Nakanishi Wins Deep Tourney; Mishima Outpoints Imanari
TOKYO -- With Dream's first few cards safely in the books, Deep
chief Shigeru Saeki got back to work on his own promotion Monday
and gave fans their money's worth with a 12-fight card at Korakuen
Hall.
Headlining Deep 35 was a "triple main event" that saw both the lightweight and featherweight crowns contested, as well as the conclusion to the Deep middleweight championship tournament.
In the tournament final, Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) defeated Riki Fukuda (Pictures) in a drawn-out war of attrition
over two rounds.
Both men circled in the first round and winged shots well out of each other's range. Nakanishi connected with several solid kicks to the body, but Fukuda returned with low kicks of his own. Outside of that, neither appeared to get the upper hand until the closing moments of the round, when Nakanishi essentially punched his way out of the clinch.
Nakanishi engaged more, finally closing the distance to score with his combinations. Although Fukuda would pull Nakanishi into the clinch to deliver some knees and dirty boxing, Nakanishi showed an impressive ability to punch his way out and arguably score the better strikes.
In the end, all three judges ruled the bout in favor of Nakanishi, crowning him Deep's newest middleweight champion and filling the void that Ryo Chonan (Pictures) had left before heading to the UFC.
In the evening's second main event, Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) entered the featherweight world in grand fashion by defeating Deep champ Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) by majority decision.
In addition to low kicks, spinning back kicks and a superman punch followed by a picturesque suplex, the Cobra Kai Japan rep swept the leg of Imanari throughout the bout. The tactic allowed Mishima to take the top on the ground and strike until the wily grappler tied him up.
Due to the veteran Mishima's constant pressure, Imanari was unable to follow through with any of his typical submissions despite frequently locking up Mishima's arms or legs. Surprisingly, Mishima turned the tables on Imanari in the closing moments of the third and final round, locking on a tight kneebar just before the bell.
Despite an excellent performance, Mishima only managed to convince two judges to give him the nod. Referee and judge Yoshinori Umeki -- in a string of questionable decisions and standups that haunted the event -- deemed the bout a draw.
Sung Hwan Pang (Pictures) wrested Deep's lightweight crown from champ Kazunori Yokota (Pictures) at a mere 3:38 into the first. He knocked out Yokota with a vicious counter right hook and added a few more punches on the ground before the referee stepped in to call the bout.
Before that point, Yokota had been able to reverse an early Pang takedown for a judo press. Both men were back on their feet soon after, sniping it out with low kicks and single punches before the Pang hook separated Yokota from consciousness and the belt.
Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures) put on a valiant effort against Deep welterweight champ Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) in a two-round non-title affair, though the bout was ruled a split draw.
Nagaoka pressed forward in the fight, weathering Hasegawa's punches and kicks to the body to land punches of his own. Sucked into the clinch when he got too close, Nagaoka also ate a number of knees, but he pushed off and began swinging in earnest again soon after.
As the second round closed out, Nagaoka dropped punches inside the samboist's guard and looked to be on his way to a decision victory. One judge apparently agreed, but the remaining two ruled the bout a draw.
Though strikes to the head of a downed opponent are illegal in Deep's women's MMA rules, that didn't stop Mai Ichii from raining down to the body of Deep women's flyweight champ Satoko Shinashi (Pictures). Despite taking the back mount or locking up an arm, Shinashi was apparently unable to negotiate the weight difference and could not cinch a submission. Ichii barreled through the attempts with ease to land more and more blows from above, thus earning her a majority decision after getting nods from two judges while one judge curiously ruled the fight a draw.
Shooto veteran and former Deep lightweight champ Jutaro Nakao (Pictures) showed patience and poise as he worked away at T-Blood's Shigetoshi Iwase (Pictures) in their two-round fight.
While Iwase circled and looked for openings, Nakao kept movement to a minimum, picking his moments to plant and throw punches. As Iwase tried for a single-leg takedown in the second period, Nakao calmly reversed and forced his way into Iwase's guard.
Eventually Nakao took the back mount, where he threatened with choke and armbar attempts. For his calm and otherwise stifling performance, Nakao handily earned the unanimous decision.
In his lightweight bout against Seigo Inoue (Pictures), Katsunori Kikuno (Pictures) demonstrated that he knows only one direction: forward. While moving in, Kikuno unleashed an endless barrage of punches. He scored with nice body shots and pummeled Inoue both in the corner and outside of it. Inoue attempted to pull Kikuno into submissions, nearly locking on a kimura from the back clinch in the second round, but Kikuno's forward momentum proved too much and netted him the deserved unanimous decision.
The middleweight tournament's reserve bout proved an exciting war between Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures) and Ryo Sai.
An early takedown allowed Sakurai to land some heavy shots in the guard. The strikes caused a large mouse to develop over Sai's right eye, which had even Sai grimacing in mock horror at his mildly deformed visage on the big screen.
Sai was able to rally and suplex Sakurai twice, however. He also took the mount and battled footlocks with the R-Blood chief. The offense was insufficient, though, to counter Sakurai's constant takedowns and pressure on the ground. After two rounds, Sakurai earned the unanimous decision.
Before fighting Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) in the finals, Riki Fukuda (Pictures) -- by some strange twist of fate -- outpointed Yuya Shirai (Pictures) for the split decision in their middleweight tournament semifinal.
Shirai appeared to control the standup outside of the clinch, as well as the few instances of grappling as he whipped Fukuda about the ring with two solid hip tosses. Fukuda's tactic appeared to be more or less to control position and dirty box in the clinch, where he landed three errant knees to the groin that earned him a yellow card. Still, two judges mysteriously voted in favor of Fukuda, with one dissenting judge ruling it for Shirai.
Before advancing to meet Fukuda in the tournament final, Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) got through veteran Daijiro Matsui (Pictures). From bell to bell, Nakanishi was all over Matsui, rocking the Pride veteran with punches and knees from the clinch.
Nakanishi dominated on the mat as well. He took the mount and back mount in the first round en route to winning the unanimous decision.
Lanky striker Luiz took out Toshikazu Iseno (Pictures) in exciting fashion. Iseno had trouble with Luiz's height and length early, most notably in the clinch, where the Brazilian-Japanese fighter was able to stifle Iseno's early attempts at control.
A vicious hook dropped Iseno flat on his back in the second round. Luiz dropped two more hammer fists before the referee stopped the bout 41 seconds into the round.
Koichiro Matsumoto (Pictures) went to war in a two-round tilt that saw him win the majority decision over Yuki Ito (Pictures). Matsumoto hurt his opponent during the opening frame. Although Ito rallied in the second, it was not enough to negate Matsumoto's dominant performance during the previous round.
In the evening's prelims, Hyun Gyu Lim opened a vicious cut over the left eye of Noboru Onishi (Pictures) 48 seconds into the second round for the doctor stoppage. Yasuhiro Kawasaki pounded out Muneyuki Sato at the 2:49 mark of the first.
Headlining Deep 35 was a "triple main event" that saw both the lightweight and featherweight crowns contested, as well as the conclusion to the Deep middleweight championship tournament.
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Both men circled in the first round and winged shots well out of each other's range. Nakanishi connected with several solid kicks to the body, but Fukuda returned with low kicks of his own. Outside of that, neither appeared to get the upper hand until the closing moments of the round, when Nakanishi essentially punched his way out of the clinch.
Thanks to the tournament rules, the second and final period brought
a little more action as both fighters realized that their last
chance to finish the fight was at hand.
Nakanishi engaged more, finally closing the distance to score with his combinations. Although Fukuda would pull Nakanishi into the clinch to deliver some knees and dirty boxing, Nakanishi showed an impressive ability to punch his way out and arguably score the better strikes.
In the end, all three judges ruled the bout in favor of Nakanishi, crowning him Deep's newest middleweight champion and filling the void that Ryo Chonan (Pictures) had left before heading to the UFC.
In the evening's second main event, Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) entered the featherweight world in grand fashion by defeating Deep champ Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) by majority decision.
In addition to low kicks, spinning back kicks and a superman punch followed by a picturesque suplex, the Cobra Kai Japan rep swept the leg of Imanari throughout the bout. The tactic allowed Mishima to take the top on the ground and strike until the wily grappler tied him up.
Due to the veteran Mishima's constant pressure, Imanari was unable to follow through with any of his typical submissions despite frequently locking up Mishima's arms or legs. Surprisingly, Mishima turned the tables on Imanari in the closing moments of the third and final round, locking on a tight kneebar just before the bell.
Despite an excellent performance, Mishima only managed to convince two judges to give him the nod. Referee and judge Yoshinori Umeki -- in a string of questionable decisions and standups that haunted the event -- deemed the bout a draw.
Sung Hwan Pang (Pictures) wrested Deep's lightweight crown from champ Kazunori Yokota (Pictures) at a mere 3:38 into the first. He knocked out Yokota with a vicious counter right hook and added a few more punches on the ground before the referee stepped in to call the bout.
Before that point, Yokota had been able to reverse an early Pang takedown for a judo press. Both men were back on their feet soon after, sniping it out with low kicks and single punches before the Pang hook separated Yokota from consciousness and the belt.
Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures) put on a valiant effort against Deep welterweight champ Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) in a two-round non-title affair, though the bout was ruled a split draw.
Nagaoka pressed forward in the fight, weathering Hasegawa's punches and kicks to the body to land punches of his own. Sucked into the clinch when he got too close, Nagaoka also ate a number of knees, but he pushed off and began swinging in earnest again soon after.
As the second round closed out, Nagaoka dropped punches inside the samboist's guard and looked to be on his way to a decision victory. One judge apparently agreed, but the remaining two ruled the bout a draw.
Though strikes to the head of a downed opponent are illegal in Deep's women's MMA rules, that didn't stop Mai Ichii from raining down to the body of Deep women's flyweight champ Satoko Shinashi (Pictures). Despite taking the back mount or locking up an arm, Shinashi was apparently unable to negotiate the weight difference and could not cinch a submission. Ichii barreled through the attempts with ease to land more and more blows from above, thus earning her a majority decision after getting nods from two judges while one judge curiously ruled the fight a draw.
Shooto veteran and former Deep lightweight champ Jutaro Nakao (Pictures) showed patience and poise as he worked away at T-Blood's Shigetoshi Iwase (Pictures) in their two-round fight.
While Iwase circled and looked for openings, Nakao kept movement to a minimum, picking his moments to plant and throw punches. As Iwase tried for a single-leg takedown in the second period, Nakao calmly reversed and forced his way into Iwase's guard.
Eventually Nakao took the back mount, where he threatened with choke and armbar attempts. For his calm and otherwise stifling performance, Nakao handily earned the unanimous decision.
In his lightweight bout against Seigo Inoue (Pictures), Katsunori Kikuno (Pictures) demonstrated that he knows only one direction: forward. While moving in, Kikuno unleashed an endless barrage of punches. He scored with nice body shots and pummeled Inoue both in the corner and outside of it. Inoue attempted to pull Kikuno into submissions, nearly locking on a kimura from the back clinch in the second round, but Kikuno's forward momentum proved too much and netted him the deserved unanimous decision.
The middleweight tournament's reserve bout proved an exciting war between Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures) and Ryo Sai.
An early takedown allowed Sakurai to land some heavy shots in the guard. The strikes caused a large mouse to develop over Sai's right eye, which had even Sai grimacing in mock horror at his mildly deformed visage on the big screen.
Sai was able to rally and suplex Sakurai twice, however. He also took the mount and battled footlocks with the R-Blood chief. The offense was insufficient, though, to counter Sakurai's constant takedowns and pressure on the ground. After two rounds, Sakurai earned the unanimous decision.
Before fighting Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) in the finals, Riki Fukuda (Pictures) -- by some strange twist of fate -- outpointed Yuya Shirai (Pictures) for the split decision in their middleweight tournament semifinal.
Shirai appeared to control the standup outside of the clinch, as well as the few instances of grappling as he whipped Fukuda about the ring with two solid hip tosses. Fukuda's tactic appeared to be more or less to control position and dirty box in the clinch, where he landed three errant knees to the groin that earned him a yellow card. Still, two judges mysteriously voted in favor of Fukuda, with one dissenting judge ruling it for Shirai.
Before advancing to meet Fukuda in the tournament final, Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) got through veteran Daijiro Matsui (Pictures). From bell to bell, Nakanishi was all over Matsui, rocking the Pride veteran with punches and knees from the clinch.
Nakanishi dominated on the mat as well. He took the mount and back mount in the first round en route to winning the unanimous decision.
Lanky striker Luiz took out Toshikazu Iseno (Pictures) in exciting fashion. Iseno had trouble with Luiz's height and length early, most notably in the clinch, where the Brazilian-Japanese fighter was able to stifle Iseno's early attempts at control.
A vicious hook dropped Iseno flat on his back in the second round. Luiz dropped two more hammer fists before the referee stopped the bout 41 seconds into the round.
Koichiro Matsumoto (Pictures) went to war in a two-round tilt that saw him win the majority decision over Yuki Ito (Pictures). Matsumoto hurt his opponent during the opening frame. Although Ito rallied in the second, it was not enough to negate Matsumoto's dominant performance during the previous round.
In the evening's prelims, Hyun Gyu Lim opened a vicious cut over the left eye of Noboru Onishi (Pictures) 48 seconds into the second round for the doctor stoppage. Yasuhiro Kawasaki pounded out Muneyuki Sato at the 2:49 mark of the first.
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