Riki Fukuda

Imanari Submits Umemura to Win DEEP Title

Masakazu Imanari added yet another DEEP world title to his resume as the former featherweight champion submitted Hiroshi Umemura in less than 30 seconds at DEEP’s “37th Impact” show on Sunday to become the organization’s first-ever bantamweight champion.

Imanari missed a body kick to start things off, allowing Umemura to set himself again before pressing forward. Imanari then moved towards him with a baseball slide on the ground before transitioning into a deep heel hook that forced Umemura to tap.

Miku Matsumoto made a successful defense of her DEEP 106 lb. title with a second-round knockout of longtime rival Misaki Takimoto. Also victorious was EliteXC veteran Riki Fukuda, who led Team DEEP over Team Wajutsu Keishukai with his unanimous decision over Hiroki Ozaki.

Continue reading "Imanari Submits Umemura to Win DEEP Title"

Imanari Challenges for DEEP Title on Sunday

Cage Rage featherweight champion Masakazu Imanari will drop down to the bantamweight division to challenge Hiroshi Umemura for DEEP’s vacant bantamweight title this Sunday at the organization’s “37th Impact” event, which takes place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

The fight will be Imanari’s first since losing his DEEP featherweight title to UFC veteran Dokonjonosuke Mishima via majority decision back in May. It was Imanari’s second career loss to Mishima and his first defeat since dropping a decision to Fredson Paixao in August of 2006.

Umemura brings an eight-fight winning streak into the bout. He last submitted Kunihiro Watanabe with a rear naked choke at a DEEP event in June. Umemura has struggled against top competition throughout the course of his career. He owns losses to WEC veterans Kenji Osawa and Yoshiro Maeda among others.

The card will also feature a female lightweight title bout between Miku Matsumoto and Misaki Takimoto as well as EliteXC veteran Riki Fukuda going up against Hiroki Ozaki.

Continue reading "Imanari Challenges for DEEP Title on Sunday"

Mishima Decisons Imanari in DEEP FW Debut

In his first fight in over a year, Dokonjonosuke Mishima used superior striking and wrestling to squeak out a majority decision over reigning DEEP featherweight champion Masakazu Imanari at the organization’s latest show last night in Japan.

Mishima, who was making his featherweight debut in the fight, used constant leg sweeps to frustrate Imanari and take the Cage Rage veteran down throughout the course of the bout. Mishima scored early and often with an array of strikes on the feet and was able to use an effective ground-and-pound strategy while on top of Imanari.

Imanari’s came close to ending the fight late in the third round when he caught Mishima in a kneebar that forced the colorful veteran to hold on until the final bell. After the fight, Mishima announced his intention to return to the UFC to finish out the remainder of his contract with the promotion.

Yuichi Nakanishi won a hard-fought unanimous decision over EliteXC veteran Riki Fukuda in the finals of DEEP’s middleweight tournament to capture the vacant title in that weight class. Nakanishi used an assault of first-round leg kicks followed by crisp combinations in the second stanza to earn the nod in the eyes of the judges.

Nakanishi and Fukuda defeated Daijiro Matsui and Yuya Shirai respectively before moving on to the final round of the tourney

Complete results from the event:

Yuichi Nakanishi def. Riki Fukuda - Unanimous Decision
Dokonjonosuke Mishima def. Masakazu Imanari - Majority Decision
Yuichi Nakanishi def. Daijiro Matsui - Unanimous Decision
Riki Fukuda def. Yuya Shirai - Split Decision
Jutaro Nakao def. Shigetoshi Iwase - Unanimous Decision
Ryuta Sakurai def. Ryo Sai - Unanimous Decision
Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Hiroki Nagaoka - Draw
Sung Hwan Pang fef. Kazunori Yokota - KO (Punches)
Mai Ichii def. Satoko Shinashi - Majority Decision
Katsunori Kikuno def. Seigo Inoue - Unanimous Decision
Luiz Luiz def. Toshikazu Iseno - TKO (Strikes)
Koichiro Matsumoto def. Yuki Ito - Majority Decision
Hyun Gyu Lim def. Noboru Onishi - TKO (Cut)
Yasuhiro Kawasaki def. Muneyuki Sato - TKO (Strikes)

Showtime, EliteXC Presents Biggest MMA Event in Hawaiian History

NEW YORK – In less than seven months, ProElite’s respected live fight division, EliteXC, has gained the reputation for delivering consistently competitive, thrilling and memorable live Mixed Martial Arts events that showcase the world’s top fighters.

Under the watchful eye of Live Events President, Gary Shaw, EliteXC and SHOWTIME already have produced many significant accomplishments and has made MMA history on a couple of occasions; the most noteworthy of which: EliteXC is the first and only MMA organization on premium television.

On Saturday, Sept. 15, at Oahu, Hawaii, EliteXC will establish another first when it presents the most significant MMA event in Hawaiian history and the initial collaboration between EliteXC and Hawaii-based promoters and former rivals, ICON Sport and ROTR (Rumble On The Rock). The remarkable event will feature an explosive five-fight telecast airing live on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) followed by four fights streaming live at the premier mixed martial arts social networking and entertainment site, ProElite.com.

Continue reading "Showtime, EliteXC Presents Biggest MMA Event in Hawaiian History"