Deep 100 took place at the Tokyo Dome City Hall on Sunday with a star-laden card that featured a host of familiar names from right across the Japanese fight scene.
Yuki Motoya, who was riding a three-fight winning-streak until he was submitted by Naoki Inoue at Rizin 26, has been a mainstay in Deep for over a decade. In the man event he faced Shoji Maruyama who was stopped by Kai Asakura at Rizin 24 in his most recent fight.
A huge right hand sent Maruyama down after 75 seconds and Motoya went to work on the ground but it looked like his opponent had recovered as the pair fought for control.
Destination Rizin
Motoya outworked Maruyama and took his back with alarming ease before sinking in a rear naked choke and, as the latter tried to unlock the hands of his opponent and find an escape, the submission became even tighter and the tap came at the 2:08 mark.
Maruyama had no choice but submit. After his win Motoya went on the microphone and asked Nobuyuki Sakakibara for a spot in the Rizin bantamweight tournament.
He improves to 27-9-0-1 while Maruyama drops to 18-14-1.
Impressive performance
20 year MMA stalwart Satoru Kitaoka suffered a brutal first round defeat as Juri Ohara stomped his way past the Pancrase and Dream veteran who is now winless in his last five fights.
Ohara looked to overwhelm Kitaoka in every area but it was ultimately a mistake from the latter which proved decisive. The 41 year old slipped as he moved forward and his opponent reacted quickly and decisively.
Ohara jumped onto him, stomped on his face and finished the veteran with ground and pound as the referee waved the contest off with 17 seconds left on the clock. He celebrated in front of Sakakibara who was clearly impressed by the performance of the Rizin veteran.
Ohara improves to 28-18 while Kitaoka drops to 41-22.
Best of the rest
Yamato Fujita (6-3) stopped Kazuki Shibuya (8-8) with a soccer kick in round three of their Deep Interim Flyweight Championship bout to improve to The interim welterweight championship was on the line when Daichi Abe (9-4) faced Gota Yamashita (15-11) with the former forced to withdraw after suffering a finger injury.
Elsewhere on the card Quintet regular Daisuke Nakamura (30-19) who first fought in Deep in 2002, savagely stopped Juntaro Ushiku (18-8) with a brutal knee in their featherweight fight. Heavyweight Hideki Sekine (9-5) outfought AACC’s Seigo Mizuguchi (14-19) in a megaton bout, winning by TKO after 16 seconds of round two.
Deep 100, Tokyo, February 21st
Yuki Motoya def Shoji Maruyama via Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Juri Ohara def Satoru Kitaoka via TKO (Stomps)
Daichi Abe def Gota Yamashita via TKO (Finger Injury)
Yamato Fujita def. Kazuki Shibuya via KO (Soccer Kick)
Daisuke Nakamura def Juntaro Ushiku via TKO (Knees)
Kouya Kanda def Daiki Hata via Decision (Unanimous)
Shizuka Sugiyama def Aoi Kuriyama via TKO (Punches)
Hideki Sekine def Seigo Mizuguchi via TKO (Punches)
Kosuke Terashima def Shuhei Higashi via Submission (Rear naked choke)
Shunsuke Miyabi def Hiroya Kondo via Decision (Unanimous)
Tomohiro Adaniya def Takashi Matsuba via Decision (Unanimous)
Sho Sekihara def Rikiya Matsuzawa via TKO (Punches)
Ayumu Yamamoto def Ryuji Takashio via Submission (Armbar)
Taisei Nishitani def Yuto Inoue via Submission (D’Arce choke)
Rei Tsuruya def Tatsuki Okano via TKO (Punches)
