The story
Founded by Shigeru Saeki in 2001.1
Deep was established in 2000 as "Deep2001", and the first event was promoted on January 8, 2001. It was founded by businessman Shigeru Saeki, who owned a commercial/magazine photographer and publisher named DEEP International. In 2003, Deep2001 changed its name to simply Deep.
Deep started playing the role of a subcontractor for Pride Fighting Championships since Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) started promoting the Pride Bushido series in September 2003, which focused training Japanese fighters at middleweight and lightweight. As a result, a number of Japanese fighters, such as Ryo Chonan and Ikuhisa Minowa, started their careers fighting in DEEP before moving on to larger and more famous MMA promotions.
Deep is also known as one of the few major Japanese organizations to cultivate Korean talent, including Dong Hyun Kim, Chan Sung Jung, and Doo Ho Choi - all of which have moved on to successful careers in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Deep began promoting bouts with female fighters at its 13th event on July 13, 2003.
On February 22, 2008, Deep implemented the weight division system created by Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for its male fighters.
Following the closure of Pride in 2007 and the formation of Dream in 2008, Deep expanded its cooperation with other Japanese promotions. On May 17, 2008, Deep announced a partnership with ZST to share fighters, co-promote shows and eventually unify the promotions. With the partnership intended to develop talent for Dream.
On December 19, 2009, Deep started to use a UFC-style octagon for their Cage Impact events.
At a press conference held in Macau on December 1, 2010, DEEP announced its first international event, which was to be held in Macau in 2011. However, low levels of interest and dismal tickets sales led DEEP to cancel the event. Deep has yet to host an event outside Japan.
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In February 2011, it was announced that Deep and the MMA division of Smash had formed an amateur promotion named the Japan MMA League (JML).
Deep Jewels
On May 25, 2013 (2013-05-25) the all-female MMA promotion Jewels announced that it would cease operations as an independent company, with Yuichi Ozono, then head of Jewels, stepping down and Shigeru Saeki from Deep, formerly supervisor, taking the full direction, and transferring fighters and brand to the new Deep Jewels brand, which would be managed by Deep.
From Wikipedia’s article on Deep (mixed martial arts), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4