This past Saturday, Deep held their first event of 2023 at the famed Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. In the Flyweight GP Semi-Finals, Honda defeated Ito and Fukuda defeated Uda, setting up a match between the two in May. In a somewhat shocking result, Shingo Suzuki, who prior to returning in 2022, had last fought in 2018 and was riding a 4 fight losing streak, finished Daichi Abe and is now the new Welterweight Champion. Shingo turns 37 in April, so it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the new champion. Outside of Welterweight in Featherweight, Kouya Kanda picked up a decision victory over Hiroto Gomyo to become the new interim champion.
In the sole women’s bout of the night, Satoko Shinashi returned to action, tying Roxanne Modaferri’s record of competing in 45 professional fights in the process. This was her first time back in the cage since losing to Nisse via TKO 3 years ago and she picked up a unanimous decision victory over Reina Kobayashi. While she did get the win, Reina put up a good fight and Satoko wasn’t able to get the early finish like she is accustomed to. At 46 years old, it will be interesting to see what Satoko does going forward. Deep Jewels actually has a pretty decent Microweight Division, so we could potentially see the legend go against the likes of Aya Murakami, Saori Oshima, Mizuki Furuse, or Momoko Yamazaki.
Elsewhere, on the card, Kitaoka picked up his first win since 2018, snapping an 8 fight winless streak. Rizin veteran Shooto Watanabe was also quickly dispatched by Matsuzawa with punches.
Results
- Ryosuke Honda defeated Yuki Ito via UD
- Ryuya Fukuda defeated Yuta Uda via UD
- Shingo Suzuki defeated Daichi Abe via Guillotine Choke at 2:05 of RD 2awa
- Kouya Kanda defeated Hiroto Gomyo via UD
- Satoru Kitaoka defeated Yuki Takano via North-South Choke at 3:47 of RD 3
- Ryuichiro Sumimura defeated Ibuki Shimada via SD
- Satoko Shinashi defeated Reina Kobayashi via UD (2 rounds)
- Rikiya Matsuzawa defeated Shooto Watanabe via TKO at 0:27 of RD 1
- Kenta defeated Arihito Yamamoto via SD (2 rounds)
- Kyouma Akimoto defeated Kyonosuke Takayanagi via TKO at 3:16 of RD 1
Japanese 
English