Deep "Cage Impact 2009" Results: Imanari Subs Cruz, Obiya Outslugs Ise

Deep's cage wasn't white, nor was its netting made of Space Age fishing material, but the Japanese indy promotion still put on an exciting show - if one marred by an almost comical number of groin strikes - for its first time in the structure. "Cage Impact 2009" took place last night at Tokyo's Differ Ariake arena, a two-part, 17-bout, six-hour fight festival (so expanded to accommodate the horde of Japanese fighters eager for high-level cage experience).

In the first segment's main event, Deep 135-pound ace Masakazu Imanari made quick work of URCC bantamweight champ Justin "The Shocker" Cruz, using an unusual homespun submission to end the non-title affair halfway through the first round.

Here's the call from Tony Loiseleur's clutch live play-by-play for Sherdog (still readable in full if you didn't stay up late last night):

Imanari has taken the center, and Aoki is shouting instructions, "slowly get close! Slowly get close!" Cruz dropping low kicks and punches from just out of range. Cruz lunges with some punches and a low kick, lands the low. Imanari lunges with a punch of his own, throws on the guillotine, and Cruz pops out.

Imanari locks up an omaplata to try and reverse, throws some odd elbows at Cruz's trapped arm. Then Imanari sits back at an odd angle, behind Cruz's head, and wraps his hands around Cruz's chin, wrenching his head back in a very painful looking face lock. Cruz taps at 2:39 of the first round.

. . .

Imanari had the omaplata sunk in, and I suppose Cruz attempted to roll out of it. Imanari's body looked like it was perpendicular underneath Cruz as he flopped to his back. Imanari then reached down and just wrenched Cruz's chin, for the facelock finish.

For the nightcap, former lightweight champion Nobuhiro Obiya made his first appearance in over a year an impressive one, showing no signs of ring rust or trouble from his (formerly) damaged eye socket as he knocked out the very tough Toshikazu "Ise" Iseno in the second frame.

Full results (and a look at the cage) from the show in the extended entry.

Part 1
1 - 165 LBS - Yu (1-0) def. Koji Kashikura (0-2) via TKO (punches) R1 1:08
2 - 145 LBS - Yasuhiro Motomura (3-3) def. Yong Bok Gil (0-1) via DQ (accidental knees to the groin) R2
3 - 155 LBS - Sadao Kondo (5-0-1) def. Atsuhiro Tsuboi (6-13-4) via unanimous decision R2 5:00
4 - 170 LBS - Kenta Takagi (5-2) def. Teruhiko Kubo (8-10-1) via TKO (doctor stoppage) R1 3:57
5 - 145 LBS - Koichiro Matsumoto (9-2) def. Isamu Sugiuchi (8-9-3) via unanimous decision R2 5:00
6 - 170 LBS - Eiji Ishikawa (18-15-2) def. Yoshitomo Watanabe (7-10-2) via majority decision R2 5:00
7 - 139 LBS - Atsushi Yamamoto (14-6-1) def. Tomoya Miyashita (16-7-8) via unanimous decision R3 5:00
8 - Heavyweight - Yusuke Kawaguchi (11-1) def. Roque Martinez (5-2) via unanimous decision R3 5:00
9 - 136 LBS - Masakazu Imanari (18-7-2) def. Justin Cruz (13-4) via submission (omoplata neck crank) R1 2:39

Part 2
10 - 155 LBS- Yasuhiro Kawasaki (4-1-1) def. Mitsuru "Mike" Yamaguchi (1-1) via TKO (punches) R1 3:03
11 - 137 LBS - Hiryu Okamoto (4-3-1) def. Kaiji Hirano (2-2) via unanimous decision R2 5:00
12 - Heavyweight - Hirohide Fujinuma (7-4-2) def. Makoto (0-1) via TKO (punches) R1 2:50
13 - 155 LBS - Yuki Ito (8-4-8) def. Naoki Matsushita (11-13-9) via TKO (punches) R1 3:05
14 - 205 LBS - Bernard Ackah (4-3) def. Shunji Kosaka (4-2-1) via TKO (punches) R1 0:34
15 - 185 LBS - Ryuta Sakurai (20-15-5) def. Hiroki Sato (6-2-1) via KO (punch) R1
16 - 145 LBS - Toshiaki Kitada (10-4-3) vs. Takeshi Yamazaki (14-10-2) was declared a split draw
17 - 155 LBS - Nobuhiro Obiya (11-3-1) def. Toshikazu "Ise" Iseno (7-6-2) via TKO (punches) R2 1:49

Cage photo by shiroobi.