Three matches added to July 9 JEWELS show

Ham Seo Hee, VV Mei

JEWELS held a press conference today to add three pretty good matches to the July 9 Shinjuku FACE show. Yuka Tsuji vs Saori Ishioka was announced last week. In a match contracted for 52kg, VALKYRIE Featherweight Champ VV Mei will face Korean kickboxer Ham Seo Hee. Mei is freelance. Her record is 8-2-1 and her last match was a submission win over Betiko on the May 3 PANCRASE show. Ham trains at CMA Korea. Her record is 8-4 and her last match was a unanimous decision win over anna on the Mar. 6 Gladiator show. This is a big match for Mei. She admitted to a poor performance in her draw in Nov. against Kyoko Takabayashi and she had trouble with WINDY Tomomi in April. Ham may be a kickboxer but she's a really good kickboxer and she could cause problems for Mei. She's probably a better striker than WINDY. Knowing this, Mei tried to bait Ham into going to the ground. Ham didn't take that bait. If she can keep this standing, I could see Ham winning a decision. In a fight contracted for 61kg, Roxanne Modafferi will face Hitomi Akano. They were supposed to fight at the Dec.30 Sengoku show but Roxy got sick at the last minute and the fight was cancelled. Roxy is freelance. Her record is 15-7 and her last fight was a unanimous decision loss to Rosi Sexton on the Feb. 26 Cage Warriors show in England. Akano trains at AACC. Her record is 17-8 and her last match was a submission win over Chisa Yonezawa on the Mar. 13 PANCRASE Osaka show. Roxy trains a lot at AACC but she says she has never trained with Hitomi. Hitomi is known for pulling crazy submissions out of nowhere. Roxy needs to be very careful with her or it could end in a second. In a match contracted for 65kg, HIROKO will face Esui. HIROKO trains at Master Japan. Her record is 11-1 and her last match was a screwy TKO win over Molly Helsel at the Dec. 17 JEWELS show. The Mongolian former pro wrestler Esui is trained by Akira "Mr. Pride" Shoji At Smash Alley Gym. Her record is 2-1 and her last match was a TKO win over Chisa Yonezawa on the May 14 JEWELS show. This is a real step up in competition for Esui and her lack of experience could cost her. And though she has fought before at 135lb, I think 145 is a more natural weight class for her. Esui has demonstrated good striking ability in her wins. HIROKO is a good fighter if she shows up. If she's overconfident as she has been in recent fights, Esui could give her trouble. It could be very interesting. All three fights will be under Special JEWELS rules meaning unlimited ground and pound. So here's a message to JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki. Hey, dopey! When will you change the rules to conform with the world MMA standard?