Gaijin fighters win on Sept. 13 JEWELS show

The main purpose of JEWELS' Sept. 13 Shinjuku FACE show was to launch their ROUGH STONE tournaments designed to find new talent. There was no Megumi Fujii or Saori Ishioka so the advertised main event was a little underwhelming. And there were a lot of pro wrestlers on the show. The main event had Korean fighter Ham Seo Hee against veteran Misaki Takimoto. The odd thing about Ham is she is a kickboxer at home and only does MMA in Japan. She's in trouble against anyone with a ground game. Fortunately for her, Takimoto is a karate girl and doesn't have a ground game. Ham was penalized points for weighing in 400g over. It didn't matter much. Ham is a southpaw and Takimoto didn't have an answer for her attack. Ham scored with straight lefts and front kicks and the fight remained standing in round one. This continued in round two as Takimoto's eye swelled up. Takimoto's attempted takedown was met with a knee to the body. This continued in round three and Ham won a unanimous decision. She said afterwards that she usually trains in Thailand a couple of months a year and has won three Muay Thai bouts this year. She says she's considering retirement. JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki said he may bring Ham back for a Shoot Boxing match against Saori Ishioka.

The semi-main had the return to MMA of women's MMA pioneer Megumi Yabushita against pro wrestler Atsuko Emoto. Emoto is known for her masked Bullfight Sora gimmick but she also works as a trainer at the DEEP dojo. Yabushita has been very active in pro wrestling lately. Of course Yabushita is a judo and submission expert. But her attempted judo throw puts Emoto on top. But Yabushita escapes and throws her again. This time she applies an armbar and Yabushita wins at 2:43 of round one. Saeki named Yabushita MVP of the show. Two undefeated fighters faced each other in one of the 60kg ROUGH STONE tournaments. It was Shizuka Sugiyama vs Alexandra Sanchez. Yesterday at the weigh-in, Sugiyama commented on Sanchez's height so I thought she might have trouble with her. And that's what happened. Sanchez was able to use her reach to keep Sugiyama away. She defended well against Sugiyama's attempted takedowns. Sanchez only knocked Sugiyama down once in the third round so she didn't hurt her. But Sugiyama was unable to mount any kind of offense. Alexandra Sanchez wins by unanimous decision.

The other 60kg ROUGH STONE tournament match was between pro wrestlers Tomoko Morii and Chihiro Oikawa. Oikawa's first two takedown attempts result in ref breaks. Then Morii's takedown reults in an armbar and Oikawa taps out at 4:13 of round one. So Oikawa tried to go for a quick submission and then got caught herself. The first 54kg ROUGH STONE tournament match was a rematch from the July show between Mika Nagano and Rina Tomita. Nagano may have a sexy photobook but she sure knows how to wrestle. Tomita comes out aggressively and rushes at Nagano. But Nagano remains calm and takes Tomita down and passes the half guard. She grabs Tomita's leg and pounds her with body shots. Tomita reverses and takes mount but Nagano grabs her leg and proceeds to submit her with an armbar at 2:25 of round one. The other 54kg tournament match was between Amoeba and the debuting Yoko Kagoshima. It appears that Kagoshima prefers standup but also has ground skills. She starts with punches. Amoeba attempts a takedown but they end up in the corner and the ref breaks it up. Amoeba attempts a neck throw but Kagoshima defends well and hits a knee kick. Finally Amoeba gets a takedown and goes after an armbar. But Kagoshima again defends well and they have to stand up. Kagoshima hammers Amoeba in round two. Amoeba's takedown attempts don't lead anywhere and Kagoshima even hooks a guillotine choke. Amoeba escapes but is unable to penetrate Kagoshima's defense. Kagoshima wins by unanimous decision.

The 48kg ROUGH STONE tournament was changed due to injury. The first match had Asami Kodera against Fuuka Misaki. The jiu jitsu specialist Kodera is the favourite. Misaki lands a couple of punches and a knee kick to the body. Kodera's attempted takedown hits the ropes and the ref breaks it. Kodera takes Misaki down. After a couple of reversals, Kodera gets side mount and an armbar when the round ends. Kodera scores with a right hook at the start of round two. Then she throws Misaki. Misaki reverses it but Kodera catches her in a triangle choke and locks it in for the win at 1:56 of round two. Kikuyo Ishikawa received a bye to the 48kg ROUGH STONE tournament final but they put her in a 52kg match against a kickboxer named ASAKO making her MMA debut. ASAKO attempts punches but Ishikawa jumps on her back and hooks a sleeper hold. It's over at 1:18 of round one. In a grappling match, Ayaka Hamasaki won over actress/pro wrestler Hikari Shida with an armlock at 38 sec. of round one. The ROUGH STONE tournament finals will be on the next JEWELS show Dec. 11 at Shinjuku FACE. It was also announced that Saori Ishioka will face Mari Kaneko. Kaneko is a women's MMA pioneer but her last match was in 2005.