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Junna Tsukii faces Japanese fighter in MMA debut in Japan

Sports

Junna Tsukii faces Japanese fighter in MMA debut in Japan

By Mark Rey Montejo

At A Glance

World Games karate champion Junna Tsukii debuts in the mixed martial arts scene when she battles Japanese Ruka Sakamoto in the 2024 Deep Jewels Summer Festival in Odaiba, Japan on Aug. 31.

World Games karate champion Junna Tsukii debuts in the mixed martial arts scene when she battles Japanese Ruka Sakamoto in the 2024 Deep Jewels Summer Festival in Odaiba, Japan on Aug. 31.

Screen Shot 2024-06-14 at 2.40.33 PM.png — Promotional poster for Junna Tsukii's MMA fight against Ruka Sakamoto. (Deep Jewels)

Organizers made the announcement on Thursday, June 13, just a day after Tsukiee announced her retirement from karate to explore other sports such as MMA in a lengthy social media post.

The 32-year-old SEA Games multi-medalist tussles with her fellow mixed martial arts debutant Sakamoto in the women's -54kg category of the MMA fest, which also features local and foreign talents. The bout has two rounds with five minutes each.

Tsukii started her training as early as now after sharing some glimpse of it in social media.

A former Takushoku University standout, the Fil-Japanese concluded her 26-year career in karate where she brought home myriad accolades and citations including her gold in 2022 World Games in Birmingham, United States to make her the only Filipina to win in the said honor.

She also won six medals in the SEA Games, as well as silver and bronze medals in the 2021 Asian Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, respectively.

Aside from her historic 2022 World Games triumph, Tsukii also won a gold (2019) and a silver (2023) in the Southeast Asian Games, a silver (2021) in the Asian Championships, and a bronze (2018) in the Asian Games.

Tsukii was into karate since she was seven and climbed her way to the top in order to become a part of the Philippine national team at 17.

In spite of heartbreaking defeats and multiple surgeries, Tsukii was always up when it came to donning the National colors in local and international tournaments.

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