Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) may become Deep champion again faster than he had imagined.
Deep has announced the bulk of its 37 Impact card on Aug. 17 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The lineup now features another title fight, as former Deep featherweight champion Imanari and the quietly streaking
Hiroshi Umemura (Pictures) will meet to crown the promotion’s first bantamweight king.
Imanari, who captured Deep’s inaugural featherweight crown in December 2005, reigned until this past May when he lost a majority decision to rival
Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) in Mishima’s featherweight debut. The 36-year-old Umemura, once merely a mediocre B-level Shooto competitor, has not been beaten in nearly four years, as he has put together eight straight wins and stopped all of his opponents in the process.
Additionally, Deep representatives will take on Wajyutsu Keisyukai products in a Deep-versus-Wajyutsu three-on-three series. The matchups will see
Riki Fukuda (Pictures) take on
Hiroki Ozaki (Pictures), Luiz battle
Shinobu Miura (Pictures), and
Yasushi Kitazaki (Pictures) meet Yusaku Tsukamo, all at yet-to-be-determined weights.
Also, a featherweight bout between Pancrase mainstay
Daiki Hata (Pictures) and South Korean brawler
Jong Man Kim (Pictures) was announced, along with a middleweight contest between former Deep champion
Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures) and upstart
Sojiro Orui (Pictures).
The fights join the previously announced Deep women’s 106-pound title match between well-acquainted rivals
Misaki Takimoto (Pictures) and reigning champion
Miku Matsumoto (Pictures). Takimoto handed the novice Matsumoto the first two losses of her professional career in October 2004 and December 2005, both via first-round armbar submission. Meanwhile, Matsumoto dominated their June 2007 encounter with a first-round armbar submission victory of her own.