Supposed favourites go down at Nov. 3 DEEP JEWELS show

Mina Kurobe gets thw win

The Nov. 3 DEEP JEWELS show was billed as having a double main event. Except neither fight was main event caliber except in matchmaker Shigeru Saeki's mind. For years Saeki has pushed Saori Ishioka as a main event fighter based mostly on her looks. She was never that good in the first place. And she hasn't improved since returning from pregnancy. She has no business being in a main event except that Saeki was tying to sell her to RIZIN to face RENA on New Year's Eve. Selling fighters to outside companies is how Saeki makes money these days. Her opponent Mina Kurobe has a 9-2 record. She's a decent fighter but at 39 years old, most outside companies won't be interested in her. The fight was close but Ishioka ran out of gas and Kurobe won by unanimous decision. Oh, well. The other supposed main event had Tomo Maesawa vs Emi Tomimatsu. Both are midcard fighters at best. Maesawa won with a third round rear naked choke. Retired boxer Emiko Raika made her DEEP JEWELS debut with a unanimous decision win over Korean kickboxer Jin Hee Gan. Raika has done poorly against better competition. Ayaka Miure returned to DEEP JEWELS after a two year break and won over Sachiko Fujimori with a second round scarf hold armlock. Ayaka is 26 years old and attractive so she may be marketable. Sarami returned looking to break a two fight losing streak. She also switched gyms to Pancrasism Yokohama. Sarami won over Miyuki Furusawa with a first round armbar. Furusawa trains at Megumi Fujii's new place Burst. The problem is she's only 0-2 and 36 years old. Nori DATE beat BB Taka with a second round TKO. Hana DATE beat Sayuri Yamaguchi by unanimous decision. And finally "King" Reina Miura won her MMA debut over Eri by first round armbar. This fight was at under 70kg so basically Openweight. King had trouble making weight as an amateur. I saw a pic of her at the weigh ins. She hasn't missed many meals. At some point she has to decide what her fight weight will be. And there are so few heavier fighters in Japan, I think she will have to move to the US to get anywhere.