Five fights have been officially announced for the inaugural Deep Jewels event on August 31st in Tokyo, Japan. The all-female Deep Jewels 1 card features a 48kg featherweight title eliminator bout between Celine Haga, a winner of four straight fights, and fellow prospect Sadae “Manhoef” Numata.
In addition to today’s fight announcements, Deep Jewels also revealed its new management team and a revised set of rules. Unlike its predecessor, Jewels, which often restricted ground strikes, the Deep Jewels faction will permit ground and pound in all fights. Elbow strikes will remain outlawed.
Haga (5-11-0) is in the midst of a career resurgence after starting out with just one win in her first 12 fights against opponents who often had a significant size and strength advantage. She is undefeated during the past two years and scored a big win over former Jewels champ Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama in March. Haga most recently submitted veteran Masako Yoshida at Road FC 12.
Numata (4-1-1) brings a three-fight winning streak into her fight against Haga and she, too, has totalled key wins during the past two years. In May 2012, Numata earned arguably her biggest win to date by defeating Sachiko “Sachi” Yamamoto at Jewels: “19th Ring.” In her most recent fight, Numata submitted teen prospect Shino VanHoose at Pancrase Progress Tour 12 in November.
Former Valkyrie Flyweight Champion Yasuko “Ikuko” Tamada (14-8-3) returns to action for the first time since December when she handed Satomi Takano the first defeat of her career. The eight-year veteran will face Yukiko Seki (11-22-0) for a third time. Tamada earned decision victories over Seki in each of the pair’s first two meetings. Seki has won six of her past nine fights, but she has not competed in MMA since suffering a loss to Takano one year ago.
Ex-Valkyrie and Jewels producer and matchmaker Yasuko “Pink Spider” Mogi (3-8-0) looks to snap a five-fight losing skid when she faces grappling specialist Yuko “Amiba” Oya (5-3-0). Mogi returned to active competition in December following a lengthy hiatus, but she suffered losses in both of her fights for Jewels. Oya was once one of the top prospects on the Jewels roster, but she has been inactive since dropping a decision to Emi Tomimatsu in March 2012.
The aforementioned Masako Yoshida (16-18-5) and Satomi Takano (2-1-0) are set to face off in a featured bout on the card. Yoshida took a three-year break from MMA and returned to face Haga this past month, but she succumbed to a first-round rear-naked choke. Takano kicked off her pro MMA career with wins over veteran fighters Seki and “Happy” Fukuko Hamada before suffering her first loss against Yasuko Tamada. She fought to a Draw with Kaoru Chatani in a kickboxing match at Jewels: “24th Ring” and has another kickboxing bout lined up for J-Girls on July 28th.
Rounding out today’s fight announcements is a bout between Takumi Umehara (1-1-0) and Megumi Sugimoto (0-0-0). Umehara defeated Yasuko Mogi in her March pro debut, but suffered a quick loss in her most recent fight in May. Sugimoto makes her pro MMA debut on this card and she most recently earned a quick submission win in a grappling match at Jewels: “23rd Ring.”
Former Jewels title contenders Mika “Future Princess” Nagano (13-8-0) and Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino (12-6-0) will both compete on the card against opponents to be announced.
Deep boss Shigeru Saeki was officially announced as the president of the Deep Jewels organisation today. Masao Katsui will serve as general manager and Yasuko Mogi will reprise her role from Valkyrie and Jewels as the promotion’s producer and matchmaker. In a surprise turn, it was also revealed that Jewels president Yuichi Ozono will indeed be a part of Deep Jewels. Ozono will serve as a supervisor.
In an effort to become more in line with overseas promotions, Deep Jewels will permit strikes to the face on the ground. Elbows, knees to the face and soccer kicks will still be outlawed, but the addition of standard ground and pound to the rulebook marks a significant step forward. Inexperienced fighters may request to have fights with no ground and pound allowed, but these will be exceptions only.
Deep Jewels 1 takes place on August 31st at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan.