10/23 DEEP 38 - Pictures

The main card opened with a fight between Ryan Bow and Koichiro Matsumoto. Matsumoto kept the fight standing and when the fight hit the ground was able to defend well.

Then it was time for the big boys. These fight often end up being brawls, and this was no different. Kosaka took it to Mizuguchi and he was able to earn a TKO win. One of the few fights that didnt go the distance on the night.

I was looking forward to seeing Masayuki Okude in action. He has created a niche for himself in ZST as a Hong Man Choi look alike. It was a good fight, but the DEEP representative "ISE" took the decision.

The fight I was looking forward to the most, Simeon Thoresen vs. Eiji Ishikawa. Simeon has finished all of his fights and went out to finish this as well. Ishikawa on the other hand is used to going the distance and defended well. Most of the fight was spent like this, Ishikawa in Thoresen's guard. The only damage really being done was from Thoresen's hammer fists.

I wish there had been one more round in this fight.

In the other DEEP vs. ZST fight of the night, Otsuka won a close decision agianst Kanehara.

The next fight was between Riki Fukuda and Jason Jones. I was expecting a very good fight, and it turned out to be one. IMO fight of the night. Fukuda was successful in taking Jones down, and got the win by being better there. Jones put up a good fight though, and got the uppper hand just at the fight ended, but it was too late. Cups with ice were already flying into the ring, and even though it is not the first time I have seen a fighter not stop, it is the first time I have seen cups fly into the ring.













In the female fight of the night, Satoko Shinashi was able to secure a quick armbar win over Yukiko Seki. Satoko is the DEEP champion at 48kg, she is an exciting fighter, but I cant really see her losing to anyone at that weight...














The second openweight fight of the night saw Mega-Ton champion Kawaguchi face Mongolian newcomer Seryu. It also turned into a brawl, Kawaguchi proving the better fighter. Seryu was tough though, and went the distance.






















Ryuta Sakurai got a split decision against Sojiro Orui.














The main event was the fight that had filled Korakuen Hall (cant remember seeing it this full). Namekawa and Shibata put on a good show in a close fight. Not likely to be fight of the year, but the crowd got into it.

It was a good way to end a good night of fights, the fight ended in a draw and some times that is a fair result.