Deep Jewels Featherweight Champion Seo Hee Ham will make the next defence of her title against a familiar foe at Deep Jewels 6 on November 3rd in Tokyo, Japan. The South Korean standout faces off against top Japanese star Saori “Shooting Star” Ishioka for a third time in a three-round title fight.
Deep Jewels officials announced the championship bout today. Ham has won five straight fights and she currently reigns supreme atop the Deep Jewels 106-pound featherweight division. Ishioka returned to action with an impressive victory over Satomi “Sarami” Takano at Deep Jewels 4 in May.
Ham (14-5-0) and Ishioka (13-7-0) first faced off early in their respective careers under the Smackgirl banner in February 2008. Ham rebounded from a decision loss to then-champ Yuka “Vale Tudo Queen” Tsuji by outpointing Ishioka in a two-round bout. The fighters later moved on to Smackgirl’s successor, Jewels, and both women achieved considerable success while competing for the promotion.
At Jewels: “11th Ring” in late 2010, Ham dropped a competitive decision to Ayaka Hamasaki in the final round of a title tournament to crown the inaugural Jewels Lightweight Queen Champion at 114 pounds. On the same card, Ishioka scored a slick submission win over grappling specialist Yuko “Amiba” Oya. Two months later, Ham and Ishioka clashed for a second time in a featured bout at Deep: “52nd Impact” and Ham once again prevailed via Unanimous Decision.
Since the second meeting, Ham and Ishioka have taken very different paths in their respective careers. Ham suffered a second loss to Hamasaki in a Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship rematch when a back injury forced her to withdraw after the first round, but she finally captured Jewels title gold when she defeated Jewels Featherweight Queen Champion Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama in May 2013. Ishioka took a two-year hiatus from fighting in order to get married and start a family, and she returned to the sport with a first-round armbar win over Takano in the Deep Jewels 4 Fight of the Night.
With Ayaka Hamasaki and Mizuki Inoue likely to return to Invicta FC later this year, Ham and Ishioka will be the two biggest stars on the Deep Jewels 6 card and the trilogy title fight is expected to headline the event. Ham looks to extend her current five-fight winning streak, which includes recent victories over Shino VanHoose and Alyona Rassohyna under the Road FC banner, while Ishioka aims to avenge her past defeats by upsetting Ham for the prestigious Deep Jewels title.
Deep Jewels 6 takes place on November 3rd at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan.