Three matches added to Mar. 3 JEWELS show

Roxanne Modafferi, Takayo Hashi

JEWELS announced on their blog today three matches have been added to the Mar. 3 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. At the end of last year, JEWELS announced that former VALKYRIE matchmaker Yasuko Mogi would be a more active participant in JEWELS matchmaking. Her style is much more straightforward than JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki and I'm sure there are fighters who don't like or trust Saeki but do trust Mogi. So we're starting to see fighters coming to JEWELS who are very loyal to Mogi. Last week they announced Mika Nagano vs Emi Fujino. Fujino worked at VALKYRIE until it closed. I would say that two of the three matches announced today are the work of Mogi. All matches are scheduled for two five minute rounds. In a match contracted for 58kg, Roxanne Modafferi will face Takayo Hashi. The most interesting thing about this match is that these two used to train together at WK. And of course Mogi trains at WK too. The other thing they have in common is they are both on losing skids. Roxanne is now freelance. Her record is 15-9 but she is on a four fight losing streak. Her last fight was a submission loss to Barb Honchak at the Oct. 1 Black Eye show in North Carolina. She seems to have lost something but I don't think she knows what that is yet. Hashi trains at WK. Her record is 13-4. Once upon a time she was the Smackgirl Middleweight Champion and has wins over Hitomi Akano and Amanda Buckner. She had an aggressive grappling style. But she has completely changed her fighting style to a defensive style that will never win her a fight. It's designed to lose a unanimous decision. And in her last fight against Cat Zingano, she didn't even get to the finish as Cat KOd her. She has to go back to her old style or she will lose. In a Lightweight match. Emi Tomimatsu will face Amiba. Emi trains at Paraestra. Her record is 4-4. She started out as a pro wrestler for JD Star and switched to MMA in 2006. She was seriously injured in a 2008 match against WINDY Tomomi. And after some grappling tournaments, she returned to pro MMA last year and won both her fights. Her last fight was a split decision win over Rina Tomita at the Dec. 17 JEWELS show. So you should look past her record. Amiba trains at DEEP. Her record is 6-2 and her last fight was a win over Betiko on the Sept. 11 JEWELS show. In another Lightweight match, Iris will face Celine. Iris is a former VALKYRIE fighter. She used to train at WK and is now freelance. Her record is 4-0 and her last win was over Super Benkei on the Nov. 28, 2010 VALKYRIE show. In the past, Iris has fought at 59kg. This will be her first fight at 52kg. And that explains why she took time off. We'll see how she does at the lighter weight. Celine trains at Team Hellboy Hansen in Norway and at AACC when she is in Japan. Her record is 1-10 and her last loss was to Emi Fujino on the Dec. 17 JEWELS show. Iris should be favoured but the change to a lighter weight class could be an issue. More matches will be announced as we don't have a main event yet.