The heaviest and lightest divisions in the Unified Ranks saw new players in the top 5.
The newly crowned DEEP-JEWELS champion Mei Yamaguchi moves from the 10th spot to number 3 on the atomweight list. This shifts everyone down a spot.
With a successful debut in Bellator, boxing champion Arlene Blencrowe enters the top 10 list at #5 at featherweight. This pushes last month’s 5-10 fighters down a spot.
Bantamweight, flyweight, and strawweights stay pat in the top 10.
One of Japan’s top bantamweight prospects Shizuka Sugiyama will be returning to action as she rematches Ji Yeon Kim at DEEP-JEWELS May 31 in Tokyo, Japan. This is one of three bouts announced Wednesday.
Both Sugiyama (13-4-1) and Kim (2-0-2) has back to back wins. Sugiyama has won 11 of her last nine fights; while Kim started her career with back to back draws including her debut match against Sugiyama in 2013 at DEEP.
Also announced, Emi Tomimatsu and Ayaka Miura both look to rebound from losses in a 105 bout. Tomimatsu (8-10) is the former DEEP-JEWELS 115 pound champion but has suffered back to back decision losses. Miura (1-1) is coming off her first pro loss and will be making the drop to 105.
Rounding out the card is Yuko Oya taking on Misaki Takimoto.
The event will see the semi-finals and finals of the DEEP-JEWELS 106 title grand prix as Mei Yamaguchi battles Mina Kurobe and Satomi “Sarami” Takano takes on Tomo Maesawa. The winners will fight each other in the main event for the vacant 106 title.
Coming off a busy February, all the Women’s Unified Pro MMA Rankings saw changes coming off the InvictaFC 12 card , the opening round of the DEEP-JEWELS 106 tournament, and all the UFC events.
Justino Courtesy Esther Lin/InvictaFC
Featherweight
With the return of Cris “Cyborg” Justino, the InvictaFC champion regains her #1 status at featherweight after her TKO win over Charmaine Tweet. Marloes Coenen (now 2), Julia Budd (now 3), and Faith Van Duin (now 4) all drop a spot. Talita Nogueira drops off the list due to activity.
Tweet drops from 7 to 10 in the rankings due to her loss, rotating Amanda Bell (now 7), Gabrielle Holloway (now 8) and Megan Anderson (now 9) up a spot.
Bantamweight
With her loss to champion Ronda Rousey, Cat Zingano drops from #2 to #3, trading spots with Miesha Tate in the only change in the 135 top ten.
Flyweight
With Deanna Bennett’s successful drop to 115, she drops out of the 125 rankings. All of the fighters from 4-8 in the flyweight rankings last month move up a spot. Roxanne Modafferi moves from 10 to 8, with Jin Tang (9) and Silvana Gomez (10) debuting on the list.
Strawweight
With her win over Mizuki Inoue, Alexa Grasso has debuted in the top ten at strawweight, taking the #8 spot. Tecia Torres (now #9) and Kalindra Faria (now #10) drop a spot.
Atomweight
At 105, Mina Kurobe enters the list at #9 after her win over Emi Tomimatsu at the DEEP-JEWELS tournament. Cassie Rodish drops off the list with Saori Ishioka dropping a spot to #10.
The match-ups have been finalized on the road to crowning a new 106 DEEP-JEWELS champion.
The CJ Report posted the results Saturday from the lottery drawing held in Tokyo. With the order number they drew, the fighters could chose to seed themselves in the tournament as they saw fit.
In the end, here is the opening round of the tournament:
Yukiko Seki vs. Tomo Maesawa
Masako Yoshida va. Satomi Takano
Ayaka Miura vs. “V.V.” Mei Yamaguchi
Emi Tomimatsu vs. Mina Kurobe
A reserve bout between Miyoko Kusaka and Miki Araki (nee Pan Hui) will also take place.
The winners of the opening round will face off the in the semi-finals (and possibly finals) at DEEP-JEWELS 8.
—–
In addition to the tournament, the promotion also announced an interesting tag team grappling bout.
InvictaFC atomweight title contender Ayaka Hamasaki will partner with Yuko Oya to take on WSOF vet Emi Fujino and her partner Sachiko Fujimori.
According to the CJ Report, the winner is the one team that reaches three submissions in a ten minute time frame.
Hamasaki had withdrew her name out of the 106 tournament, most likely because of a possible title shot with Herica Tiburcio at InvictaFC 12.
We will have complete results from DEEP-JEWELS 7 February 21.
Japanese MMA on New Year’s Eve has been a tradition for the past decade. This year, DEEP MMA will have the honor of bring a card to the Tokyo crowd.
DEEP will borrow talent from it’s sister organization DEEP-JEWELS to bring four female bouts on the card.
InvictaFC vet Ayaka Hamasaki will take on former Valkyrie champion Mei Yamaguchi in an atomweight bout.
Hamasaki (10-1), the former D-J 116 champion, looked impressive in her return to the ring as she defeated former atomweight champion Naho Sugiyama this past August. Hamasaki’s only loss was to UFC title contender Claudia Gadelha.
Yamaguchi (12-7) rebounded from close decision losses to gain a first round choke over Yukiko Seki at DEEP-JEWELS in May.
Fresh off her win a few weeks ago, WSOF vet Emi Fujino (14-8) will take on Emi Tomimatsu (8-8), who is also coming off a win this month.
Returning MMA legend Satoko Shinashi (30-2-2) looks to keep the comeback going taking on Rika Hamada (1-0).
Rounding out the card, Japanese bantamweight Shizuka Sugiyama (12-4-1) looks for her second straight win as she battles former boxing champion Emiko Raika.
Another female bout maybe added as Satoko Shinashi has asked for a fight against Korean star Song Ga-Yeon .
The event will be in a cage versus the traditional ring.
No word on if the event will stream or air in the U.S.
Ayaka Hamasaki will try her hand at atomweight upon her return to action.
It was announced Monday morning Hamasaki will take on former JEWELS 105 champ Naho Sugoyama on the upcoming DEEP-JEWELS card which will take place in Tokyo, Japan August 9.
Hamasaki (9-1) was rumored to be dropping down from strawweight to atomweight earlier this year but had stated in an interview a month ago she wasn’t interested. With the announcement, she has seemed to change her mind. Her only loss was to current UFC signee Claudia Gadelha at Invicta last year.
Sugiyama (10-3) had lost in her bid to get the InvictaFC atomweight title, losing to Jessica Penne, and lost the JEWELS 105 title to Seo Hee Ham. She has since won back to back fights and looks to climb the ladder once again.
In another match announced, D-J strawweight tournament winner Emi Tomimatsu and finalist Mizuki Inoue will rematch for the 115 belt. Inoue missed weight before the tournament finals against Tomimatsu, which caused her to be penalized in the match and fight a battle in which she could not win the belt.
Wombat Sports 