6/30 DEEP Impact 42 - Results

As I am writing this the event is going on in Korakuen Hall. It is a very iteresting card, expecially considering the connection DEEP have with DREAM. I think we can expect to see a few of the fighters here on DREAM cards in the near future.

The main event is the DEEP Middleweight title fight between the defending champion Yuichi Nakanishi and the challenger Riki Fukuda.

Also keep an eye on the co-main event here, as DREAM veterans Kazuyuki Miyata and Takeshi Yamazaki square off.

Read on for spoilers! There will be delays in my updates.

1. 58kg: Ryota Uozomi Def. Pat Uncangco by Decision 3-0
2. 62kg: Tomoya Miyashita Def. Hiryu Okamoto by Guillotine Choke Round 1 1:34
3. 83.9kg: Hiroko Def. Kenji Nagai by Decision 3-0
4. 77.1kg: Shigetoshi Iwase Def. 泰舗 "Goten" Okuno by Decision 3-0
5. 77.1kg: ぺ・ミョンホ (?) Def. Yusaku Tsukumo by Decision 3-0
6. 70.3kg: Toshikazu Iseno Def. Kleber Koike by Decision 3-0
7. Open: Koji Kanechika Def. Kazuhisa Tazawa by Decision 3-0
8. 87kg: Young Choi Def. Bernard Ackah by Decision 2-0
9. 83.9kg: Ryuta Sakurai vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara Draw
10. 65.8kg: Kazuyuki Miyata Def. Takeshi Yamazaki by Decision 2-0

Main-Event: DEEP Middleweight Title Fight:
Riki Fukuda Def. Yuichi Nakanishi by Decision 2-1

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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Akihiro Gono's Opponent Announced

Like him or not, Akihiro Gono is one of the biggest stars in Japanese MMA. He was recently dropped by the UFC after 2 straight decision losses. Now he will be back in Japan and will be competeing with "King Mo" for Sengoku's most entertaining enterances. In his debut he will be taking on Dan Hornbuckle and this should be a very good fight! Hornbuckle lost his only Sengoku fight to Mike Pyle in Sengoku 2, and will be looking to revenge that. It wont be easy against the home star.

With this card, and the signing of Ishii, the future is looking bright for Sengoku. Lets see if it is enough to secure a deal to air prime time and again take MMA to the general public in Japan. Either way, this is a great card and Sengoku seems to be going all out. 2 title fights and lots of great fights to back them up!

Announced:
Akihiro Gono 29-14-7 vs. 17-2-0 Dan Hornbuckle

Previously Announced:
Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min):
Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

Middleweight next title Challenger:
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Featherweight GP:
Semi-final 1: Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Semi-final 2: Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro

Final: Winner Semi-final 1 vs. Winner Semi-final 2

One-Fight:
Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae
Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French

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6/28 DEEP Impact Toyama - Results

DEEP impact in Toyama had a very interesting main-event. Miku Matsumoto was taking on Lisa Ward in what was a rematch from 3 years ago. Miku revenged that loss and Megumi Fuji has been pictured with her in the ring as she celebrates. I have not seen any indication that they will fight, but it would be a fight worthy of a DREAM card...

In front of a crowd of 1,318 the home stars delivered, and it turned out to be an event packed with exciting fights.

You can see pictures and Japanese commentary from the event here.

Main-Event - Female Lightweight Title Fight:
Miku Matsumoto Def. Lisa Ward by arm-bar Round 3 2:53

Co-main event:
Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka Def. Takafumi Ito by TKO Round 2 4:07

Kenji Arai Def. Kunihiro Watanabe by rear-naked choke Round 2 1:13
Seigo Mizuguchi Def. Tokuzo by neck-crank Round 1 1:04
Yuichi Ikari Def. Takaaki Aoki by decision 3-0
Shinobu Aoyama Def. Hiroshi Sakamoto by decision 3-0
Takahiro Kajita Def. Yuya Osugi by KO Round 1 3:36
Takita Tetsu Def. Masahiro Shinto by KO Round 1 1:43

Under-Card:
Akimitsu Tsuchiya Def. Tamotsu Kitada by TKO Round 1 1:34
Takafumi Fuji Def. Kazuki Taira by TKO Round 1 3:21
Tomoaki Miyamoto Def. Passion Nakamura by Triangle Choke Round 1 0:39
Harushige Shinokawa Def. Kazumi Nakane by TKO Round 1 1:23
Toshu Himeno Def. Taiki Nakahara by Brabo-choke Round 1 4:20
Toshio Shibata Def. Shotaro Sato by KO Round 1 0:46

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6/27 Cage Force - RESULTS

Cage Force held their event in Differ Ariake earlier today. The main event was the matchup between the veterans Kuniyoshi Hironaka and Katsuhiko Nagata. Also on the card was the UFC veteran "K-Taro".

The main card kicked of with a fighter that is very entertaining, "Randleman" Ichikawa always comes out hard, and he did so again! The two first fightes were of the very short kind.

The favorites delivered in this action packed event!

Kuniyoshi Hironaka Def. Katsuhiko Nagata by TKO Round 1 3:41
Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" Def. Tomoyoshi Iwamiya by Decision 2-0
Daiju Takase Def. Shuji Morikawa by Decision 2-1
Kozo Urita Def. Abbasov Shahriyar by TKO Round 2 1:14
Isao Terada Def. Yuta Nezu by rear-naked choke Round 3 0:13
Teruhiko Kobu Def. Keitaro Maeda by TKO Round 1 3:04
Yuta Nakamura Def. Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 by TKO Round 1 0:16
Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa Def. Tomoki Miyaji by TKO Round 1 0:14

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6/30 DEEP 42 Impact - Fight Order

On Tuesday Deep will hold their next Impact event in Korakuen Hall. The main event is the middleweight title fight between the champion Yuichi Nakanishi and Riki Fukuda. Fukuda has had star potential for a long time, and he proved that in his last fight against Murilo Rua.

But this card has more than 1 interesting fight, Miyata and Yamazaki will battle in the featherweight division. I promise that this fight means a lot for both fighters, there are rumors of a DEEP title shot, but I have a feeling that this fight might also serve as a qualifier to DREAM as well. I have the same feeling about Bernard Ackah's fight here, a win might secure him a fight on an upcoming DREAM or Sengoku card.

Main-Event: DEEP Middleweight Title Fight:
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-8-3 vs. 14-4-0 Riki Fukuda

65.8kg: Kazuyuki Miyata 6-7-0 vs. 14-9-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
83.9kg: Ryuta Sakurai 18-15-4 vs. 17-22-1 Hiromitsu Kanehara
87kg: Bernard Ackah 2-2-0 vs. 10-5-1 Young Choi
Open: Kazuhisa Tazawa 4-0-1 vs. Jae Young Kim (?)
70.3kg: Toshikazu Iseno 6-5-2 vs. 1-0-0 Kleber Koike
77.1kg: Yusaku Tsukumo 6-3-0 vs. ぺ・ミョンホ (?)
77.1kg: Shigetoshi Iwase 7-11-3 vs. 泰舗 "Goten" Okuno
83.9kg: Hiroko 2-0-1 vs. 5-8-2 Kenji Nagai
62kg: Tomoya Miyashita 10-5-5 vs. 3-1-1 Hiryu Okamoto
58kg: Ryota Uozomi 3-1-0 vs. Pat Uncangco

Future Fights:
70kg: Motoki Awaji 0-2-0 vs. 3-0-0 Tomoya Kato
62kg: Yasuhiro Yamazaki vs. Yusuke Kadoyama
70kg: Tatsumitsu Wada 0-5-0 vs. 3-2-0 Tatsuya Tsuchida

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WVR have added a couple of very interesting fights to their card on August 2. The Sengoku cards only seem to be getting better and better.

The two toughest heavyweights in Asia will face off, Chu Mu Bae disposed of Dave Herman in his last Sengoku fight giving Herman his first ever loss. But Yoshihiro Nakao is a fighter that is underrated by many. He has only been finished once, and that was before the fight started. His last fight ended due to a knee injury, and he returns here to take on the dangerous Korean.

The other fight added is the lightweight clash between Eiji Mitsuoka and Clay French. Both these fighters were in the lightweight GP last year, and this should be a very good fight. Mitsuoka has only lost once in his last five fights, defeating Rodrigo Damm and Joachim Hansen in the process. His only loss was to the eventual GP champion, Satoru Kitaoka. Clay French, on the other hand, is on a 3 fight losing streak. He also left the Sengoku GP last year due to Kitaoka's leg-locks and will be very eager to bounce back here.

Announced:
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae
Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French

Previously Announced:
Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min)
Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

Middleweight next title Challenger
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Featherweight GP:
Semi-final 1: Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Semi-final 2: Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro

Final: Winner Semi-final 1 vs. Winner Semi-final 2

One-Fight:
Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. Kazuyuki Fujita

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6/27 Cage Force - Fight Order

GCM have finalized their card for this Saturday. The card is a little thinner than what I would normaly expect from a Cage Force event, but keeping in mind their financial problems last year, they are probably doing the right thing. Still a very good card, the quality is there and it should be a good event for the fans that make their way out.

The main-event will be a very interesting fight, UFC veteran Hironaka is taking on Olympic medalist Nagata.

There is also another UFC veteran on the card, K-Taro will be trying to get back on the winning track after his upset loss in November.

10. Light: Kuniyoshi Hironaka 13-6-0 vs. 4-5-1 Katsuhiko Nagata
9. Welter: Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-4-2 vs. 6-8-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
8. Middle: Daiju Takase 7-13-1 vs. 2-2-1 Shuji Morikawa
7. Kozo Urita 6-11-1 vs. Abbasov Shahriyar
6. Bantam: Isao Terada 5-7-4 vs. 7-2-1 Yuta Nezu
5. Welter: Teruhiko Kobu 6-9-1 vs. 3-4-1 Keitaro Maeda
4. Light-Heavy: Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 vs. 4-5-1 Yuta Nakamura
3. Feather: Tomoki Miyaji 4-2-0 vs. Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa

Preliminary Fights:
2. Bantam: Seijin Kobayashi vs. 1-0-0 Nobuo Kawana
1. Welter: Yusaku Inoue vs. 0-1-2 Yusuke Horimoto

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8/9 Shooto - Saitama Gig 1

First of, there will be less updates for a few days. I am just moving in to a new place and getting internet hooked up is proving more difficult than I thought...

Anyway, Shooto will start a series called Saitama Gig. The first event will be held in Fujimi city's Kira Fujimi Mainhall on August 9.

Yesterday there was a few very interesting additions to this card. Flyweight ranked #2 Shinpei Tahara is taking on bantamweight ranked #8, Jessie Taitano, at 54kg. Taitano has taken Shooto stars Shinichi Kojima and Yasuhiro Urushitani to draws, and this should be a very interesting fight. Tahara is coming of an impressive win against Shinya Murofushi.

The very popular Mikitoshi Yamagami has done very well when fighing in Shinjuku Face, his only loss came in his only fight outside that arena. Now he will travel again and it will be interesting to see if his fans follow him. If they do, the crowd will be very loud in his fight against "Tiger" Ishii.

Announced:
54kg: Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara 6-3-1 vs. 5-3-2 Jessie Taitano
Fly: Mikitoshi Yamagami 3-1-0 vs. 5-7-2 Takehiro "Tiger" Ishii

Rookie Tournament:　
Bantam: Yosuke Saruta 0-2-0 vs. Kotetsu
Fly: Kazuyuki Yoshida 0-3-0 vs. Shuichiro Okumura

Participants:
Komei Okada 5-9-2

Ticket Prices: RS 7,000/ S 6,000/A 5,000/B 4,000

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7/20 DREAM 10 - Fights so far

Old news, but thought I'd just clearify the fights that have been announced for the next DREAM event. This is the next major event in Japan, and will be held in Saitama SuperArena.

This event will include the Welterweight GP semi-finals and final. The tournament semis are looking very interesting, the veteran in the field is the very experienced "Mach" Sakurai who crushed Shinya Aoki to earn his spot. He will take on the very entertaining Marius Zaromskis. The other semi-final will see ground specialist Andre Galvao take on Jason High in a fight I cant wait to see.

But there are some awesome fights outside of the tournament too! It will be interesting to see what else they add to this card, but I expect 4-5 more fights.

Welterweight Tournament semi-finals:
Semi-final 1: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 35-8-2 vs. 9-2-0 Marius Zaromskis
Semi-final 2: Andre Galvao 3-0-0 vs. 7-1-0 Jason High

Non-Tournament Fights:
Light: Shinya Aoki 20-4-0 vs. 20-2-0 Victor Ribeiro
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 11-1-1 vs. 6-3-1 Andre "Dida" Amade
Middle: Melvin Manhoef 23-5-1 vs. 16-1-0 Paulo Filho

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6/27 Cage Force - Fights Added

Cage Force have announced another very good addition to the June 27 card in Differ Ariake. UFC veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka will take on DREAM veteran Katsuhiko Nagata. Nagata has not had much luck lately, he has gone 4 fights without a win and will be desperate for a win here. The former Olympian needs this win, and I have a feeling that the winner of this fight might very well be on a DREAM or Sengoku card in the near future.

Also added earlier this week was 2 preliminary fights.

Added:
Light: Kuniyoshi Hironaka 13-6-0 vs. 4-5-1 Katsuhiko Nagata

Preliminary Fights:
Welter: Yusaku Inoue vs. 0-1-2 Yusuke Horimoto
Bantam: Seijin Kobayashi vs. 1-0-0 Nobuo Kawana

Previously Announced:
Welter: Teruhiko Kobu 6-9-1 vs. 3-4-1 Keitaro Maeda
Light-Heavy: Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 vs. 4-5-1 Yuta Nakamura
Feather: Tomoki Miyaji 4-2-0 vs. Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa
Welter: Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-4-2 vs. 6-8-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
Middle: Daiju Takase 7-13-1 vs. 2-2-1 Shuji Morikawa
Bantam: Isao Terada 5-7-4 vs. 7-2-1 Yuta Nezu

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