Invicta Fighting Championships and Japan-based JEWELS announced today that the two women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotions have formed a strategic partnership to cross-promote the world’s top female fighters on their respective fight cards in The United States and Japan.
As part of the new alliance, JEWELS champion Akaya Hamasaki (7-0) of Yamaguchi, Japan will head to Kansas City, Kan. to square off with fellow undefeated star Jasminka “Impressive” Cive (5-0) of Graz, Styria Austria in a flyweight (115 pounds) matchup at Invicta FC 2: McMann vs. Baszler at Memorial Hall on Sat., July 28.
Hamasaki is one of two fighters from the JEWELS roster who will do battle on the Invicta card. The other, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano (18-9) of Tokyo, will square off with Japanese Jiu-Jitsu black belt and Cesar Gracie-protégé Alexis Davis (11-5) of Colborne, Ontario Canada at bantamweight (135 pounds) in the co-main event.
“We are excited to enter this partnership with JEWELS, which was essentially founded with the same goal of placing professional women’s MMA competition, at its highest level, on a major stage,” said Invicta President Shannon Knapp. “This relationship with an overseas promotion will effectively make it more turnkey for us to bring in some of the best women fighters in the world to compete in the Invicta cage and to send our top athletes to Japan to compete at JEWELS events.
"We are very honored and extremely excited about this partnership with Invicta Fighting Championships,” said JEWELS President Yuichi Ozono. “We appreciate the opportunity that Invicta Fighting Championships is extending to our fighters, including the current JEWELS champion Ayaka Hamasaki and Pro Elite and Strikeforce veteran Hitomi Akano. We are excited to be able to collaborate and cooperate with Invicta Fighting Championships to achieve our common goal, which is to promote the appeal of women's Mixed Martial Arts."
The 30-year-old Hamasaki, a second-degree Judo black belt, has been tearing through the ranks of competitors in Japan since she made her professional debut on Oct. 25, 2009, submitting Kinuka Sasaki with an armber in the second round of their matchup.
On Dec. 17, 2010, Hamasaki emerged the winner of a four-woman, single-elimination tournament, earning a unanimous decisions over Sakura Nomura and Seo Hee Ham, respectively. Hamasaki is coming off a first-round submission (kimura) win over Yuka Tsuji at a JEWELS event.
Also 30 years of age, Cive has yet to be taken the distance of a professional fight, winning four of her five career starts by way of KO or TKO and one of her bouts by submission. She has made a name for herself outside of MMA, winning championships in Muay Thai and K-1 rules kickboxing competition.
In her last effort on March 17, Cive scored a third round TKO with a barrage of punches on Eva Henesova in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
