Tuesday, November 04, 2014

After retaining her DEEP JEWELS title, Ham Seo Hee signs with the UFC

The big story of of yesterday's DEEP JEWELS show at Shinjuku FACE isn't the show itself but the UFC signing DEEP JEWELS Featherweight Champion Ham Seo Hee. This was announced today by Road FC in Korea and and reported by MMA In Asia. But on the main event of yesterday's DEEP JEWELS show, Ham won over Saori Ishioka by armbar in round two after Ishioka won round one. Afterwards, DEEP JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki said there would be a forthcoming announcement about Ham. But he didn't announce her signing with the UFC. I'm not surprised by her signing with the UFC because that's where the money is. The drop to 105lb was recent and she has fought most of her career at 115. Fans have wanted her to be in Invicta for two years. But they offered her flash title shots and she didn't want that. Now she has to prove herself against UFC level competitors. It's interesting considering that chronic back problems almost forced her into retirement five years ago. The rest of the DEEP JEWELS show shows how low the talent level is these days. And the show itself was over in two hours. In the semi-main, Emi Fujino won easily over Ayaka Miura who has no business being that high up on the card. Then you have Shizuka Sugiyama winning for the second time in two years over Yurika Nakamura by unanimous decision. Then she asked for a match on DEEP's New Year's Eve show which I think she will get. Amiba started her match with two yellow cards after missing weight. And that was probably why she lost to Tomo Maesawa by unanimous decision. This kind of yellow card nonsense needs to stop. It's amateurish BS. Mina Kurobe beat SARAMI with a first round rear naked choke. I expect Kurobe to move up the card now. Chinese fighter Pan Hui won her MMA debut over Brittany Decker by unanimous decision with more effective striking. And old lady Yukiko Seki won over Naomi Taniyama by second round TKO in the opener. Saeki said the next DEEP JEWELS show will be in January. But first there will be some women's matches on the New Year's Eve show. He also suggested a possible 45kg division which is predictable with the return of Satoko Shinashi. The loss of Ham Seo Hee to the UFC is a big hit to the DEEP JEWELS talent level. I expect MIZUKI to follow shortly. I don't know how they can continue like this. That's why I would like to see DEEP JEWELS closed and women's fights folded into DEEP. But Saeki is very stubborn.

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