Kazuyuki Miyata Added to DEEP 42

Former Olympian and K-1 Hero's veteran Kazuyuki Miyata (6-7) will make his true featherweight (65.7kg) debut against Takeshi Yamazaki (14-9-2) at June 30's DEEP 42nd Impact, Shigeru Saeki announced at DEEP's official gym today.

Miyata last saw action in ZST as part of the "Olympic Combination" tag team (with Katsuhiko Nagata) and before that submitted Jae Hyun So at DEEP 41 in a 67kg catchweight bout. Since opening his own gym (Brave) earlier this year, the former wrestler has become rededicated to grappling and MMA. He looked phenomenal in his last bout and is said to be hanging around 5-6% body fat (and aiming for 3%).

Meanwhile, Yamazaki - who returns to DEEP after nearly three years away - had a four-fight win streak snapped by Hideo Tokoro at DREAM.5, and hasn't fought since being submitted by Yuji Hoshino in Cage Rage last September. Saeki discussed the strong possibility of the winner of this fight challenging DEEP Featherweight ace Dokonjonosuke Mishima this fall.

Also on hand for the press conference was unbeaten The Outsider prospect Tomoya Kato (3-0), who has opted to enter the 2009 DEEP Future King bracket instead of Akira Maeda's own tournament. Kato is a 23-year-old former drag racer turned bodyguard who won all three of his Outsider bouts by TKO. He was brought to DEEP by "ISE" Iseno, who also returns to the ring on after more than six months away due to a torn ligament in his knee. "ISE" says he, Kato and Riki Fukuda are ready to hijack DEEP.

Here are the bouts announced today for the June 30th card, which features a main event title match between middleweight champ Yuichi Nakanishi (9-8-3) and challenger Riki Fukuda (14-4), plus the DEEP debut of TV personality Bernard Ackah (2-2).

Takeshi Yamazaki
(14-9-2 / GRABAKA)
vs.
Kazuyuki Miyata
(6-7 / Brave)

Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno
(6-5-2 / PUREBRED Omiya)
vs.
Kleber Koike
(1-0 / Bonsai Jiu Jitsu)

Yusaku "99" Tsukumo
(6-3 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tiger Place)
vs.
Myeon Ho Bae
(7-4 / CMA Korea)

Shigetoshi Iwase
(7-11-3 / T-BLOOD)
vs.
Taisuke Okuno
(7-3-1 / free)

DEEP Future King Tournament 2009

Motoki Awaji
(0-2 / DEEP Official Gym Impact)
vs.
Tomoya Kato
(3-0 / BONDS)

Yasuhiro Kawasaki
(2-0-1 / R-BLOOD)
vs.
Yusuke Kagiyama
(7-2-1 / Cobra Kai MMA Dojo)

Tatsumitsu Wada
(0-5 / Yoshida Dojo)
vs.
Tatsuya Tsuchida
(3-2 / DOBUITA)