TOKYO, Japan, Sept. 15 -- Between some of Japan's newest crop of up-and-comers and down-and-out vets, tonight's Club DEEP brought the action to Japanese red-light district, Kabukicho.
Launching himself into the fight with far-reaching roundhouse high kicks, Kubota was lucky to have narrowly avoided Sato's savage counter hook combinations. Seeing that either man had bad intentions behind their strikes, the fight quickly became a game of feints before Sato broke the pattern with a stunning body kick, followed by a decapitating right hook that collapsed Kubota to all fours.
Sato immediately capitalized, leaning into the side-mount on Kubota's back while repeatedly bludgeoning the side of his head with hammer fists, prompting the referee to mercifully end the bout at 1:19 into the first, awarding Sato the TKO victory.
In the evening's co-feature, Kosuto Umeda (Pictures) took a narrow split decision victory over Takahiro Kajita after a competitive two rounds that saw both men vying for position and points.
Though arguably losing the first round due to conceding the mount and subsequently his back to escape, Umeda pulled ahead in the second round by pressuring and stifling Kajita with combinations, and constant and consistent takedowns. With the action going back and forth, two judges gave the nod to Umeda, with one dissenting judge ruling it a draw.
In a riveting and surprisingly technical slugfest, Tomohiko Hori (Pictures) defeated Kou Terada in the fight of the night by unanimous decision after a two round stand-up war.
With Terada throwing multi-level kicks that either grazed or tagged his opponent, Hori responded with crisp two, three, and four punch combos within which he repeatedly landed his bread-and-butter right uppercut, keeping Terada from bowling him over with his kicking barrage.
With both fighters going toe-to-toe throughout both periods, it was Hori that pulled ahead in the final moments of the second with a one-two combo that sent his opponent to the canvas, opening him up to punches from above.
Desperately scrambling to escape punishment from the bottom, Terada attempted first to lock onto a leg, only to abandon it and attempt an armbar. Despite almost locking it on, Terada's fate was sealed as he continued to receive punches until the bell, tipping the scales in favor of Hori by the fight's end.
In another exceptional bout this evening, Tomoya Miyashita (Pictures) defeated a tenacious Tatsuhito Satsuma (Pictures) with a guillotine choke midway through the second frame.
With Satsuma throwing wild, body-twisting hooks that looked to decapitate, Miyashita maneuvered and defended with aplomb, evading and countering until he was able to get his opponent down and attain top position in the north-south.
From here, Miyashita worked Satsuma over with punches and armbar attempts, further tiring his opponent in his transitions from north-south, to side, to mount, and back to north-south again. An attempted scramble to bring the fight back up to standing put Satsuma in prime position for the Miyashita guillotine, ending the bout at 3:03 in the second stanza.
"Kintaro" Tsuneyoshi Kashimura fought to a stalemate with "The Nob-Rock" Noboru Onishi (Pictures) after two rounds of back-and-forth stand-up from both fighters.
Despite neither man backing down in the first, it was in the second period that Kintaro appeared to pull ahead. In the face of Onishi's constant forward advance, coupled with the constant pressure of his flurries, Kashimura used exceptional movement to navigate the ring, putting him in prime position to utilize his otherwise excellent timing to return and connect with stiff counter punches and kicks.
Two judges declared the bout a draw at the end of the second, with one dissenting judge giving it to Kintaro for his ring control and countering abilities.
Yoshiyuki Nakanishi was the first and last to land blows in his slugfest with Mamoru Nakamura, as the PRB fighter scored a flurry that toppled his opponent twice.
The first exchange dazed Nakamura, allowing Nakanishi to close with finishing strikes from on top. While still rocked and under heavy fire, Nakamura quickly found the wherewithal to will himself back to his feet. It was here that the second exchange immediately followed, with a string of punches that deprived Nakamura of consciousness once and for all, forcing the ref to intervene at a mere 32 seconds into the first frame.
Hiroshi Nakano (Pictures) defeated Toshiaki Saiki by majority decision in a bout that saw the monstrously strong Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) disciple stop numerous takedown and submission attempts by either simply brushing Saiki off or punching him off.
Though Saiki pushing the pace with constant takedowns, Nakano's ability to shrug him off eventually wore the Paraestra rep down. Despite showing himself capable of slipping in and connecting with several good punch combinations in the later portions of round two, Nakano had Saiki drained and demoralized to the point that he quickly gave up the stand-up tactic and returned to otherwise futile takedown attempts. Thus, after two rounds of making counters look easy, Nakano was deemed a majority decision, as one judge ruled the bout a draw.
Mako Dragon (Pictures) bombed Atsushi back to the Stone Age at 3:03 of the first round of an otherwise ugly and non-technical slugfest.
Apparently breaking his opponent's nose with his otherwise stronger and more accurate punches, what was originally a temporary stop in action to check on Atsushi ended up with the doctor deeming him unfit to fight, giving Mako Dragon (Pictures) the TKO victory.
Kicking off the event earlier in the afternoon was the DEEP Future King Tournament showcasing MMA neophytes in the 65-, 70-, and 76-kg weight divisions.
In the 76-kg final, Yoshiki Ishida defeated Takashi Sato by unanimous decision, while Seizo Inoue defeated Norimasa Iwasaki by armbar in the second round in the 70-kg final.
Originally slated to face Kouta Ishibashi in the 65-kg final, Tatsumitsu Wada was named the default winner in light of Ishibashi's withdrawal due to injury.
In other happenings this evening, as was exclusively reported earlier today by Sherdog.com, the non-title featherweight bout between champion Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) and veteran Shootor Hiroyuki Abe (Hiroyuki Abe' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) was made official for the DEEP 32 card on Oct. 9.