TOKYO -- Saori Ishioka beat MMA newcomer Hanako Kobayashi in the main event of Jewels’ sophomore effort Wednesday at Shinjuku FACE.
It was Ishioka’s straighter punches that were more damaging, however, forcing referee Ryogaku Wada to call a standing count on Kobayashi after she had eaten several shots that snapped her head back. Upon resuming, Kobayashi got in more leg kicks and a crisp right straight before Ishioka pummeled her into another standing count.
It was apparent that Kobayashi was beginning to break under the pressure. Smelling blood, Ishioka finished off Kobayashi with five undefended punches before referee Wada stopped the bout at 2:20 in the first round.
In a rematch from May 2007, dominatrix-turned-pro-fighter Yuko Yamanaka brutalized Michiko Takeda for a second time. Yamanaka’s superior height gave her the distance to throw thunderous low kicks from range before finishing with hard jabs and one-twos. Takeda could do little against the unstoppable combination except duck her head and swing with abandon. “Hiroko” would eat the occasional counterpunch, but she reasserted her dominance by stuffing Takeda into the corner and battering her with dirty boxing and vicious knees to the face and body.
Outside of a heel hook attempt in the first round, Takeda had no real meaningful offense. After receiving a standing count off of a particularly vicious barrage in the second, Takeda dropped for good from a one-two immediately after, forcing referee Wada to stop the fight at the 3:25 mark. Yasuko Tamada took a hard-earned decision over MMA iron-woman Misaki Takimoto after stomaching two rounds of punishment on the feet. Tamada’s victory came from her ability to charge in for the takedown and wrestle the karateka to the floor from the clinch or with a single-leg.
In the opening round, Takimoto scored the significant damage with hard counter jabs and straights, taking advantage of the huge holes in Tamada’s standup technique. Coming into the second, however, Tamada rebounded by starting her combos with punches to the body before going to the head. With this breakthrough and her control on the canvas, all three judges ruled the bout in favor of Tamada for the unanimous decision.
Pro wrestler Chihiro Oikawa was served up for slaughter in her MMA debut.
While Oikawa can be credited for her tenacity and her instincts in pumping jabs to cover distance, Mayumi Aoki’s experience saw her countering perfectly with right straights and hooks, flustering Oikawa’s attempts at offense. “Benkei” also landed hard kicks to the body and brutal knees in the Thai plum that forced referee Wada to intervene for a standing count twice, in addition to already dropping Oikawa with a right for a knockdown in the first period.
In survival mode, Oikawa pulled guard for a last-ditch armbar attempt, but Aoki defended and passed to mount easily, then executed her own armbar for the tap at 2:30 in the second.
The bout between Masako Yoshida and Shinsaki Ozawa looked to be shaping into a war before the unceremonious doctor stoppage due to a strange liquid coming from Ozawa’s nose.
Ozawa took the fight to Yoshida from the opening bell, swinging with big, powerful punches. Yoshida returned the big shots in kind and added leg kicks before taking Ozawa down with an outside trip. Ozawa immediately reversed into half guard, but before she could begin working, referee Akira Yamasaki stopped the bout on account of a liquid streaming from her nose. As they could not bring a stop to the flow, the ringside doctor called the bout at 0:54 of the first -- apparently due to a runny nose.
Shizuka Sugiyama pelted Age Age’s Shiho with punches and kicks on the feet until referee Yoshinori Umeki was forced to call the bout. After flying out of her corner with a knee to start the action, Sugiyama was an unstoppable tornado of punches, push kicks and body kicks. Outside of excellent foot sweeps, Shiho was unable to return any meaningful offense or put up much of a defense. She ate a number of big shots, and referee Umeki called standing counts three times on the hapless Shiho. It was obvious that her defense would not improve, and on the fourth standing count, Umeki called the bout at 2:55.
After battering Harumi’s arms with messy standup in both rounds, Rina Tomita put her away with an armbar 0:22 into the second. While no technical wizard on the feet compared to Harumi, Tomita trumped on the mat. Off of her back, Tomita threw up triangle and armbar attempts until one finally stuck for the tap.