7/3 DEEP 48 Impact - Participants Announced

DEEP have announce 7 fights today for their 48 Impact event to be held in Differ Ariake. There are some very interesting fights between some talented fighters here.

In particular I like the Tatsunao Nakakura vs. Tomoya Kato matchup, but also Yoshiki Harada vs. Masato Kobayashi is a very good and interesting fight between 2 talented fighters.

Also participating at this event will be Eiji Ishikawa and Yusuke Kawaguchi.

Announced:
Shigetoshi Iwase 9-12-3 vs. Jung Hwan Cha
Seigo Mizuguchi 7-6-0 vs. 5-1-1 Kazuhisa Tazawa
Tomohiko Hori 11-8-5 vs. 9-4-5 Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-1-0 vs. 8-2-0 Tomoya Kato
Yuki Ito 8-5-9 vs. 5-1-1 Yasuhiro Kawasaki
Sadao Kondo 5-0-1 vs. 8-8-3 Kosuto Umeda
Yoshiki Harada 3-0-0 vs. 4-1-0 Masato Kobayashi

Participants:
Yusuke Kawaguchi 11-2-0
Eiji Ishikawa 19-16-2

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7/3 DEEP 48 Impact - Participants Announced

Deep boss, Saeki, has announced 14 fighters for their DEEP 48 Impact card to be held in Differ Ariake on July 3. There are a log of good names on the card, among them DEEP middle weight champion, Riki Fukuda and "Iron" Nakamura. Also announced is Korean Jung Hwan Cha, or the guy that KO'd Ryo Chonan at the Astra event.

Also look out for the young Yoshiki Harada fighting out of the "Mach" Dojo. This is a fighter "Mach" Sakurai himself told me he had high hopes for when I met him and Yoshiki has proven why in the ring. It will be good to see him get another fight under his belt.

For DEEP going forward, these are the plans: Ofcourse, in June there will be the Cage Impact event in Osaka. July there will be an event in Nagoya in addition to 48 Impact. DEEP 49 Impact will be in August, in KOrakuen Hall. The BIG one, celebrating 10 years of DEEP, DEEP 50 Impact will take place in October.

There will also be a cage event in Hamamatsu in September and in Tokyo in December.

Participants:
Riki Fukuda 16-4-0
Jung Hwan Cha 7-5-1
Shigetoshi Iwase 9-12-3
Tomoya Miyashita 17-7-8
Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura 9-4-5
Seigo Mizuguchi 7-6-0
Eiji Ishikawa 19-16-2
Yuki Ito 8-5-9
Sadao Kondo 5-0-1
Kosuke Umeda 8-8-3
Yasuhiro Kawasaki 5-1-1
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-1-0
Yoshiki Harada 3-0-0
Tomoya Kato 8-2-0

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12/6 Cage Force 09 - RESULTS

Cage Force had their tournament finals today. I didnt make it there and had to rely on Sherdog's coverage, which this time was better than the Japanese!

Anyway, Cage Force now have a featherweight and a bantamweight champion! Before the tournaments started, I think few people were tipping Yuji Hoshino as the featherweight champion. But as the tournament progressed, he went in the the final as a slight favorite. He did deliver and I have been impressed with his performance. In the bantamweight division, I have to say that the favorite did deliver, I think Mizugaki was the favorite coming in and he has lived up to that. Now we have to see how long these champions stick around... There have been lots of changes this year, but these events always deliver entertaining fights.

I have updated the Preliminary fights as well. I am disappointed that Tsurumaki didn't get the win today either...

Tournament Finals:
Feather: Yuji Hoshino Def. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura by Decision 3-0
Bantam: Takeya Mizugaki Def. Masahiro Oishi by Decision 3-0

Light: Tomonari Kanomata Def. Eriya Matsuda by arm-bar Round 1 0:30
Welter: Motoki Miyazawa Def. Shigetoshi Iwase by TKO Round 3 1:47
Feather: Wataru Miki Def. Masaaki Hasegawa by arm-bar Round 3 1:40
Fly: Takeyasu Hirono Def. Yoshihiro Matsunaga by decision 3-0
Welter: Kenta Takagi Def. Keitaro Maeda by TKO Round 1 1:30
Feather: Wataru Takahashi Def. Nobutaka Hiyoshi by decision 3-0
Light: Yoshiaki "Bancho" Takahashi Def. Shinpei Sotoyama by decision 2-0

Preliminary Fights:
Middle: Shuji Morikawa Def. Nobuhiro Tsurumaki by TKO Round 2 0:37
Light: Koji Ando Def. Masayoshi Ichikawa by rear-naked choke round 2 1:17
Bantam: Shoko Sato Def. Hirokazu Nishimura by TKO Round 2 1:42
Bantam: Ryota Sasaki Def. Ryo Saito by rear-naked choke Round 3 1:21

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12/6 Cage Force 09 - Fight Order

Cage Force have announced the fight order for their event tomorrow in Differ Ariake. The main-event is the featherweight tournament final, which should be a good fight. That will follow the bantamweight tournament final.

A total of 13 fights on the card, and there has been a late addition! Kicking off the night will be Nobuhiro Tsurumaki, in his 11 (almost 12) years of fighting he has not yet recorded a win. I hope he gets this one! It should be said that he has fought some really big Japanese names early in his career. This time he is facing another winless fighter in Shuji Morikawa. (I am going by Sherdog when I refer these records, Tsurumaki does have a win in Conterders in 2001 and his first fight was in Rings in 1994).

Main-Events: Cage Force Tournament Finals:
13. Feather: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 9-2-1 vs. 15-7-7 Yuji Hoshino
12. Bantam: Masahiro Oishi 19-10-7 vs. 10-2-2 Takeya Mizugaki

11. Light: Tomonari Kanomata 12-3-3 vs. 6-5-0 Eriya Matsuda
10. Welter: Motoki Miyazawa 4-1-0 vs. 7-10-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
9. Feather: Wataru Miki 13-8-3 vs. 2-0-0 Masaaki Hasegawa
8. Fly: Takeyasu Hirono 8-15-4 vs. 0-2-0 Yoshihiro Matsunaga
7. Welter: Keitaro Maeda 3-3-1 vs. 1-0-0 Kenta Takagi
6. Feather: Wataru Takahashi 6-10-4 vs. 2-0-0 Nobutaka Hiyoshi
5. Light: Shinpei Sotoyama 7-3-2 vs. 3-1-0 Yoshiaki "Bancho" Takahashi

Preliminary Fights:
4. Light: Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa
3. Bantam: Hirokazu Nishimura 2-2-1 vs. 3-0-0 Shoko Sato
2. Bantam: Ryo Saito 0-1-0 vs. 0-2-1 Ryota Sasaki
1. Middle: Shuji Morikawa 0-2-1 vs. 0-10-0 Nobuhiro Tsurumaki

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12/6 Cage Force 09 - Fights Added

THere have been 5 additions to the Cage Force card this weekend. I thought the card looked a bit thin for a Cage Force event, but it is defiantely a full card now. In the fights added we will see some experienced fighters going against some very good talent, and there have been more than a few upsets in Cage Force this year.

This event is of course mainly about the tournament finals, both the bantam- and the featherweight finals should be very good fights. Yuji Hoshino has surprised me in getting this far, and the 33 year old would be a slight underdog again this time (IMO). In the bantamweight final, there is a similar scenario... 40 year old Masahiro Oishi has impressed me, but I would have to favor the younger Takeya Mizugaki in this one. I am really bad at predicting the outcome so I will leave the rest...

It should be a good event, so if you're not going to the K-1 this should be a good alternative. It is being held in Differ Ariake and doors open at 16:00.

Added:
Feather: Wataru Miki 13-8-3 vs. 2-0-0 Masaaki Hasegawa
Welter: Keitaro Maeda 3-3-1 vs. 1-0-0 Kenta Takagi
Feather: Wataru Takahashi 6-10-4 vs. 2-0-0 Nobutaka Hiyoshi

Preliminary Fights:
Bantam: Hirokazu Nishimura 2-2-1 vs. 3-0-0 Shoko Sato
Bantam: Ryo Saito 0-1-0 vs. 0-2-1 Ryota Sasaki

Previously Announced:
Cage Force Tournament Finals:
Feather: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 9-2-1 vs. 15-7-7 Yuji Hoshino
Bantam: Masahiro Oishi 19-10-7 vs. 10-2-2 Takeya Mizugaki

Non-Tournament Fights:
Motoki Miyazawa 4-1-0 vs. 7-10-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
Takeyasu Hirono 8-15-4 vs. 0-2-0 Yoshihiro Matsunaga
Tomonari Kanomata 12-3-3 vs. 6-5-0 Eriya Matsuda
Shinpei Sotoyama 7-3-2 vs. 3-1-0 Yoshiaki "Bancho" Takahashi

Preliminary Fight:
Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa

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12/6 Cage Force 09 - Fights Announced

Cage Force always put up good events, and there are usually some upsets. This time, again, they are putting talented fighters against more experienced ones and it makes for exciting fights.

Motoki Miyazawa is returning after his loss in DREAM 5, to meet the experienced Shigetoshi Iwase. Eriya Matsuda is fighting Tomonari Kanomata in a fight that should be very exciting.

The tournament finals this year should also be 2 very good fights. Masahiro Oishi, who just turned 40, is on a 5 fight winning streak and will face a big challenge in Takeya Mizugaki. The featherweight final will see the eccentric "Wicky" Akiyo against the veteran Yuji Hoshino. Hoshino is undefeated since 2004 and this should also be a very close fight.

Added:
Motoki Miyazawa 4-1-0 vs. 7-10-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
Takeyasu Hirono 8-15-4 vs. 0-2-0 Yoshihiro Matsunaga
Tomonari Kanomata 12-3-3 vs. 6-5-0 Eriya Matsuda
Shinpei Sotoyama 7-3-2 vs. 3-1-0 Yoshiaki "Bancho" Takahashi

Preliminary Fight:
Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa

Previously announced (Cage Force 2008 Tournament Finals):
Feather: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 9-2-1 vs. 15-7-7 Yuji Hoshino
Bantam: Masahiro Oishi 19-10-7 vs. 10-2-2 Takeya Mizugaki

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