On April 2nd, Deep held their first Osaka event of the year, where up and comers Aya Murakami and Arisa Matsuda both picked up decision victories. With two more events scheduled this month and at least three more in May, it is safe to say that 2023 is going to be a busy year for Deep. Outside of announcing the cards for Deep 113 and Tokyo Impact 3rd Round, Deep Jewels also revealed on their website that the next event, Deep Jewels 41 is scheduled for May 28th. In addition to these card announcements, it was also announced that in addition to streaming their events on their Youtube channel, Deep shows will now also be streamed on U-Next, a big streaming service in Japan.
Murakami defeats Manhoef
With this win, Murakami climbs to 6-1 and now has 2 wins in a row since losing to Moeri Suda in September of last year. At just 4″11, the tiny black belt has made a name for herself thanks to her grappling chops, but interestingly, her past two victories have both come via decision. Prior to losing to Suda, she had finished 3 opponents in a row, all in the first round. Her opponent, Manhoef, was coming off of a win over Emi Tomimatsu, her first win since returning last year, having last fought in 2013.
Matsuda stays unbeaten
Former professional softball player Arisa Matsuda kept her undefeated record alive, defeating Sumire Sakai in what was Sakai’s pro-debut. With a record of 3-0 now, Matsuda finds herself in an interesting position. Strawweight is not the deepest division in Deep Jewels, for those that don’t remember, Saeki recommended that Miki Motono drop to Atomweight since they couldn’t find worthy opponents, and this means that aside from the champion, Seika Izawa, their isn’t a lot of options for the heavy hitter. It will be interesting to see if she tries to drop to Super Atomweight in the future.
Deep/Deep Jewels move to Youtube and U-Next
In some big news for the promotion, Deep has made two announcements concerning the distribution of their content. First, they announced that Deep and Deep Jewels are starting a monthly membership option for their Youtube channel. Those that subscribe will have access to all the events, including Deep numbered and non-numbered events, as well as all Deep Jewels events. They have also hinted on social media that they are looking to create some original content for the channel, with Saeki already hosting a livestream, where he chatted with the members while eating. At ¥1,790 a month, or $13.50, the subscription is cheaper than the older PPV system, while also giving access to a library of fights.
Outside of Youtube, it was all announced that Deep numbered events and Deep Jewels will be broadcast live on U-Next, starting with Deep 113. It is important to note that the non-numbered Deep events will only be available via a Youtube membership.
Being broadcast on U-Next is a big deal since both the UFC and Bellator air on the service, and if their past year is any indication, U-Next’s subscription rate seems to be rising at a nice rate. For those outside of Japan, U-Next airs HBO programming and was also famously the exclusive broadcaster of the early Landmark shows.
Deep 113 and Deep Tokyo Impact 2023 3rd Round set for May 7th
Deep has announced two shows for May 7th, the last day of Golden Week, with both scheduled to take place at the famed Korakuen Hall right outside the Tokyo Dome.
Starting at noon JST, Deep Tokyo Impact 2023 3rd Round will see Kimihiro Eto try to make it 4 in a row in the main-event against “Tencho” Kawana, who will be making a quick turnaround, having last fought on March 24th. While both fighters are Rizin veterans, they seem to be on different career trajectories, with Eto being undefeated since returning from One and Tencho being 1-5 in his past 6. That being said, a win here could see Eto face Ohara for the title, assuming Ohara wins his next fight.
Speaking of which, Ohara is set to defend his title against Uehara that evening, at Deep 113, which is scheduled to start at 5:00. This will be the 50+ fight veterans first fight back in Deep since July of last year, having gone on to fight Gustavo at Rizin and to score an exciting soccer kick finish at Black Combat in South Korea. Elsewhere on the card, Deep staples Daisuke Nakamura and Satoru Kitaoka are set to return to action and Ryuya Fukuda is set to face Ryosuke Honda in the finals of their Flyweight Grand Prix.
Deep Jewels 41 set for May 28th
It was revealed via the Deep Jewels website, that Deep Jewels 41 is scheduled for May 28th. Location and bout details have yet to be announced.
Deep Osaka Impact 2023 1st Round Results
- Sho Hiramatsu defeated Yuki Tanioka via TKO @ 4:13 of RD 1
- Mitsuru Konegawa defeated Tatsuhiko Iwamoto via TKO @ 2:46 of RD 2
- Ryuhei Nakamoto defeated Hiromu Ueni via Sub (Triangle) @3:53 of RD 1
- Takashi Matsuba defeated Suguru Hayasaka via UD
- Shinsuke Matsubara defeated Tetsuya Yamamoto via UD
- Aya Murakami defeated Sadae Manhoef via UD
- Arisa Matsuda defeated Sumire Sakai via UD
- Motonori Takiguchi defeated Reo Hansen via TKO @ 2:59 of RD 1
- Yu Dozono defeated Kenyaski via TKO @ 2:59 of RD 1
- Kei Maezono defeated Yuki Sato via UD
- Kodai Yamasaki defeated Ichiki Tanaka via TKO @ 3:42 of RD 1
- Rikito Tago defeated Ryoma Uemura via UD
- Tadashi Mizu defeated Soichiro Kimura via TKO @ 2:22 of RD 1
- Ryuga Sekimoto defeated Junpei Chikusa via Sub (Front choke) @ 0:26 of RD 2
- Isana Morita defeated Kazuki Irie via UD
Deep Tokyo Impact 2023 3rd Round Fight Card
- Kimihiro Eto vs Tencho
- Akira Haraguchi vs Takuma Masuda
- Naoki Ueda vs Keita Fukushima
- Arihito Yamamoto vs Teppei Suwabe
- Tatsuya Takahashi vs Taiyo Nakatsukasa
- Yusuke Hatekeyama vs Takeaki Kinoshita
- Tetsuya Yamamoto vs Rio Kimura
- Hayato Matsuoka vs Kyouma Akimoto
- Daisuke Kawase vs Sakyo Kajita
Deep 113 Fight Card
- Ryuya Fukuda vs Ryosuke Honda
- Juri Ohara vs Hiroto Uesako
- Coro vs Rikiya
- Satoru Kitaoka vs Kennosuke Oyama
- Jin Aoi vs Daisuke Nakamura
- Tomohiro Adaniya vs Hiroya
- Yutaro Muramoto vs Jaewoong Byeon
- Yuki Takano vs Taisei Nishitani
- Seigo vs Hidenori Ebata
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