Namiko “Hime” Kawabata overcame a tricky first spherical and an opponent who missed weight en path to incomes her second straight win tonight at Deep Jewels 49 in Tokyo, Japan. Kawabata completed former Pancrase champion Honoka Shigeta with a triangle armbar within the 49kg most important occasion.
Within the 58kg co-feature, Yuka “Dosukoi” Okutomi made a profitable return to Deep Jewels and scored a one-sided Unanimous Determination victory over Aoi Kuriyama, who was using a four-fight successful streak. The efficiency was an important one for Okutomi, who had struggled since her final win in 2023.
Kawabata (6-4-0) fared nicely within the opening minute after touchdown a powerful proper hand and a few stiff jabs, however Shigeta (4-2-0) closed the space and suplexed her all the way down to the mat. Kawabata ultimately bought Shigeta off of her again, however Shigeta held her in a entrance headlock after which a Brabo choke earlier than ending the spherical with punches and elbows to Kawabata’s face.
Within the second spherical, Kawabata reversed a Shigeta takedown try into mount and he or she dropped punches to Shigeta’s face. Shigeta gave up her again and Kawabata continued to punch till she trapped Shigeta in a good triangle armbar. Shigeta refused to faucet out as Kawabata punched her within the face and elevated the stress on her left elbow. With Shigeta’s elbow bent again at an ungainly angle, referee Naoya Uematsu had seen sufficient and waved off the struggle on the 3:00 mark of spherical two.
Tonight’s victory was Kawabata’s second in a row at tremendous atomweight following an unsuccessful run at strawweight and above. She continues to be finest identified for her upset win over Saori Oshima in March 2022, however Kawabata now has her sights set on even harder challengers.
“I attempted the triangle [at the end], however I needed a knockout,” Kawabata mentioned backstage following her win. “My Mouri Dojo teammates reward me when I’ve good components, however they aren’t shy about declaring the dangerous ones. I had anticipated that [Shigeta] would suplex me, however I wanted to show that Deep Jewels is stronger [than Pancrase]. I need to face [two-division Deep Jewels champion] Seika Izawa.”
A victorious Namiko Kawabata (left) and Yuka Okutomi (proper) following Deep Jewels 49.
The co-main occasion was utterly dominated by Okutomi (4-1-0, 1 NC), who outgrappled Kuriyama (8-6-1) for 3 rounds en path to a transparent Unanimous Determination victory. Kuriyama’s lone success got here early within the first spherical when she was capable of knock Okutomi down with a leg kick and observe up with punches after Okutomi returned to her ft. From there on, nonetheless, Okutomi was in full management after taking Kuriyama down and punching the aspect of her head whereas sustaining a partial again management. Every time Kuriyama stood up, Kuriyama dragged her proper again down. This continued all through rounds two and three as nicely, and all three judges scored the struggle 30-27 in Okutomi’s favour.
“She has sturdy putting, so I used to be decided to grapple and I targeted on that,” Okutomi mentioned backstage. “I need to rebuild my preventing profession as a result of I’ve not had good fights lately and all of my feminine mentors are stronger than I’m. I maintained an angle of not giving up, even after I bought drained from the continual takedowns, and I didn’t enable [Kuriyama] to have any house.”
Earlier on the cardboard, Saki Kitamura (4-4-0) evened her document with a Break up Determination victory over Princess Saaya (1-3-0) in a 49kg tremendous atomweight bout that didn’t seem like as shut as one scorecard recommended. Kitamura was the aggressor with straight left fingers and physique kicks within the opening spherical till Saaya landed 4 consecutive proper fingers. Kitamura attacked Saaya’s physique and knocked her down with a entrance kick to the liver. She completed the spherical by taking Saaya down into aspect management.
Kitamura stored the ahead stress on Saaya within the second spherical and took her down, then punched her face till Saaya bought up. She wobbled Saaya with a one-two and adopted up with knees to her physique. Regardless of Kitamura showing to carry an edge in each rounds, all three judges scored the struggle even at 19-19. Choose Nakahara awarded his Should Determination to Saaya, whereas judges Matsumiya and Hashimoto awarded theirs to Kitamura for the victory.
Following up on her first professional win in March, Yua Yokose (2-1-0) scored one other spectacular submission end tonight in her 54kg bout towards Yura Narumoto (0-2-0, 1 NC). Yokose took Narumoto down into aspect management and landed punches from a top-side crucifix. Narumoto briefly exploded out from the underside, however Yokose took aspect management once more after which attacked with a kimura that pressured Narumoto to faucet out on the 1:39 mark of the opening spherical.
In 60kg kickboxing motion, Elana employed continuous offence en path to a lopsided second-round TKO victory towards Chanrina. Proper from the opening bell, Elena threw rapid-fire punches and physique kicks that by no means stopped and had Chanrina on the defensive. Chanrina was by no means capable of mount any sustained offence and struggled to land a lot of something. Elena scored a knockdown for a standing eight rely within the first spherical, then one other standing eight rely within the second spherical, earlier than stopping Chanrina with physique kicks and punches on the 1:16 mark of spherical two.
Misaki Horiuchi (1-0-0 newbie) simply gained her newbie strawweight MMA bout towards former Rizin FF ring lady Akipi (1-2-0 newbie). Horiuchi outstruck Akipi on the ft within the first spherical after which additional battered her with punches from mount. Within the second spherical, Horiuchi landed extra punches and held Akipi in a guillotine choke. The struggle ended with Horiuchi punching from Akipi’s guard and all three judges scored the bout 20-18 in Horiuchi’s favour.
Mao Watanabe (1-0-0 newbie) upset prospect Suzu Ooi (1-1-0 newbie) of their 50kg newbie bout. Early on, Ooi secured two takedowns and he or she prevented a buggy choke try from Watanabe. Later within the spherical, Watanabe trapped Ooi in a triangle choke after which an armbar, however Ooi made it to the bell. Early in spherical two, Ooi took Watanabe down, however she left her proper arm uncovered and Watanabe took benefit by locking on a good armbar from the underside and Ooi tapped out whereas in apparent ache on the 55-second mark of the second spherical.
Opening up the cardboard, Marin Yamabuki (1-0-0 newbie) gained her debut towards Mion Wachi (0-1-0 newbie) at strawweight. Yamabuki left little question within the judges’ minds by controlling the motion all through together with knees to Wachi’s physique within the opening spherical and a belly-down armbar try. Yamabuki landed extra knees within the second spherical and punched Wachi’s physique after taking her down into half-guard. Scores have been 20-18 throughout the board for Yamabuki, who prevailed through Unanimous Determination.
“[Honoka] Shigeta must go to strawweight,” Deep boss Shigeru Saeki mentioned after the occasion when addressing Shigeta’s weight miss. “Machi [Fukuda], [Seika] Izawa and [Si Woo] Park all struggle at that weight. I don’t learn about [former Deep Jewels Interim Strawweight Champion] Arisa Matsuda’s future as a result of alternatives overseas are very restricted for girls outdoors of the UFC, so perhaps she is going to wait till the subsequent Street To UFC occasions.”
Full play-by-play for the Deep Jewels 49 card will be discovered right here.
