Mika Nagano, Yasuko Mogi announce retirements from MMA

Yasuko Mogi, Mika Nagano, Shigeru Saeki

DEEP JEWELS fighter Mika Nagano celebrates her 30th birthday tomorrow. Today she announced her retirement plans. Nagano was a celebrated high school and college wrestler. But her MMA career never panned out. It seemed like every time she gained momentum and put together a string of wins, she would lose and have to climb the ladder all over again. And there was also the thinking that she was too pretty to be a fighter. Those who said that didn't understand that she had been a wrestler since she was a child. After Mika's recent loss to Emi Tomimatsu as part of the DEEP JEWELS Lightweight Championship tournament, she decided to quit on her 30th birthday. Daily Sports reports that Mika will also retire from pro wrestling at STARDOM. She only worked there once this year but she was still on their roster. She will have an exhibition match against an opponent TBA on the Feb. 16 DEEP JEWELS show. Mika says she will continue to teach wrestling to children at CORE. She just says that now is the time to go. Remember some fighters don't know when to quit. Yasuko Mogi announced she is retiring as an active fighter which is no big deal because she was a terrible fighter. But she also announced that she is leaving her position as DEEP JEWELS matchmaker. That means fighters have no choice but to deal with Shigeru Saeki if they want to work for DEEP JEWELS. Don't be surprised if Mogi resurfaces with PANCRASE or VTJ and raids the DEEP JEWELS roster. DEEP JEWELS also added two more fights to the Feb. 16 show. In the Open Weight division, Shizuka Sugiyama will face Mizuho Sato. Sugiyama last fight was a draw against Ji Yun Kim on the Nov. 24 DEEP show. At the press conference, Sugiyama admitted her performance was terrible. She normally fights at 135lb. Sato usually fights at 145lb. She's been inactive for a couple of years. Sato now trains at Top Jiu Jitsu. Her record is 6-5-1. She was a regular at Valkyrie. But her only fight since they closed was a draw against Kyoko Kimura on the Jan. 28, 2012 PANCRASE show. Sugiyama should be the favourite but what if she stinks out the joint again. In a fight contracted for 53kg, Sachiko Fujimori will face the debuting Shiori Hori. Hori trains at K-style. Fujimori trains at Brightness Monma. She is 2-0 and won a split decision over Megumi Sugimoto on the Nov. 4 DEEP JEWELS show. That's the fight where the judges were yelling at each other after the decision. Stay tuned as more fights are added to this show.