Matsumoto Dominates ‘Windy’ at Deep 44
Tony Loiseleur Oct 10, 2009
TOKYO -- Women’s 106-pound champion Miku
Matsumoto dominated “Windy” Tomomi
Sunaba bell-to-bell in their two-round co-main event at Deep
“44 Impact” on Saturday at Korakuen Hall; the bout was contested at
115 pounds.
With relentless forward momentum and cutthroat grappling and striking on the mat, Matsumoto plowed through Sunaba’s low kicks and punches, smashing up the Pancrasist in the corners. There, she dirty boxed with abandon, throwing punches over the top in the clinch. Whether whipping Sunaba to the mat with the “harai-goshi” or dropping her with her own stiff punches, Matsumoto invariably got the fight down on the mat. Once on the ground, she took Sunaba’s back and threatened with chokes and armbar attempts from behind.
Deep women’s rules do not allow for ground-and-pound, but Matsumoto
had no trouble throwing strikes on the mat, as she slammed vicious
lunging knees to the body of the less-ground-savvy Sunaba. Windy
did her best to hang on and reverse into Matsumoto’s guard whenever
the 106-pound champion got daring enough to dive for submissions,
but it was clear Sunaba was merely trying to survive as Matsumoto
swarmed all over her.
After two rounds of domination in the stand-up and on the ground, Matsumoto’s unanimous decision was nothing more than a formality.
Meanwhile, Yusuke Kawaguchi defended his Deep megaton title in a three-round war with Seigo Mizuguchi. Kawaguchi opened the bout with an initial barrage of machine gun punches, dropping Mizuguchi in a corner. Mizuguchi recovered, however, tossed the champ over his hip in the “harai-goshi” and landed in side control, where he squeezed Kawaguchi’s head with a neck crank.
Kawaguchi escaped and, as the visibly fitter of the two, proceeded to string together big punches for the rest of the bout. Gassed but still tough, Mizuguchi ate all of Kawaguchi’s punches while throwing winging singles of his own. Though his face was red and swollen, Mizuguchi would not go down, prompting Kawaguchi to switch tactics midway through the bout, as he chopped him down with kicks. When Mizuguchi limped into a corner at the 1:27 mark of the third round, cornerman Kazuhiro Nakamura threw in the towel. Referee Yoshinori Umeki did not see the towel but stopped the bout soon after.
Meanwhile, Hidehiko Hasegawa proved he was the superior former Deep welterweight champion in defeating Ryuki Ueyama.
Hasegawa started the bout looking to smash Ueyama into the corner for some dirty boxing, but Ueyeama soon rebounded with takedowns. As Ueyama tried to stomp out Hasegawa, the Samboist tried for leg lock attempts. Ueyama took the move as an invitation. Most of the second frame was spent with both former champions looking for the leg submission before Hasegawa stole back mount. Hasegawa secured back mount again in the third period after slamming stiff punches and stomps into Ueyama’s face. Though the fighters were returned to a standing position before the end of the round, Hasegawa had done enough to take home the decision on all three judges’ cards.
Finally, former deep middleweight titleholder Ryuta Sakurai looked to have stiff test in Guamanian import Hosea Ware after he ate snapping low kicks and was double-legged out of the ring within the first 10 seconds. Sakurai rebounded upon re-entering the ring, however, and put down Ware with his own double-leg. From there, he grinded his way from guard to side control and slapped on the straight armbar for the tapout 3:46 into the first round.
Other Bouts
Hiromitsu Kanehara def. Makoto Miyazawa -- TKO (Punches) 0:25 R1
Yuya Shirai def. Shigetoshi Iwase -- Unanimous Decision
Toshiaki Kitada def. Kleber Koike -- Submission (Armbar) 0:59 R2
Takashige Hirukawa def. Hiryu Okamoto -- Majority Decision
Tatsunao Nagakura def. Fuhito Hasegawa -- TKO (Shoulder Injury) 1:19 R1
Tomoya Kato def. Ryota Minawa -- Majority Decision
Tatsuhito Satsuma def. Hiroyuki Kobayashi -- Unanimous Decision
With relentless forward momentum and cutthroat grappling and striking on the mat, Matsumoto plowed through Sunaba’s low kicks and punches, smashing up the Pancrasist in the corners. There, she dirty boxed with abandon, throwing punches over the top in the clinch. Whether whipping Sunaba to the mat with the “harai-goshi” or dropping her with her own stiff punches, Matsumoto invariably got the fight down on the mat. Once on the ground, she took Sunaba’s back and threatened with chokes and armbar attempts from behind.
Advertisement
After two rounds of domination in the stand-up and on the ground, Matsumoto’s unanimous decision was nothing more than a formality.
“I don’t think I’m entirely satisfied with today’s bout,” Matsumoto
said. “I still feel like there’s something missing.”
Meanwhile, Yusuke Kawaguchi defended his Deep megaton title in a three-round war with Seigo Mizuguchi. Kawaguchi opened the bout with an initial barrage of machine gun punches, dropping Mizuguchi in a corner. Mizuguchi recovered, however, tossed the champ over his hip in the “harai-goshi” and landed in side control, where he squeezed Kawaguchi’s head with a neck crank.
Kawaguchi escaped and, as the visibly fitter of the two, proceeded to string together big punches for the rest of the bout. Gassed but still tough, Mizuguchi ate all of Kawaguchi’s punches while throwing winging singles of his own. Though his face was red and swollen, Mizuguchi would not go down, prompting Kawaguchi to switch tactics midway through the bout, as he chopped him down with kicks. When Mizuguchi limped into a corner at the 1:27 mark of the third round, cornerman Kazuhiro Nakamura threw in the towel. Referee Yoshinori Umeki did not see the towel but stopped the bout soon after.
Meanwhile, Hidehiko Hasegawa proved he was the superior former Deep welterweight champion in defeating Ryuki Ueyama.
Hasegawa started the bout looking to smash Ueyama into the corner for some dirty boxing, but Ueyeama soon rebounded with takedowns. As Ueyama tried to stomp out Hasegawa, the Samboist tried for leg lock attempts. Ueyama took the move as an invitation. Most of the second frame was spent with both former champions looking for the leg submission before Hasegawa stole back mount. Hasegawa secured back mount again in the third period after slamming stiff punches and stomps into Ueyama’s face. Though the fighters were returned to a standing position before the end of the round, Hasegawa had done enough to take home the decision on all three judges’ cards.
Finally, former deep middleweight titleholder Ryuta Sakurai looked to have stiff test in Guamanian import Hosea Ware after he ate snapping low kicks and was double-legged out of the ring within the first 10 seconds. Sakurai rebounded upon re-entering the ring, however, and put down Ware with his own double-leg. From there, he grinded his way from guard to side control and slapped on the straight armbar for the tapout 3:46 into the first round.
Other Bouts
Hiromitsu Kanehara def. Makoto Miyazawa -- TKO (Punches) 0:25 R1
Yuya Shirai def. Shigetoshi Iwase -- Unanimous Decision
Toshiaki Kitada def. Kleber Koike -- Submission (Armbar) 0:59 R2
Takashige Hirukawa def. Hiryu Okamoto -- Majority Decision
Tatsunao Nagakura def. Fuhito Hasegawa -- TKO (Shoulder Injury) 1:19 R1
Tomoya Kato def. Ryota Minawa -- Majority Decision
Tatsuhito Satsuma def. Hiroyuki Kobayashi -- Unanimous Decision
Related Articles
