Two Days of JMMA (Not-RIZIN)
DEEP 100 Impact and Shooto's Road to ONE: Young Guns
Two events in Tokyo in the past two days deserves a post. Here it is!
DEEP 100 Impact 20th Anniversary Extravaganza!
Tokyo, February 21st
Despite my headline, DEEP coming at you with what is pretty much a pandemic-era RIZIN show for their 20th Anniversary event, with many of the fighters having appeared in RIZIN, some multiple times. Notable names include Yuki Motoya, Shrek, and one of my faves Satoru Kitaoka.
Kitaoka’s up against Juri Ohara, who recently embarrassed another one of my JMMA favorites, Yusuke Yachi. I actually think Ohara takes this and Kitaoka should retire, but at least he’s not getting crushed by gaijin over in RIZIN. Motoya is fighting Shoji who lost to Kai Asakura at the same event (RIZIN 24). I’d think this is an easy out for Motoya coming off his decisive loss to Naoki Inyoue on NYE, but that’s why they play the game.
Others include Daichi Abe, who has fought in ONE and the UFC, and Daisuke Nakamura, who fought in PRIDE and Strikeforce! There’s a ton of other fights as well so I’m just going to comment on the top few probably and play Red Dead Redemption Online for the early action.
Hideki “Shrek” Sekine vs. Seigo Mizuguchi (HW) - and fuck I missed the fight as I was busy tagging legendary animals… so it goes. Sounds very freak shitty heavyweight fight with Shrek getting the win in 16 seconds. YUP! Speaking of HW fights, I have said Derrick Lewis is the most overrated fighter in the UFC, but damn, he’s got some power, don’t he?
Juntaro Ushiku vs. Daisuke Nakamura (LW) - Super-vet Daisuke coming out in the old school wienie-washer and headwrap like an ojisan taking a trip to the onsen. The fifteen-year younger dude has normal MMA shorts. Though his nuts are harder to find, that doesn’t stop Nakamura from kicking Ushiku in the DEEP jewels as he presses in the first round. Ushiku returns the favor with an eyepoke. Oh shit, headbutt actually. Nakamura’s bloodied and doc’s in the ring.
After a long break, he’s ready to go. Fight has been ninety seconds in ten minutes and there’s another stoppage and a yellow card for something or another. Ushiku gets the takedown and Nakamura goes for armbars. Then Nakamura uses his foot off the cage to get leverage and that’s got to be illegal. Vet savvy, I guess. Weird round. And another nutty headbutt to start the second and both fighters collapse to the ground. This should just be a NC as both fighters are just running in with their heads down and it’s dumb. And at the restart Nakamura whips a knee up to Ushiku’s incoming head and knocks him out. Or that! Vet savvy, indeed.
Yamato Fujita vs. Kazuki Shibuya (FlW C⭐) - Now we have two combined just over .500 fighters battling it out for the interim Flyweight crown… Shibuya has an animal print ensemble and a rocking soundtrack, while Fujita is a bit more mellow in his walkout. The emcee presents the belt. They rush in and wind up on the ground where they remain for five minutes. Fujita wins the round. More action to start the second, but Fujita is again mostly on top despite being bloodied by a few solid shots to the nose by Shibuya. They start the third slugging and Fujita is just teeing off now and the ref should really stop it and finally does fifteen seconds too late. Entertaining fight after a dull first round, but Shibuya is just slop (while he seems like a fun guy).
I don’t understand why they don’t have flyweights in RIZIN. Bantamweight is by far their best division and there are plenty of Japanese fighters around that weight class. Wouldn’t mind seeing Fujita against some better competition.
Daichi Abe vs. Gota Yamashita (WW C⭐) - Sort of C-level heroes in this one, so could be a good scrap. Let’s Gota has many fights and he’s won more than half, while Abe lost fights in big promotions. Both guys doing well at the start until it looks like Gota injures his hand somehow and Abe smells blood. The doc however beats him to it as the fight is stopped for some reason and Gota’s hand is checked out and he can’t continue. Abe is your new champion. 🤷♀️
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Juri Ohara (LW) - Oh yeah, Crazy eyes Kitaoka is up! Don’t die, brother! Ohara looks like the lead singer of a shitty nü-metal band which made his victory over Yachi all the more shocking. Don’t let nü-metal win again! He’s coming out to Offspring or something which is worse than nü-metal. Kitaoka is licking his face and looking insane. He also took all the steroids. Aoki-sensai is in his corner.
Kitaoka goes for the quick takedown as Ohara showed some stand up skills in his RIZIN win. Kitaoka is twisting Ohara’s foot off and Ohara starts unloading on him and wow, crazy shit! Ohara stomps on Kitaoka’s face for victory! Sadly, I predicted this. Get this guy another fight in RIZIN for Christ’s sake. Kitaoka hang ‘em up! (Video’s up!)
Yuki Motoya vs. Shoji Maruyama (BW) - Shoji had the cool walkout at RIZIN too as I recall, with the mask, umbrella, and sword. Didn’t help him then and I don’t imagine it will help him now. First round sub, I’m guessing. Whenever Motoya walks out to Eminem (always), I think he’s going to lose but I just picked him so let’s see.
Nope/Yup. First round Motoya choked Shoji out after landing a solid punch and following to the ground. Full results. (WOW, so DEEP put up all the fights on youtube, so definitely check out what appeals to you.)
Well, that’s it for today. Best fight of the bunch was Kitaoka vs. Ohara even though my man lost. Would like to see a couple of these guys again. Probably will on a RIZIN undercard! Back to Red Dead land. ✌🤠
Road to ONE: Young Guns
Tokyo, February 22nd
Itsuki Hirata has been the it-girl with ONE for a while now (along with Stamp and Angela natch). She’s MMA hot, she’s young, and she’s a decent fighter, so you could do worse. This event is about getting her and the rest of ONE’s Japanese contingent (and hopefuls) some work while we all wait around for the world to slightly reopen.
The last Road to ONE event had much bigger fights: a Shinya Aoki trainwreck and a banger of a Strawweight fight between Yosuke Saruta and Nobita Naito. No such age or experience today. (Of course Aoki had a very impressive victory at the recent ONE Unbreakable. Saruta or Naito would both likely crush yesterday’s flyweight winner Fujita.)
The show predictably starts with an hour production of Itsuki getting her nails done and nonsense from Aoki (who is also commentating). Those two are without a doubt ONE’s biggest Japanese stars and they push them at every opportunity. ONE’s Japanese production is actually pretty good as I think they are allowed to do their own thing with Abema rather than having to coordinate with the ONE mothership. As with yesterday, I’m not covering all the fights, but let’s get going.
Shuto Aki vs. Keito Yamakita (SW) - Grapple heavy fight that Yamakita takes in the second with top devastation. Grounded knees are so nasty. They should really have them in the UFC. Aoki was calling for the ref to stop the fight for like 15 seconds before it finally was so you know it was bad. Aoki is well known to be a compassionate man. 😁 Yamakita is undefeated and may be one to keep an eye on.
Tatsuhiko Iwamoto vs. Daiki Nakata (FW) - while the last fight was a grapple fest, these two are swanging and banging. It looked like the vet (16 fights) Iwamoto had the upper hand until he was flattened with left.
Hikaru Yoshino vs. Shohei Nose (Catchweight 67kg) - I think this one was a late notice change, hence the catchweight. Yoshino looks in control here, but Nose hangs through the first. Gritty second round makes me look these guys up - both are coming off a loss, but both seem pretty well regarded by ONE. Nose gets tagged a few times to start the third and then returns the favor! Both guys have chicken legs. Wild fight. Like a Rocky movie when he just takes a thousand jabs to the face. I’m not sure how they are scoring these but I’d have it 2-1 Yoshino. Pride rules maybe Nose. Yoshino takes it. FOTN so far.
Toru Ogawa vs. Kenji Yamanaka (FlW) - these two are a little past the “Young Guns” phase with almost 20 fights each. Yamanaka shock drops Ogawa in the first, while the latter thoroughly controls the second. Third is a little closer but Ogawa takes it home.
Takuya Nagata vs. Kazuki Kasai (LW) - I was eating dinner during this fight, but thought Kasai looked a little slow to start. Once he got going he was pretty good. Could be one to watch. Looks like Nagata might have broken his jaw. Ouch.
Itsuki Hirata vs. Miku Nakamura (AW) - so, Itsuki gets a showcase built for her. Let’s see what she can do with her opportunity. Nakamura may not have gotten the message because she’s doing okay midway though the first while Hirata struggles for the takedown. Nakamura is the threat striking while Hirata is just pushing her against the cage. Hirata finally lands a punch to start the second and turns it into a takedown. She then turns a throw into a some pretty wicked ground and pound and the ref calls it. She looked super annoyed when she stood up and carried the vibe into her post fight interview before breaking into tears, presumably of frustration. Hell, it wasn’t that bad. Give Nakamura a little credit for a competitive first round.
Well that’s it for Young Guns and without any Lou Diamond Phillips sightings. Wakka Wakka. Not bad. Full results. Yesterday’s event was understandably superior, though neither were amazing. Big ONE striking card this Friday though, so watch out for that. ✌
From a ONE babe to the babes of yesteryear: If you missed it, and you probably did, check out last week’s Fight Pizza Babe Double Feature with two shitty action flicks with some decent T&A, The Arena and Ballistic. Maybe we can have hope for Itsuki’s post-fight career.
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