TOKYO SHINJUKU – August 26th, Japan’s only all women’s MMA promotion DEEP JEWELS held their event at the Shinjuku FACE hall, where the 29 year old Japanese WMMA pioneer Saori Ishoka and 19 year old Kanna Asakura squared off to determine who will be taking the last seat left for RIZIN’s first ever women’s GP.

Both fighters are coming off of wins from their fights in RIZIN Yokohama, Ishioka winning by submission and Asakura winning by unanimous decision. The classic, veteran vs newcomer fight was heavily anticipated to see who would win the last ticket to the GP.

Asakura dominated the fight with perfectly timed takedowns and throws submission attempts to ground and pound. Ishioka did everything she could to keep the wrestler at distance by throwing crisp jabs and powerful kicks, but had little to offer against Asakura’s aggressive takedowns and top control. Asakura showed improvement in her overall fight game and explosiveness in power.

Asakura said in the post-fight interview “I was very concerned and nervous about this fight, because a lot was at stake, and Ishioka is an extremely tough veteran. In a perfect world, I wanted to finish the fight and enter the GP with my head high, but she was very strong. Ishioka was in this sport since the beginning, when nobody cared about women’s fighting, and since I’m just a newcomer, people may think that there are more fighters who belong in the tournament than me, but I promise you that I will proudly represent Ishioka and everybody who deserves the recognition, and win this tournament. Ishioka san, thank you very much for fighting me.”

Asakura will be facing Poland’s Silwia Juskiewicz (7-4) in the opening round of the Super Atom weight tournament.