Miku Matsumoto

. Having returned from study abroad, Miku Matsumoto made the decision to start training in martial arts, so that she could kill some time and save some money. What resulted was a meteoric rise that was, that was somewhat unheard of on the Japanese WMMA scene. That is not to say that there were not stars. Smackgirl created the likes of Satoko Shinashi, Hisae Watanabe and Yuka Tsuji. I have created some pie-graphs to show how the difference in the 4 careers of these early pioneers. 

3 Main Events on All Female Cards

6 Main Events on All Female Cards
1 Main Event on Mixed Card

18 Main Events on All Female Cards
1 Main Even on Mixed Card

1 Main Event on All Female Card
4 Main Events on Mixed Cards

Miku's chart looks drastically different than the other three women's. Miku not only participated on a larger number of mixed gender cards, she was almost always on the main card and even was the main event 4 times. The reason that I point this out, is not to say that mixed gender cards are better than all female cards, but rather to show how different she was. Miku was the first woman to really become a breakout star in a promotion that had before her been almost an exclusively male promotion. Even to this day, she is referenced in Deep press releases.

One of the reasons that Miku became a draw, was that she got noticeably better between fights. Nothing can better illustrate this than the fact that after going 11-4, Miku went on a 12 fight winning streak, avenging all of her defeats on the way. However, this was also to be one of the factors in her sudden retirement. Having avenged all of her losses, realizing that a much desired fight with Megumi Fujii may never happen because of backstage politics and realizing that the opportunity to fight on the big stage as a woman didn't exist, she suddenly and abruptly retired stating that she no longer had the motivation. Her retirement was capped off with a highly attended exhibition match with Megumi Fujii and a ceremony that was attended by Fujii, Tsuji, Watanabe and Shinashi. At the ceremony when she returned her championship belt, Deep gave it back to her. Miku left a void that could not be filled so Deep affectively stopped including women on their shows after she retired. Deep wouldn't embrace women for quite some time after her retirement.

Career Achievements

MMA: 23-4 

(3 TKO, 14 Submission)

All Defeats Avenged

Retired on 12 fight win-streak

DEEP Champion

Notable Victories:

Hisae Watanabe

Lisa Ward

Carina Damm

Ham Seo Hee

Tomomi Sunaba

Rena (Shoot Boxing)

V.V Mei (Grappling)