Fresh off of a successful Black Combat atomweight title defence this past weekend, Si Yoon “Sankaru” Park will put her Deep Jewels Atomweight Championship on the line on March 24th at Deep Jewels 44 in Tokyo, Japan. Park defends against Seika Izawa in the night’s featured main event.
The Park-Izawa title tilt was one of ten bouts announced for the card today. Park won the belt from Saori Oshima in a champion versus champion fight at Deep: “115 Impact” in September. The undefeated Izawa, meanwhile, will look to add a third divisional championship title to her growing collection.
Park (6-3-0) returned to MMA competition in 2023 after more than three years away and she has quickly established herself as a top-ranked atomweight. After scoring quick wins in March and May, Park submitted Nam Hee Kim in July to become the inaugural Black Combat Women’s Atomweight Champion. She then faced Oshima in a winner-take-all championship bout for both the Black Combat and Deep Jewels atomweight titles in September and prevailed via Unanimous Decision. This past Saturday, Park retained her Black Combat title by defeating Moeri Suda at Black Combat 10.
Izawa (12-0-0) first became a champion in her third MMA fight when she defeated Miki Motono for a second time to claim the Deep Jewels strawweight title in June 2021. Ten months later, she added the Rizin FF Women’s Super Atomweight Championship to her résumé when she bested Ayaka Hamasaki in a rematch at Rizin FF 35. Izawa has since won six more fights, including a Rizin FF atomweight grand prix title victory at the end of 2022, and she most recently submitted Miyuu Yamamoto in a non-title bout at Rizin FF 45 on New Year’s Eve.
In the super atomweight co-main event, Road FC champion Jeong Eun “Little Wolf” Park (9-7-0) looks to follow up on her dominant win at Deep Jewels 41 when she battles Namiko “Hime” Kawabata (4-3-0). Park was recently reinstated as Road FC Women’s Atomweight Champion following Yu Ri Shim’s departure from the promotion. She earned a one-sided first-round TKO win over Moeri Suda in May and looks to make it two in a row under the Deep Jewels banner. Kawabata seeks to halt a two-fight losing skid, but she remains a highly-ranked competitor due to her victory over Saori Oshima in 2022.
Also at super atomweight, veteran Yuko Kiryu (13-10-0) takes on popular prospect Kate “Lotus” Oyama (4-6-0). Kiryu ended a two-fight losing skid in September with one of her biggest career victories when she defeated Hikaru Aono at Deep Jewels 42. Oyama has shown considerable improvement in recent fights, but she went a modest 1-2 in 2023 with a victory over Saki Kitamura sandwiched between decision setbacks against the aforementioned Aono and Moeri Suda.
Rounding out the Deep Jewels 44 card thus far, Mizuki Furuse (11-11-0) faces Saki Kitamura (1-2-0) at super atomweight, Momoko Yamazaki (4-5-0) meets Eun Bi “Libby” Cho (0-5-0) in a 44kg microweight bout, Marina Kumagai (4-5-0) takes on Chieko Hosoya (2-2-0) at bantamweight, fast-rising flyweight star Yuka “Dosukoi” Okutomi (3-0-0) puts her undefeated record on the line against Momoko Saito (0-2-0), Kyoka “Chibisai” Minagawa (2-4-0, 1 NC) welcomes Mahina China (1-0-0 amateur) to Deep Jewels in a 44kg microweight contest, Hitomi Taniyama (1-2-0) clashes with Haruka “Boss” Suzuki (0-2-0) at flyweight, and Miku Yokose (1-1-0 amateur) faces Misaki Suda (1-4-0 amateur) in an amateur super atomweight rematch from this past March.
Deep Jewels 44 takes place on March 24th at New Pier Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
(Photo Credit: Deep Jewels)