Deep Jewels showcased its eighth all-female fight card tonight at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan. The injury-riddled card featured the semi-finals and championship final in the inaugural Deep Jewels Featherweight Grand Prix, which crowned a new Deep Jewels 48-kilogram (105.6-pound) champion.

In one grand prix semi-final bout, Satomi “Sarami” Takano took on fellow prospect Tomo Maesawa, while “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi battled Mina Kurobe in the other. The semi-final winners then faced off in tonight’s main event to determine a champion. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for the card.

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A fracture in training has forced Yuko “Amiba” Oya out of her featured strawweight bout on Sunday night at Deep Jewels 8 in Tokyo, Japan. Oya’s scheduled opponent, 13-year veteran Misaki Takimoto, now squares off against Canada’s Tushara “Tee Vee” Veerella on the abbreviated card.

Injuries and illnesses have resulted in a number of late changes to the Deep Jewels 8 card, and a planned atomweight bout between Emi Tomimatsu and Ayaka Miura was scrapped this past week when Miura was diagnosed with Ménière’s Disease. Sunday’s card is now complete with six total bouts.

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Leading all-female kickboxing promotion J-Girls teamed with Shoot Boxing to create an entertaining fight card on Sunday night in Tokyo, Japan. In the “J-Girls X Shoot Boxing” headliner, two-time JKS48 champion Mio Tsumura defeated Taiwan’s Kai-Ting “Kill Bee” Zhuang under shoot boxing rules.

In the night’s co-main event, rising star Akari “Union” Nakamura earned a huge victory by upsetting reigning J-Girls Mini Flyweight Champion Momi Furuta in a non-title shoot boxing match. Highly-touted 16-year-old Yukari Yamaguchi dominated Michi Nakamura in a J-Girls title contender’s bout.

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2014 Shoot Boxing Japan Girls S-Cup Champion Yukari Yamaguchi is set to make her long-awaited pro MMA debut on June 21st at Vale Tudo Japan: “VTJ In Osaka” in Osaka, Japan. The highly-touted 16-year-old faces off against Mikiko Hiyama under “VTJ Next” rules on the preliminary card.

The Megumi Fujii-booked fight between Yamaguchi and Hiyama is one of two “VTJ Next” prospects bouts on the card that will be contested using three 3:00 rounds. In the second “VTJ Next” female fight, 17-year-old Kanna Asakura looks to stay unbeaten when she battles Miyuki Furusawa.

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Two-time Shoot Boxing JKS48 champion Mio Tsumura looks for her third straight victory when she returns to action on May 24th at “J-Girls X Shoot Boxing” in Tokyo, Japan. Tsumura is set to face Taiwanese boxing gold medallist Kai-Ting “Kill Bee” Zhuang on the co-promoted card.

Tsumura most recently posted an impressive Unanimous Decision win in February. The 20-year-old star now looks to spoil Zhuang’s return to shoot boxing. Also on the card, Erika Maruyama makes her shoot boxing debut against Naoko “Bovy” Okada, who looks to rebound from an August defeat.

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Despite a rocky start, former Shoot Boxing Japan Women’s Flyweight Champion Ai Takahashi rallied to earn her fifth straight victory on Saturday night at Shoot Boxing 2015: Act.2 in Tokyo, Japan. Takahashi narrowly edged out veteran kickboxer Kanako Taniyama in a featured matchup.

Taniyama got off to an excellent start in Saturday’s fight and she took an early lead on the scorecards by dropping Takahashi in the opening round. Takahashi scored a knockdown of her own in round two and she kept the pressure on with aggressive striking as Taniyama faded in the final round.

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An injury in training has forced top Japanese star Shizuka Sugiyama out of her planned contender’s rematch against unbeaten South Korean prospect Ji Yeon Kim at Deep Jewels 8 on May 31st in Tokyo. Deep Jewels officials announced the news today. Kim has also been removed from the card.

Sugiyama and Kim initially faced off in Kim’s November 2013 pro MMA debut under the Deep banner. The bout ended in a Majority Draw and both fighters now sport two-fight winning streaks. Kim will move on to challenge Deep Jewels Middleweight Champion Takayo Hashi in an August rematch.

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WPMF Japan Women’s Pinweight Champion Saya Ito successfully retained her title with a five-round Unanimous Decision victory tonight at Muaylok: “The Battle of Muay Thai 7” in Tokyo, Japan. The 16-year-old star defeated J-Girls Pinweight Champion Chihiro Kira in a competitive matchup.

Ito overcame a slow start in round one and took a lead on the scorecards in the later rounds by effectively countering Kira’s body kicks with punches and throws. Earlier on tonight’s card, Yoshimi “443” Hatayama picked up a well-deserved Unanimous Decision win over Kira’s younger sister, Yuuki.

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