Naoko Omuro, Rina Tomita to retire on Dec. 15 JEWELS show

Rina Tomita, Naoko Omuro

JEWELS announced some matches today for the Dec. 15 Differ Ariake show. This will be the first JEWELS show in a cage. The big news is that veteran fighters Naoko Omuro and Rina Tomita will both retire. Omuro made her debut in 2002 and was a VALKYRIE regular until they closed. Her last fight was a loss to Yasuko Tamada on the July 21 JEWELS show. It was her JEWELS debut. She will be in an exhibition match against an opponent to be named. That will likely be former VALKYRIE boss and current JEWELS matchmaker Yasuko Mogi. There was only supposed to be one retirement on this show. Rina Tomita will face Mika Nagano. But then Rina decided at the last minute to retire. Rina's record is 3-7. She had a cancer scare a couple of years ago and it's amazing that she recovered from that. Nagano's record is 10-8 and actually both girls got clobbered when they went to Australia a couple of weeks ago. So with two scheduled retirement ceremonies taking up a lot of time, maybe the card won't seem as weak. It looks like the main event will be Roxanne Modafferi vs Shizuka Sugiyama. Roxanne's record is 15-10 but she has lost her last five matches. That's quite a slide for someone who was once considered an elite fighter. Earlier this year she joined Ground Slam and claims improvement. That's what they all say. She needs to prove it in the cage. Sugiyama has her own issues. After winning her first five fights, she lost to fighters she should have beaten and moved to Australia. She has won two fights since returning. But Roxanne is a big step up in competition. It could be a make or break fight for both of them. Two other fights were announced. Veteran Yasuko Tamada will face relative newcomer Satomi Takano. Tamada trains at AACC. Her record is 13-8 and her last fight was a win over Naoko Omuro on the July 21 JEWELS show. Takano trains at Club Barbarian. Her record is 2-0 and her last win was over Happy Fukuko on the Sept. 21 JEWELS show. this is a big step up in competition for her. The other fight has Naomi Taniyama facing Mina Kurobe. Both are making their MMA debuts. Taniyama trains at WK Hearts and Kurobe trains at K-Taro. Stay tune for more matches for this show.