Type Private Founded October 2008 (2008-10) Area served Japan | Predecessor Smackgirl Headquarters Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan | |
Industry Mixed martial arts promotion | ||
Jewels (styled JEWELS in capitals) is a mixed martial arts organization owned by Marverous Japan Co., Ltd. focused on female fighters. It's the direct successor of Smackgirl. It has a working relationship with fellow mixed martial arts promotion Deep presided by Shigeru Saeki (also the Jewels supervisor).
Contents
History
After the women MMA promotion Smackgirl faced severe financial difficulties caused by the unexpected departure of major sponsors and television network deals, an executive from Japanese event production company Archery Inc., Yuichi Ozono, formed the company Marverous Japan and acquired the assets and rights formerly belonging to Smackgirl parent company Kilgore. Since the reputation of Smackgirl was tarnished by all the problems it faced, it was decided to start anew.
On June 9, 2012, it was announced that Jewels has formed a strategic partnership with American promotion Invicta Fighting Championships to cross-promote the world’s top female fighters on their respective fight cards in the United States and Japan.
On May 25, 2013 (2013-05-25) Jewels announced that it would cease operations as an independent company, with Yuichi Ozono, then head of Jewels, stepping down and Shigeru Saeki from Deep, formerly supervisor, taking the full direction, and transferring fighters and brand to the new Deep Jewels brand, which would be managed by Deep.