Ishioki, Fujii win in JEWELS debut

JEWELS held their debut show today at Shinjuku FACE. I haven't seen the figure but it looks like they may have filled the joint. They'll probably lie anyway. Before I get into the show itself, Roxanne Modafferi is a US fighter living in Japan. She went to the show and posted comments on Fightlinker. Her main complaint was the glitz and galamor of the show and the fact that the main event was booked because of the fighter's looks as opposed to their skill. Show supervisor Shigeru Saeki made it very clear at the press conference that looks are an issue with him. Should they be an issue? No but I'm not surprised that a male Japanese promoter would believe that. As for the glitz, fans have to understand that without joshi puroresu, there would be no women's MMA in Japan because those companies started women's MMA. So the women's MMA companies take their cues from pro wrestling. I have no problem with it. You do what is necessary to sell the product and sizzle is necessary. MMA fans and fighters who look down on pro wrestling fail to understand that MMA marketing is heavily influenced by pro wrestling marketing especially in Japan. It could have been worse. Fuuka could have been on the show. Just kidding. Actually, she's going to be shoot boxing next week.

So the main event of this show had Saori Ishioka vs Mika Nagano fighting ar 52kg. Nagano is one of those fighters I have seen complaints about because of her looks. But she has a legit grappling background. Unfotunately, she didn't make weight for this fight. Oh well. And Ishioka has a karate background. But JEWELS did sell the fight as a "beautiful woman confrontation". The fights are scheduled for two five minute rounds. And I noticed those goofy mittens that are a holdover from Smackgirl. They need to ditch those. Nagano began with an attempted takedown but Ishioka countered with strikes. Ishioka scores with a right hook and backs Nagano into the corner with strikes. They seperate and Ishioka hits a low kick but they exchange punches. Nagano goes for a tackle but Ishioka again holds her off with strikes. Nagano finally gets a takedown but Ishioka goes for her foot from underneath. Nagano goes for Ishioka's foot but she kicks out. Ishioka hits a low kick and continues to score with strikes. Nagano gets a takedown at the end of the round. Ishioka begins round two with a right. Nagano does her Aja Kong impersonation with a backfist. That move always gets a crowd reaction but isn't usually effective. Nagano throws a straight right but Ishioka counters. Ishioka continues to control the stand up. Nagano goes for a takedown but Ishioka winds up with a side mount. Nagano tries to counter. They stand up and Ishioka continues to score and wins with a unanimous decision. Ishioka is now 6-1 and should be looked at as a challenger for MIKU's DEEP Women's Lightweight Title.

Megumi Fujii returned against pro wrestler Tomoko Morii. Morii outweighed Fujii by 8kg. Now, this is Morii's MMA debut and she is fighting Fujii but she still told Daily Sports that she was confident going into the fight. Of course Fujii didn't waste any time. Fujii lands a left hook and Morii tries a takedown. But Fujii grabs her in a guillotine choke and continues to punch her. Morii drops her on her head. That's called a brainbuster in pro wrestling but it's an illegal move in MMA. It doesn't bother Fujii. She hooks an armbar and it's over in 1:05 of round one. HIROKO faced Super Benkei in an Open Weight match. Benkei begins with a right cross and a front kick. The former dominatrix HIROKO uses her size to get inside and go for a takedown and a side mount and an armbar. Benkei bridges and eventually escapes. but she has this kind of problem with HIROKO throughout the fight. HIROKO is tall so her reach is a big issue. When Benkei goes inside, she can't get enough leverage to take HIROKO down. HIROKO is unable to put her away but wins a unanimous decision. She said afterwards that she hurt her right leg in training three weeks ago and it's still bothering her. She also said she wants to work for VALKYRIE because she wants to fight in the cage.

Hitomi Akano fought HARI im a 66kg fight. Akano begins with kicks. HARI attempts a kick and then attempts a throw. Baut Akano grabs her foot and gets a submission with an armbar at 38 seconds of round one. Misaki Takimoto fought Masako Yoshida in a 49kg bout. Yoshida begins with punches and a front kick. Takimoto goes inside and scores with punches. Takimoto gets a low kick followed by punches. They continue to exchange punches but Takimoto takes her down and gets a heel hook as round one ends. Takimoto begins round two with a kick. Yoshida is still using strikes but Takimoto counters with an armlock and facelock. Yoshida punches her way out and finally gets her arm loose. Yoshida attacks but Takimoto slips her punch and gets an armbar and holds on until the end Takinoto wins by unanimous decision.

SACHI fought Kazumi Kaneko in a 48kg bout. SACHI was hailed by Saeki as one of "the three beautiful women of combat sports" along with Ishioka & Nagano. Kaneko went for a takedown and they got tangled up in the corner. The ref broke it up. SACHI goes for a takedown and eventually gets an armbar. Kaneko tries for the foot unsuccessfully and then tries to stand up. But SACHI holds on to the arm and gets a submission at 4:35 of round one. Kiyuko Ishikawa made her debut against kickboxer Sumie Yamada in a 48kg bout. Ishikawa throws a punch and then blocks a takedown. She gets her own takedown and goes for the foot. Yamada tries to get up and Ishikawa switches to a triangle choke and wins at 1:02 of round one. Shizuki Sugiyama also made her debut against HARUMI in a 60kg bout. Sugiyama scores with a knee kick and a punch and then throws HARUMI down. When the get back up, Sugiyama scores again. HARUMI tries to unsuccessfully trade punches. After a knee kick, Sugiyama takes her down and finishes her with a rear naked choke at 2:55 of round one. Saeki said afterwards that he is aiming for February for the next JEWELS show. Roxy shot video of Fujii's fight and put it up on Youtube. Check it out.