Satoko Shinashi to return to MMA after six year hiatus

Satoko Shinashi, Ye Jin Jung

A few weeks ago, DEEP announced that Satoko Shinashi will return to MMA after a six year hiatus at the Oct. 26 TDC Hall show. They have now announced that her opponent will be teen kickboxer Ye Jin Jung. Shinashi's record is 29-2-2 and she made her debut in 2001. So I would consider her an MMA pioneer in Japan. She had title belts in Smackgirl and DEEP and was very popular. Her last fight was a win over Yukiko Seki on the Oct. 28, 2008 DEEP show. Then she announced she was pregnant. At the time, DEEP matchmaker Shigeru Saeki said that she would return in about a year after she had the baby. But she didn't return until now. Problem number one is Shinashi is now 37 years old. Who knows what she will be like? And I don't know if she has fought in a cage before. Though Shinashi is classified as Atomweight, that's 48kg and Shinashi fights ideally at 45kg (100lbs) which is called Pinweight. Right now, there are no 45kg female fighters in Japan. Knowing how Saeki thinks, I expected him to bring a CMA Korea kickboxer who has never fought MMA. And that's exactly what he has done. Ye Jin Jung is a 15 year old kickboxer. She has fought a couple of amateur MMA bouts on Road FC shows. DEEP is trying to sell this fight by saying that she's young enough to be Shinashi's daughter. Ugh! I don't know why it's not on a DEEP JEWELS show. They could use Shinashi's star power and it would be a bigger deal. It's just another filler match on a big DEEP show. So why is Shinashi returning? She was an instructor at the now closed DEEP dojo. She may be looking to open her own place and returning is a good way to promote that. She is currently classified as freelance.