The Deep Jewels 5 weigh-ins occurred a couple of hours ago and they went off without incident. Mizuki made weight easily, perhaps proving that last time was a fluke. The only fighter to miss weight was Yuko "Amiba" Oya, who after a trip to the sauna made weight. Deep Jewels 5 goes down on Saturday and it will be available on USTREAM.
All the pictures used are the property of Deep Jewels
The female Japanese mma scene used to boast an impressive 115lb division, but as some of these fighters came into contact with significantly larger opponents abroad, a number of them have started cutting weight, not common in Japan, and moved down to 105. As a result, Deep Jewels can now boast an impressive 105 roster. Including fighters like Ham Seo Hee, Mei Yamaguchi, Saori Ishioka, Naho Sugiyama and now Ayaka Hamasaki.
Former 115 Champion, Ayaka Hamasaki will be returning to action after a year-long absence in which she had surgery and rehabilitation on her knee. Previously she had to use a lot of tape on her legs, but in her last fight with Claudia Gadelha she was told that she couldn't use any, so the decision to operate was made. Prior to her fight with Gadelha, Ayaka was undefeated and held impressive victories over Yuka Tsuji, Mizuki Inoue and Ham Seo Hee. It would be safe to assume that her fight with the significantly larger Claudia, who weighed 136lbs in her last fight, played a role in her decision to test out 105. Possessing a strong Judo base, Hamasaki's game plan usually involves taking her opponent down and getting in side-control. From side control she tries to trap an opponents arm or go for an armbar or the "Hama-lock".
Former 105 Champion, Naho Sugiyama looks to continue her resurgence with what would be the biggest win of her career. Sugirock, as she is called, ruled over the 105 division for a long time in Japan and defeated a lot of top talent but with other fighters moving down and new fighters coming, a lot of exiting fights for her have opened up. Stylistically, she prefers to circle around her opponents, throwing short punch combinations and low kicks. This is all to set up a takedown. She will time a double leg when an opponent gets too aggressive but most of her takedowns come from the clinch or from a successful sprawl. From there she has a number of submissions and gnp she likes to employ. It will be interesting to see if she can trip the Judoka to the ground or if she will prefer to strike with Ayaka, as she possesses the more diverse striking game.
Assuming that she is fully recovered, I would say that Hamasaki is the favorite going into this fight. She has more wins over top opponents at this point in her career. That being said, Sugirock hasn't been facing a bunch of slouches. This is a difficult fight to call and should be pretty exciting. The wildcard going into this fight is that it is only two rounds. Two round fights are completely different from three round fights and I for won can't stand them. Two round fights leave a lot of room for draws so hopefully these two decide to not leave it in the judges hands.
Name: Ayaka Hamasaki
Age: 32
Height: 5"2 (157cm)
Weight: 105 (47.6kg)
Pro Debut: 10/25/2009
Record: 9-1
Championship: Jewels 115lb Champion (12/17/2010-8/31/2013) Relinquished due to injuries
CJ: How's the knee? How is the rehab going?
AH: Rehab's going well, my knee's condition is really good.
Pre-surgery Hamasaki with her taped knees
CJ: Can you talk about your training schedule and where you've been training?
AH: My schedule changes depending on the day so it's always different. I only train at AACC, I don't go out to other gyms.
CJ: When we last spoke you said you wanted to fight at 115, what changed? Can you tell us your reasoning? Would you consider a UFC offer?
AH: I thought I was going to fight at 115 but then I thought that I'd like to test myself and see what 105 was like, so I asked them for a 105 fight. If an offer came from the UFC, I don't know what I'd do but I would like to challenge myself and see what it's like.
CJ: With a win would you like to fight for the title? Does the Invicta title interest you? What do you think about fighting Ham again?
AH: If I can, I'd like to get some titles. I don't really have a strong desire to fight Ham again. If I have the chance, I'd like to get the DJ title but my real aim is to get a belt in America. At that aim I cannot lose.
CJ: 105 is a very solid division. What fighters do you think of?
AH: I don't really know the names of a lot of fighters but I know that those 105ers abroad are at a really high level.
CJ: You're fighting the former 105 Champion, Sugirock, can you talk about that?
AH: I think that Sugirock is a very strong and exceptional fighter. Fighting a former champion like her gives me motivation. I think it's going to be a tough fight but I'm aiming for the KO or the Sub.
Former Champions Hamasaki and Sugirock
CJ: You're base is in Judo, can you talk about how you got involved with that?
AH: In high school I really went all out in Judo, but I wasn't all that strong.
Comments
AH: After being injured for a year, I'm really looking forward to my comeback but I'm also nervous, I'm going to do all I can to put on a good fight!
NS: On TV they were showing K-1 and there was an MMA fight with Caol Uno, from the moment that I saw it, I thought "Ah, I want to do this!" Deep down I wanted to do it, so it started out as a hobby at first. I turned pro sort of by accident (lol). It was a whole development, I don't know how the conversation got started but the next thing I knew I was lined up to fight for Valkyrie. The Valkyrie producer said that she had heard that i wanted to fight, but I didn't say that I wanted to or didn't want to fight, so I still don't know what happened.
CJ: Can you talk about your ring name "Sugirock"?
NS: My real name is Naho Sugiyama, but one of my sempai's/coaches was called Yoshirock T, so I received the "rock" from him.
Yoshirock and Sugirock
CJ: Between 2012 and 2013, you had a rough patch. You lost to Jessica Penne in the U.S then lost twice back afterwards. Since then you have rebounded and won 2 in a row. What happened?
NS: I lost in America, then I was defeated twice in Japan, after that I swept the slate clean and started training striking like it was day 1, I think that me winning my last 2 fights is a result of that.
CJ: Can you talk about your upcoming fight with Ayaka Hamasaki?
NS: It was really unexpected, it surprised me. She was the perfect champion and to be frank, I looked up to her a lot. She was the champion in the division above me, she's very balanced and I think she's going to be a really strong opponent.
However, I think there are areas of my game that are better, I'm going to win solidly, then I'm going to challenge Ham Seo Hee again for that belt she's holding.
Former Champions Sugirock and Hamasaki
CJ: Do you think you would like to fight state-side again?
NS: At this moment, I'm not really in a position to say that I want to fight in America again, I need to raise my abilities, when the time comes that I feel like I can attempt it, that's when I'l say i want to fight abroad.
Comments:
NS: There are a number of fighters dropping from 115 to 105 and I think that fights with any of them would make me a better fighter, all I want to do is win soundly. I want to fight for that title one more time.
Don't forget to watch Deep Jewels 5 over the weekend on USTREAM
In one of the matches that I am personally looking forward to, DJ young-guns Ayaka Miura and Satomi Takano will be engaging in a grappling match. The match will be contested at 48kg, so it will be interesting to see if Ayaka is permanently dropping down to that weight. Both fighters come from grappling backgrounds, solid camps and could be future contenders. What makes this match especially interesting is that these two could face each other fairly soon in a MMA match.
Name: Ayaka Miura
Age: 23
Height: 5"2 (158cm)
Weight: 115lb
Pro-debut: 5/18/2014
Record: 1-0
Having made her MMA debut on the last DJ card, Miura was one of the fighters that left an impression, choking her opponent unconscious with an arm-triangle in the first round. Having had an interest in martial arts since seeing Andy Hug fight on TV, Ayaka has been practicing Judo for more than 10 years. From Judo she branched out to grappling and BJJ. She's been training at Tribe Tokyo MMA for almost a year and has gained the respect of her trainer Ryo Chonan. In an interview he stated that when he saw her train, he noticed her aggressive style and that she reminded him of a demon. Holding a blue belt in BJJ, Ayaka has competed in a number of grappling matches over the past two years. In a recent episode of Deep Jewels TV she also stated that she trains with "V.V" Mei, Amiba and Miyoko amongst others outside of the gym. It will be interesting to see how far a talent like Ayaka can go and this match should be a good test for her.
Photo Courtesy of BoutReview
Name: Satomi "Sarami" Takano
Age: 24
Height: 5'1 (155cm)
Weight: 105 (48kg)
Pro-debut: 7/21/2012
Record: 3-4
Training out of Club Barbarian is Satomi. At 24, she is is one of DJ's younger fighters and looks to be improving. I often write that records are deceiving and this is a classic example of that. She has gone 1-2 in her last 3, but one of those was a split-decision loss to Sugirock and the other was against Saori Ishioka. The Ishioka fight was easily the most exciting fight on the card and Satomi hurt Ishioka badly with a punch before the wild grappling exchange. Since the loss, Satomi has been working extensively on her grappling. She even traveled to Taiwan to participate in a grappling tournament recently. As a lot of expectations have been placed on her to fill Miku's shoes, I expect to see her very determined to win this match.
Having made her debut last year for Deep Jewels, Usui is part of the expanding 105lb division. With a number of 115ers dropping down and a number of new signings, 105 is really becoming an exciting division. Like several of the new additions to DJ, Usui has been involved with martial arts for awhile. She has been competing in grappling and BJJ for several years now and even competed in a number of grappling matches for Jewels in 2011. With her grappling experience, I would say that Usui is the favorite going into this fight.
Name: Miyoko Kusaka
Height: 5'1 (156cm)
Weight: 105lb (48kg)
Pro-debut: 12/11/2009
Record: 4-8
Miyoko Kusaka has been around for a couple of years now. She has faced off a varying degree of opponents but her record is somewhat deceptive. The only opponent that she defeated with a winning record was Kikuyo Ishikawa, who was just beginning her career and defeated Kusaka in a rematch. I feel like she was matched against Usui to test her. If Usui can defeat Kusaka then she belongs in the DJ ranks and if she can't she doesn't. Despite her experience, I would put her as the underdog going into this fight.
A long time veteran of MMA, Yoshida has been fighting for around 11 years. During those 11 years she has fought an incredible range of fighters, going from some of the best to some of the worst. Looking at her record and the names on it makes it difficult to gauge her level. Despite losing 19 times, a majority of those losses were to high caliber fighters like Megumi Fujii and Michelle Waterson. She also holds wins over Deep Jewels Champion Emi Tomimatsu and Tomomi Sunaba. Yoshida is officially part of Fight Chix, but a look at her Facebook page will reveal that she trains at a number of gyms with a number of fighters. She's looked good in her last three, so it will be interesting to see how she looks.
Name: Mina Kurobe
Height: 5'2 (157.5cm)
Weight: 105lb (48kg)
Pro-debut: 12/15/2012
Record: 2-0
Hailing from Master Japan, Kurobe has looked good in her 2 fights. A BJJ practitioner, both of her victories have come via RNC. Now Mina hasn't fought in a little over a year and it will be interesting to see how she has progressed. Her opponent, Yoshida, while having lost 19 times, has survived to see the final bell in a majority of those. If Kurobe finds a way to finish Yoshida in the fight, it will be her highest profile win to date. Deep Jewels' 48kg weight division has become very deep recently and a win is important to put her closer to the big fights and an eventual title shot. Given her grappling advantage, I would say that the 2-0 Mina Kurobe is the definite favorite going into this fight.
At the age of 36, Fujimori made her professional debut late in life. She has been active longer than her record reflects, having made her amateur debut back in 2010, going 1-2. Those amateur fights were against women at 130, which may have given her problems at the time. Having only competed for Deep Jewels, Fujimori is thus far perfect. Her 3 victories were against 3 equally green fighters so it is difficult to gauge her skills at the moment. She has 2 victories by submission and her biggest victory to date was a Split-Decision over AACC's Megumi Sugimoto.
Name: Yuko Oya
Age: 27
Height: 5"2 (157.5cm)
Weight: 115
Pro-debut: 5/16/2009
Record: 7-4
Amiba as she is known, is quite the character. She is a regular on Deep Jewels TV, due to her energetic and funny nature, and is often at MMA events in some capacity. She used to train at Deep Gym with Kitaoka, but since the gym's closure has moved over to AACC. At the gym famous for the female fighters, she has become one of Ayaka Hamasaki's main training partners. Her record of 7-4 is deceiving. Her opponents have a combined record of 34-73 and she has never defeated an opponent with a winning record. She does seem to have improved of late, but she in my opinion will be the underdog going into the fight.
While Deep Jewels only goes back to 2013, they are actually more of a continuation of WMMA in Japan than something new. Deep has an interesting history with women in their organization and it begins with the first all women promotion in Japan, Smackgirl. Smackgirl was founded and based on the tradition of Pro-Wrestling and as a result, pro-wrestlers were often found on the cards and there was an unfortunate set of rules. No striking was allowed on the ground and ground fighting was stood up after 30 seconds. The 30 second rule was thrown to the way side in 2007 but the no gnp lasted for years. Despite the unfortunate rules, Smackgirl created the first generation of popular female fighters in Japan. Fighters like Mei Yamaguchi, Megumi Fujii and Hisae Watanabe all made their debuts in Smackgirl. Fighters like Yuka Tsuji and Hisae Watanabe flourished in the promotion and became stars.
However, as time went on, fighters began to drift away from Smackgirl. A number of the fighters were drawn to a promotion called Deep. Deep allowed the women to strike on the ground and let them fight for longer. They brought in fighters like Hisae Watanabe, Satoko Shinashi and debuted fighters like Miku Matsumoto and Ham Seo Hee. It was during this time that Miku became more and more popular and Deep in a way tied their future with WMMA with Miku. An as a result, when Miku retired Deep almost completely stopped promoting WMMA. However, Deep had seen that popular female fighters can draw fans and they formed a close relationship with a promotion called Jewels.
In 2008, when Smackgirl folded, 2 organizations formed. These were Valkyrie and Jewels. The forming of two companies proved to be a poor decision as the talent pool wasn't large enough to share and potential ticket selling fights were stopped because of backstage politics. Valkyrie eventually started putting on fewer and fewer shows until most of their fighters signed with Jewels. Jewels put on 26 shows during its existence. While having a number of top-level talent, Jewels had a hard time producing new talent. As a result a number of their cards were filled with amateur kickboxing/grappling matches. Jewels had worked closely with Deep for a long time. They often held their events on the same days at the same venues using the same rings and staff. Jewels also held their press conferences and weigh-ins at the official Deep Gym. As a result it came to no surprise when Jewels was absorbed into Deep and became Deep Jewels.
I have put some data together to show Deep's relationship with WMMA
Satoko Shinashi
March 2nd, 2002 makes Smackgirl debut
December 29th, 2002 defeats Watanabe in Smackgirl
January 22nd, 2004 makes Deep debut
Hisae Watanabe
April 7th, 2002 makes Smackgirl debut
August 4th 2006 defeats Shinashi in rematch for Deep Championship
Miku Matsumoto
October 24th, 2004 makes Deep debut
September 15th, 2006 loses to Lisa Ward in Smackgirl
August 5th 2007, defeats Watanabe for Deep Championship
June 28th 2009, defeats Lisa Ward in Deep
Ham Seo Hee
February 16th, 2007, makes Pro-debut for Deep
Septemeber 6th 2007, makes Smackgirl debut
September 13th 2009, makes Jewels debut
May 25th 2013, becomes Jewels Champion
November 4th 2013, retains Championship for Deep Jewels
