A one-night kickboxing tournament and four additional bouts have been announced for Saturday’s Jewels: “19th Ring” event at Azalea Taisho Hall in Osaka, Japan. Tournament participants are Kaoru Chatani, Akari Nakamura, Megumi and Momoka. Semi-final matchups will be determined this week.
Also confirmed for the card was a mixed martial arts bout between veteran Mayumi “Super Benkei” Aoki and newcomer Keiko Tomita. Aoki returns to MMA competition for the first time since 2010. Rounding out the action on the night’s undercard will be a trio of amateur kickboxing matches.
Saturday’s “19th Ring” event marks the first time that Jewels has travelled outside of its home base in Tokyo. The inaugural Osaka card will showcase both of the promotion’s champions. Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion Ayaka Hamasaki (6-0-0) defends her title against one of Japan’s all-time greats, Yuka “Vale Tudo Queen” Tsuji (23-2-0), while Jewels Featherweight Queen Champion Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama (7-0-0) faces rival Yasuko “Ikuko” Tamada (12-7-3) in a non-title rematch. Both fights will be contested under Jewels Special Rules permitting strikes to the face on the ground.
The event features six MMA bouts including today’s addition of Aoki (5-8-0) versus Tomita (0-0-0).
Jewels: “19th Ring” takes place on May 26th at Azalea Taisho Hall in Osaka, Japan.
Jewels: “19th Ring” Fight Card (subject to change):
– Ayaka Hamasaki vs Yuka “Vale Tudo Queen” Tsuji [Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship – 3×5]
– Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama vs Yasuko “Ikuko” Tamada [48kg Jewels Special Rules – 2×5]
– Mika “Future Princess” Nagano vs Anna Saito [53kg Jewels Official Rules – 2×5]
– Sachiko “Sachi” Yamamoto vs Sadae “Manhoef” Suzumura [48kg Jewels Official Rules – 2×5]
– Yukiko Seki vs Yuko Kawabata [46kg Jewels Official Rules – 2×5]
– Mayumi “Super Benkei” Aoki vs Keiko Tomita [59kg Jewels Official Rules – 2×5]
– Fuka Tokuda vs Ayaka Nishina [47kg Jewels Amateur Kickboxing Rules – 2×2]
– Juri Anyouji vs Mamu Nagata [50kg Jewels Amateur Junior Kickboxing Rules – 2×2]
– Nanae Morishita vs Reina Nishina [38kg Jewels Amateur Junior Kickboxing Rules – 2×2]
JEWELS/DEEP KICK one-night 47kg kickboxing tournament participants (matchups TBD):
Kaoru Chatani, Akari Nakamura, Megumi, Momoka