Throughout her career, mixed martial arts legend Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii paved the way for other female fighters in Japan. Now retired from active competition, Fujii has assumed a new role as a matchmaking assistant for Vale Tudo Japan, but her goal of aiding female fighters remains the same.

Tonight’s “VTJ In Osaka” card featured a pair of female fights that Fujii was instrumental in putting together. 17-year-old rising stars Yukari Yamaguchi and Kanna Asakura earned quick wins. Fujii spoke with MMARising.com tonight about the event and about the future of VTJ’s women’s divisions.

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Top Japanese prospect Yukari Yamaguchi scored a quick and impressive submission victory in her long-awaited pro MMA debut tonight at Vale Tudo Japan: “VTJ In Osaka” in Osaka, Japan. Yamaguchi, who turned 17 on Friday, finished Mikiko Hiyama with a first-round rear-naked choke.

Yamaguchi wasn’t the only teen prospect to earn a submission victory on tonight’s preliminary card. 17-year-old atomweight Kanna Asakura, who won her pro MMA debut at VTJ 6th in October, kept her perfect record intact by submitting Miyuki Furusawa with a rear-naked choke in the first round.

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Deep Jewels Strawweight Champion Mizuki Inoue looks to rebound from a pair of close defeats inside the Invicta FC cage when she defends her title on August 29th at Deep Jewels 9 in Tokyo, Japan. Inoue faces off against familiar foe Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino for a third time on the card.

Deep Jewels officials announced the title bout this week. The fighters first clashed in July 2010 when a 15-year-old Inoue made a successful pro kickboxing debut by upsetting Fujino. She earned her second win over the veteran standout in November 2013 under MMA rules at Deep Jewels 2.

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Japan’s leading all-female mixed martial arts promotion, Deep Jewels, has announced a number of significant changes to its rule system and weight classes. The changes will first be implemented at Deep Jewels 9, a caged event that will now take place on August 29th at Differ Ariake in Tokyo.

For the past 14 years, female MMA fighters in Japan have been forced to compete using scaled-down rules and metric weight classes that frequently clashed with the format used in the Unified MMA Rules. Deep Jewels has adopted the Unified weight classes, and elbows will now be permitted.

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Final Valkyrie champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi captured another prestigious title tonight in the Deep Jewels 8 main event in Tokyo, Japan. Yamaguchi defeated two opponents in one night to win the Deep Jewels Featherweight Grand Prix and became the second Deep Jewels Featherweight Champion.

Yamaguchi earned her spot in tonight’s championship final by handing Mina Kurobe her first defeat, while Satomi “Sarami” Takano also advanced to the finals by outpointing Tomo Maesawa. In the main event, Yamaguchi stopped Takano very late in the second round to capture the vacant 106-pound title.

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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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