Reina Miura bounced back from her unanimous decision loss to Stephanie Egger at Rizin 17 to score an easy victory at Deep-Jewels 28 on Monday. It was an afternoon of mixed results for the Thai fighters involved.
The 23-year-old defeated Thailand’s Nitchanan Tubsai by way of first-round technical knockout at the New Pier Hall in her hometown. Miura started the bout with confidence, she popped out her punches to find her range while looking to time her opponent’s attacks.
Tubsai chose to trade with Miura and landed a couple of blows to her cage counterpart’s face, but the latter responded by closing the distance and pulling her to the ground.
Heavy strikes
Although her submission game is rightfully feared, she went to work with her heavy strikes, and that opened up opportunities to pass to side control, and eventually, the mount. The intensity of the attack became more and more ferocious as she sensed the finish.
The referee had seen enough and jumped in to halt proceedings at 3:29 of the opening frame, saving Tubsai from any further punishment.
Miura improved her win-loss record to 12-3, while Tubsai fell to 0-1 in her first stint as a mixed martial artist.
Thai triumph
In the co-main event of the evening, Suwanan Boonsorn (5-3) of Thailand emerged triumphant against Japanese rival Emi Sato (4-5) in their rematch.
Much like in the first encounter, Boonsorn finished the task at hand by submission. But this time, she forced Sato to tap with a wrenching armbar in just 49 seconds.
With the victory over Sato, she punched her ticket to the microweight tournament finals, where she will square off with Mizuki Furuse (7-6) for the division’s inaugural championship.
On the same night, Furuse advanced to the championship round by beating seasoned veteran Yasuko Tamada (17-11-3) via unanimous decision.
Deep-Jewels 28, Tokyo, February 24th
Reina Miura def. Nitchanan Tubsai via TKO (strikes) at 3:29 of round one
Suwanan Boonsorn def. Emi Sato via submission (armbar) at 0:49 of round one
Mizuki Furuse def. Yasuko Tamada via unanimous decision
Miki Motono def. Nongpan The Rocket via TKO (strikes) at 4:27 of round one
Nanaka Kawamura def. Mika Sakamoto via TKO (strikes) at 2:48 of round one
Sakura Mori def. Otoha Nagao via unanimous decision
Chisato Wada def. Tomoko Inoue via TKO (strikes) at 1:06 of round one
Moe Sasaki def. Sae Kokuho via unanimous decision
