Teen prodigy Mizuki Inoue looks to add another championship title to her collection when she returns to action at Deep Jewels 3 on February 16th in Tokyo, Japan. Inoue takes on fellow tournament finalist Emi Tomimatsu to determine the inaugural Deep Jewels Lightweight Champion at 114 pounds.
Deep Jewels officials confirmed the planned event date this past weekend. Inoue advanced to the tournament championship final by defeating veteran contender Emi “Kamikaze Angel” Fujino at Deep Jewels 2. On the same card, Tomimatsu avenged a loss and upset Mika “Future Princess” Nagano.
Inoue (7-1-0) has rapidly developed into one of the most promising female fighters in Japan during her short time in combat sports. In late 2010, mere months after her 16th birthday, Inoue captured the 56kg Jewels Rough Stone Grand Prix title by defeating Asako Saioka in only her second MMA fight. After suffering her lone MMA defeat against then-Jewels champion Ayaka Hamasaki, Inoue rebounded with three straight submission wins to earn a spot on the Invicta FC roster.
At Invicta FC 6 in July, Inoue scored a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory over Australian star Bec “Rowdy” Hyatt. She made a quick return to competition in August and outlasted three opponents in one night, including rival Ai Takahashi, to become a two-time Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup 53.5kg Champion. On November 4th, Inoue faced off against Fujino in a rematch from a July 2010 kickboxing match when Inoue was just 15. Inoue outpointed Fujino once again en route to a Unanimous Decision win.
Tomimatsu (6-7-0) may not have the same hype behind her as her teen opponent does, but the veteran grappler has already faced many of Japan’s top female fighters during her seven-year career. Early on, Tomimatsu managed just two wins in her first six fights, but she made an instant impact on the Jewels roster after returning to action in 2011 following a lengthy injury hiatus.
In her first three fights for Jewels, Tomimatsu scored wins over Celine Haga, Rina Tomita and Yuko “Amiba” Oya. This propelled her into a title contention bout with former Valkyrie champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi, but she dropped a close decision on the scorecards. Tomimatsu came out on the wrong end of razor-thin decisions in each of her next two fights, but showed noticeable improvement in both bouts. At Deep Jewels 2, she dominated Nagano and avenged her past loss to the popular fighter.
The title fight between Inoue and Tomimatsu will be contested over three five-minute rounds and will likely headline the Deep Jewels 3 card. Additional fights will be announced in the coming weeks.
Deep Jewels 3 takes place on February 16, 2014 at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan.