After years in the fight game, becoming one of the corner stones for Japanese MMA, mixed martial arts promotion Deep will hold its 50th event on October 24, celebrating it's 10 year anniversary at the Tokyo JCB Hall, in Tokyo, Japan. A bevy of some of the most notable fighters will grace the card, including DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, who will be returning to Deep after a 6 year absence from the promotion that gave him his start as a professional mixed martial artist. ...

Sunday at DREAM.3 in Tokyo, Eddie Alvarez (14-1), "Crusher" Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2), and "Uno Shoten" Caol Uno (25-10-4) advanced to the DREAM.5 semi-finals of the Lightweight Grand Prix. Fighters.com's tenth-ranked middleweight "Mayhem" Jason Miller (21-5) and Nick Diaz (16-7) also picked up wins. "Mayhem" easily pounded out Masakatsu Funaki-trained Katsuyori Shibata (2-4) in 6:57 to add himself and a bit of respectability to the Middleweight Grand Prix to be continued at DREAM.4. In the Lightweight GP's biggest upset, Uno was too slick for Fighters.com's fifth-ranked lightweight "Endless Fighter" Mitsuhiro Ishida (16-4-1) on his feet, then, surprisingly, on the mat. "Uno Shoten" wrapped Ishida up in a rear naked choke during a scramble on the ground, ending the "Endless Fighter" at 1:39 of the second round. Alvarez won an exciting unanimous decision over "Hellboy" Joachim Hansen in an upset predicted by Fighters.com. Kawajiri advanced to DREAM.5 in the expected "W" over "Buscape" Luiz Firmino (12-4), but wasn't able to stop the tough Brazilian. Some fighters get rusty after a prolonged absence.  "Mean for no reason" (as labeled by "Punk" Josh Thomson (14-2)) Diaz was pissed after six months of inactivity.  He unloaded on welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (16-6-3) for nearly seven minutes, causing Inoue's corner to throw in the towel. Diaz earned a DREAM welterweight title shot with the dominating "W". Welterweight Daisuke Nakamura (14-9) served Korean judoka Bu Kyung Jung (0-3) his first stoppage loss with a knockout at 1:05 of round two. "Marvelous" Melvin Manhoef (21-4-1) TKO'd another Korean judoka, Dae Won Kim (4-4), at 4:08 of round one. Lightweight Takeshi Yamazaki (14-7-2) won a unanimous decision over Shoji Maruyama (6-3-1). ...

Sunday night, Differ Ariake in Tokyo hosted the latest installment of Pancrase. Light heavyweight Grabaka striker Keiichiro Yamamiya (33-22-9) scored a second consecutive upset, this time going long with veteran Yuki Kondo (48-21-6).   The judges called a majority decision in Yamamiya's favor by scores of 30-29 twice and 30-30. In December, Yamamiya won an upset unanimous decision over Ryo Kawamura (8-2-2). Pancrase crowned a new King at welterweight when Takuya Wada (17-8-8) won a unanimous decision over Jason Palacios (5-4).  Palacios was a late replacement for Frenchman Bryan Rafiq (5-2). Lightweight King of Pancrase Shoji Maruyama (6-2-1) weathered a mat struggle with Koji Oishi (16-7-5) to retain his title by majority draw.  Judges scores were 30-29 for Oishi, 29-29, and 30-30. "The Pink Typhoon" Yuji Hisamatsu (11-14-4) blew over Swede Matti Makela (9-6) by TKO at 4:52 of the first round. "J-Taro" Masaya Takita (9-9-2) evened up his record with a second-round KO of Manabu Inoue (6-4-1) at 1:16.  "J-Taro" clocked Inoue clean with a knee strike as Inoue shot. Middleweight warrior Ryuji Ohori (3-2) battled back from a pounding to submit Daisuke Watanabe (17-28-4) in an armbar at 4:46 of the second round.  It was Watanabe's third consecutive defeat. Team Sakuraba's Wataru Takahashi submitted Yuko Sakaguchi in an armbar at 4:23 of round one. Undefeated Djamal Kurbanov (3-0-1) and Katsuya Inoue (16-5-3) fought to a majority draw by scores of 30-29 for Inoue, 29-29, and 28-28. Lightweight Steve Magdaleno (4-0-1) won a unanimous decision over Korean Il Gyu Park (1-1). Featherweight Hirotoshi Saito (1-0) won a unanimous decision debut over Hayatao Shimizu. Bantamweight Yasutomo Tanaka (5-1-3) submitted Motonobu Tezuka (6-3-1) by rear naked choke at 2:30 of round two. In his pro debut, Takuya Eizumi (1-0) TKO'd featherweight Ryota Sasaki (0-2) at :43 of round two. ...

Pancrase opens act three of it's Shining tour at Differ Ariake 27 April starring venerable middleweight vets Yuki Kondo (48-20-6) and Keiichiro Yamamiya (32-22-9) in a rematch a dozen years on. Kondo KO'd Keiichiro while I was scheduling 100-level firsts for my freshman year at uni' way back in '96. That "L" was Yamamiya's first; but, in '08 the two warriors come with victories over "Hightower" Semmy Schilt (25-14-1), "Lights Out" Chris Lytle (25-15-5),  Frank Shamrock (24-8-1), Denis Kang (29-9-1), and Masakatsu Funaki (38-12-1) between them. The entire lineup is below: Yuki Kondo v Keiichiro Yamamiya Shoji Maruyama (6-2) v Koji Oishi (16-7-4) Bryan Rafiq (5-2) v Takuya Wada (16-8-8) "The Pink Typhoon" Yuji Hisamatsu (10-14-4) v Matti Makela (9-5) Manabu Inoue (6-3-1) v "J-Taro" Masaya Takita (8-9-2) Daisuke Watanabe(17-27-4) v Ryuji Ohori (2-2) Yukio Sakaguchi (1-2) v Wataru Takahashi (5-10-3) ...