DEEP Impact 81
Guy DeLumeau (22-13-3) stepped up to lightweight to take this fight against Juri Ohara (21-13-2) following a loss in his last DEEP outing. In fact, DeLumeau’s last two losses have been to opponents who then went on to take featherweight belts in Pancrase and DEEP respectively, so he was keen to show he’s still in contention. A very hard fight with now featherweight King of Pancrase, Nazareno Malagarie saw DeLumeau drop a unanimous decision to the Brazil based Argentinian. Straight out of that and into the top of the DEEP featherweight division, DeLumeau faced Hiroto Uesako, which saw Uesako clip DeLumeau in round 2 with his heavy hands, and then following a questionably overlooked foul on the native’s behalf, the fight was stopped and ruled TKO.
A step up to lightweight is one thing, but a welcome to the DEEP lightweight division by 5’11” Juri Ohara, half of whose 21 wins come via strikes, was no record padding match. Still, DeLumeau initiates contact off the bat closing the distance with a jab. Ohara clearly looking to work his outside striking, DeLumeau throws low kicks to see how his taller opponent would react. DeLumeau continues to find his way in with the jab in the first minute, then moved on to bait Ohara with compact, pulled jabs. Gaining control over the distance, DeLumeau began looking for the lead left hook.
DeLumeau lands a takedown early on, ending in half guard, and controls Ohara well from top position. Ohara, in trouble, begins looking for space, pushing on the face of DeLumeau and the ensuing scramble ends in a ninja choke attempt from the Hawaiian. Still only half of the first round in. Ohara is successful in keeping DeLumeau from shrimping in to hook his legs, this vital in his escape from the submission. DeLumeau continues to outwrestle the big lightweight Ohara, but Ohara seizes an opportunity to look for a choke of his own, threatening the neck of DeLumeau with a front guillotine.
Ohara is forced to give up the submission attempt and then loses his back to the Pancrase veteran. The last minute of the 1st round sees DeLumeau’s persistance resulting in full back control and a prompt transition to a banana split attempt. With just 30 seconds on the clock, Ohara tries his own ankle attack, DeLumeau wrestles him back to the cage and immediately looks for a single leg takedown.
Round 2 they come out aggressive – Ohara throwing his heavy right, DeLumeau tags him with his left. Ohara throws long and dangerous knees, moves to elbows which don’t connect, but look like DeLumeau wouldn’t want them to. More vicious knees from Ohara put DeLumeau in some visible danger, but the Hawaiin’s wrestling shines through as he closes the distance, taking Ohara down and taking his back again. Peppering punches into Ohara, DeLumeau goes after the RNC, the toughness of Ohara shining through, but not enough for the grapping prowess of DeLumeau.
The last minute of the fight sees Ohara making a break for the guard position, resulting in both fighters back on their feet and the tall lightweight, Ohara, tries to punish DeLumeau for all the time on the canvas. DeLumeau refuses to give over control of the fight, and it ends with him taking his first win at lightweight.
