DEEP Impact confirmed the full lineup for their 20th-anniversary card on Thursday. The February 21st event includes a championship fight along with numerous big names in Japanese MMA.
Former DEEP Bantamweight Champion and RIZIN alum Yuki Motoya will fight in the main event of the card against Shoji Maruyama.
Motoya is returning after having a three-fight win streak snapped on New Year’s Eve by Naoki Inoue.
Maruyama, a veteran of DEEP Impact, will be returning to the promotion after losing a fight against Kai Asakura on a RIZIN card in September.
Kitaoka To Face Ohara In Co-Main
JMMA veteran Satoru Kitaoka will make his return to DEEP Impact in the co-main event, fighting Juri Ohara.
Kitaoka has competed mostly in RIZIN through the past few years, putting together a record of one win and three losses since his last DEEP Impact bout. Kitaoka formed his own promotion in 2020 as well, fighting to a draw against Sho Kogane on the card.
Kitaoka’s last DEEP Impact appearance was in 2018, where he lost a decision to Koji Takeda.
Ohara will enter the DEEP cage for the 44th time at the promotion’s upcoming event. Ohara finished his 2020 with two wins, stopping Takumi Suzuki within a minute then defeating Yusuke Yachi via decision at RIZIN 24.
Abe To Face Let’s Gota In Interim Belt Fight
Former UFC and ONE Championship fighter Daichi Abe will face Gota Yamashita, also known as Let’s Gota, in an interim welterweight title fight.
Abe made his DEEP debut in 2020, defeating a fighter in both of his showings. He is now being placed in a title spot following the two wins.
Gota is returning after taking a split decision loss to Ryuichiro Sumimura at RIZIN’s November card.
Shibuya To Replace Byun In Bout Against Fujita
Taking the place of Byun Jae Woong, a South Korean fighter who couldn’t travel to the upcoming event, Kazuki Shibuya will fight Yamato Fujita on the main card.
Fujita will put his promotional three-fight win streak on the line in the fight. He earned a finish win in his last bout, stopping Kosuke Suzuki at the promotion’s September event.
Shibuya enters the fight after a successful debut year under DEEP. Shibuya has won four consecutive bouts since joining DEEP in March of 2020. The victories have brought his record up to an even seven wins and seven losses.
DEEP Veteran Nakamura To Face Ushiku
DREAM alum and DEEP veteran Daisuke Nakamura will compete at DEEP 100 Impact, fighting Juntaro Ushiku on the main card.
Nakamura’s fights date back to the early days of DEEP, competing on 2004 cards from the promotion.
Nakamura snapped a four-fight losing streak in his 2020 return, stopping Tatsunao Nagakura with punches in the second round.
Ushiku presents a big challenge for Nakamura, as he enters the bout on a six-fight win streak that includes four bouts in DEEP Impact.
The Full Lineup
DEEP’s stacked card includes numerous big names in the promotion’s history lower down in the lineup. Names like DJ Taiki, Shizuka Sugiyama, Seigo and others are set to appear at the event. Here is the full card.
Main Card (3:00PM JST / 1:00AM EST) (Samurai TV)
Bout 16: Yuki Motoya (26-9) vs. Shoji Maruyama (18-13-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 15: Satoru Kitaoka (41-21-9) vs. Juri Ohara (27-18-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 14: Daichi Abe (8-4) vs. Let’s Gota (15-10-1) (DEEP Interim Welterweight Championship)
Bout 13: Yamato Fujita (5-3) vs. Kazuki Shibuya (8-7-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 12: Juntaru Ushiku (18-7-1) vs. Daisuke Nakamura (29-19-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 11: DJ.taiki (20-13-6) vs. Kouya Kanda (6-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 10: Shizuka Sugiyama (19-6-1) vs. Aoi Kuriyama (2-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 9: Mizuto Hirota vs. Katsunori Kikuno vs. Kazunori Yokota vs. Koichiro Matsumoto (Exhibition Grappling Match)
Bout 8: Hideki Sekine (8-5) vs. Seigo (14-18) (Heavyweight)
Bout 7: CORO (16-16-5) vs. Shuhei Higashi (12-5-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Hiroya (4-6-1) vs. Shunsuke Miyabi (0-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Tomohiro Adaniya (15-13-3) vs. Takashi Matsuba (12-3-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Rikiya (2-3) vs. Sho Sekihara (4-2) (Bantamweight)
Preliminary Card (2:00PM JST / 12:00AM EST)
Bout 3: Ryuji Takashio (6-8-2) vs. Ayumu Yamamoto (1-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Taisei Nishitani (1-2) vs. Yuto Inoue (5-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Rei Tsuruya (0-0) vs. Tatsuki Okano (4-3) (Flyweight)
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