At Deep 89 Satoshi Yamasu came from behind to defeat Daiki Hata and successfully defend his featherweight title for the first time. Their bout headlined the event at the New Pier Hall in Tokyo.
The first round was all Hata. The former Deep bantamweight champion was on the front foot and scored repeatedly with right hooks and uppercuts.
At the end of the round he landed a left hand which had the champion in all kinds of trouble. Hata looked to finish the fight with ground and pound but Yamasu was saved by the bell.
© Keisuke Takazawa
Right hook
At the start of the second stanza Hata looked to carry on where he left off in the first round by attacking relentlessly. He walked forward behind a barrage of punches but once Yamasu was backed up against the cage he landed a right hook.
That single punch changed the course of the entire fight. Hata collapsed forward into the cage and Yamasu had his back but elected to finish the fight with a barrage of punches rather than try for the submission.
Hata never had a chance to recover and the referee dived in to call off the contest just 11 seconds into the round. Yamasu improves to 11-4 and has won eight in a row while Hata drops to 19-13-7.
© Keisuke Takazawa
Best of the rest
Earlier in the night Guam’s Trevin Jones (12-6) submitted Takafumi Otsuka (25-16-1) with a rear naked choke in the second round while UFC veteran Takeya Mizugaki (23-13-2) scored a decision win over Shoji Maruyama (16-12-1).
The other fighter from Guam on the card was Zach Benavente (1-1). He was stopped in the opening round by experienced Japanese featherweight Juntaro Ushiku (17-7-1).
Deep 89, Tokyo, May 12th
Satoshi Yamasu def. Daiki Hata via TKO (Punches) at 0:11 of round 1 (Defends Featherweight Title)
Trevin Jones def. Takafumi Otsuka via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:40 of R2
Takeya Mizugaki def. Shoji Maruyama via Decision (Unanimous)
Juntaro Ushiku def. Zach Benavente by TKO (Punches) at 3:49 of R1
Mizuki Furuse def. Tomoko Shibata by Decision (Unanimous)
Yamato Fujita def. Kozo Moriwaki by TKO (Punches) at 0:09 of R2
Kazuhide Shirota def. Ken by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:42 of R1
Takahiro Kato def. Koya Kanda by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:35 of R1
Betinho Vital def. Atsushi Kishimoto by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:16 of R1
Ibuki Shimada def. Shinobu Wakui by Decision (Unanimous)
Tomoko Shibata def. Mizuki Furuse by Decision (Unanimous)
Ibuki Matsumaru def. Ryo Narishima by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:45 of R1
