0 amateur). Suda took Sumimura down and then postured up with rapid-fire punches that bounced a dazed Sumimura’s head off the canvas and ended the fight at the 1:37 mark of round one.
The card opened with a 58kg amateur bout between Cocoa Kitaoka (2-1-0 amateur) and Luane Akemi (0-1-0 amateur) that ended abruptly when Akemi dislocated her shoulder while throwing a punch and Kitaoka was declared the winner just 56 seconds into the match.
“We saw improvements from Machi today and she has better striking now,” Deep boss Shigeru Saeki said after the event. “There aren’t many opponents left for her. I spent a year negotiating a deal for Saori with Invicta FC and I said that it’s okay for Saori to talk about it from today.”
Full play-by-play for the Deep Jewels 45 card can be found here.