Japanese Promotion Deep Launches Official YouTube Channel

One unrelenting question that permeates my inbox is "How and where can I watch international MMA?" Naturally, there's a whole clandestine network of tormenting sites that make modern-day "tape trading" much more manageable than the old days of ordering DVD's and downloading MPEG's off of IRC. The truth is, Youtube (or a basic Google search) has rendered many of your external hard drives irrelevant.

YouTube is replete with MMA. Unfortunately, there's always copyright and liability issues, as well. For whatever reason, many Japanese MMA promotions have been slower to embrace the modern modes of MMA, namely live online streaming and offering their wares on video sharing sites. Hell, I lost my original YouTube account over posting old Pancrase videos. Was Katsuya Inoue-Kenji Arai being on YouTube really hurting anybody?

Regardless, some folks are catching up. Thursday, Japanese mainstay promotion Deep announced its official YouTube channel's launch. More than just a dumping ground for its video library, Deep has avowed to endow the fight videos with commentary from colorful Deep boss Shigeru Saeki (in English, Japanese and Portuguese), and fill the channel with interviews, instructionals, round girl auditions (for you pervs) and more behind-the-scenes content.

The promotion has already decked the channel out with a smattering of its best bouts from Deep 1 to 12. While Deep's infancy is perhaps most associated with the infamous series of Mexican lucha libre fighters competing in MMA, there is plenty of worthwhile watching and bits of MMA to pick up from the past.

American Top Team leader Ricardo Liborio's first and only MMA bout against Ikuhisa Minowa, longtime female pound-for-pounder Yuka Tsuji's upset loss to BJJ ace Ana Michelle Tavares, Ryo Chonan's breakout performance against Japanese icon Hayato Sakurai are all included, among other gems. And, that is to say nothing of all the luchador silliness, former boxing world champion Victor Rabanales' MMA cash grab and other quirky oddities.

Featured playlists already include the company's 2012 flyweight tournament, "Masked Fighters in Deep" and "Sumo Wrestler's Challenge." Kiss your productivity goodbye, fight nerds.