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| Mika Nagano, Mai Ichii, Sakura Nomura, Saori Ishioka |
JEWELS held a press conference yestersay to announce seven of the eight fighters scheduled to participate in the Lightweight tournament scheduled to begin at the July 31 Shinjuku FACE show. Saori Ishioka, Mika Nagano and Ham Seo Hee were announced previously. The additional fighters are Mai Ichii, Sakura Nomura, Celine and Ayaka Hamazaki. JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki said he is working on bringing in a gaijin as the eighth fighter but he's still in negotiations. Mai Ichii is a pro wrestler for Ice Ribbon. Her MMA record is 3-3 and her last fight was a loss to Saori Ishioka on the May 23 JEWELS show. When Ichii took a hiatus from pro wrestling, she had success with the M-1 kickboxing company. So she's very good standing but weak on the ground. Saeki likes her because she knows how to cut a promo and hype a match. A lot of the other girls are somewhat reserved. Ichii said she wants to KO Ham Seo Hee. Sakura Nomura trains at CB Impact in Toyama (formerly Club Barbarian). Her record is 2-0 and her last win was over Rina Tomita on the May 16 clubDEEP show in Toyama. She is a protege of retired DEEP Lightweight Champ MIKU and I expect MIKU to be in her corner. Celine trains with Team Hellboy Hansen in Norway. Her record is 1-4 and she got a big win over Mika Nagano at the May 23 JEWELS show and this tournament should be a good test for her. Ayaka Hamazaki trains at AACC. She won her debut over Kinuka Sasaki at the Oct. 25 Shooto show. Ayaka wasn't at the press conference so her boss Megumi Fujii was there to talk about her. She said if Hamazaki wins the tournament, Fujii will get another cat. How many does she have? Misaki Takimoto was also at the press conference and said she wants to KO Lisa Newton. And she also said she is looking forward to Hisae Watanabe's return to MMA. I don't know if Hisae is returning. And they had an impromptu birthday party for Shigeru Saeki who celebrated his 41st birthday June 24.
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