Deep 96 is set for the New Pier Hall on August 23rd. The card will be headlined by a strawweight title fight between champion Haruo Ochi and challenger Namiki Kawahara.
The two met for the first time at Deep 88 last year. Ochi (19-8-2-1) won by decision, successfully defending his strawweight title for the second time.
Oichi has not won a fight since. His Rizin 18 fight with Jarred Brooks ended in a no contest and he dropped a decision to the same opponent at Bellator Japan.
By contrast Kawahara (6-3-2) is coming off a win. He stopped Jun Nakamura, one of the top strawweights on the Deep roster, in his most recent outing.
The co-main event is a bantamweight bout that pits Shoji Maruyama (17-12-1) against Kosuke Terashima (16-15-5). The card also features a flyweight fight between Yutaro Muramoto (6-5-2) and Naoto Ayuta (8-11-1).
Deep 95 is set to take place in the same venue on the same day.
Deep 96, Tokyo, August 23rd
Haruo Ochi (c) vs. Namiki Kawahara (For Strawweight Title)
Shoji Maruyama vs. Kosuke Terashima (Bantamweight)
Yutaro Muramoto vs. Naoto Ayuta (Flyweight)
Yuuki Takano vs. Kunihisa Sasa (Bantamweight)
Chikara Shimabukuro vs Ibuki Matsumaru (Flyweight)
Yuta Hashimoto vs. Hiroya (Bantamweight)
Shogo Iwanaga vs. Taisein Ishitani (Featherweight)
Lebana Ezekiel vs. Yusuke Hatakeyama (Lightweight)
