PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Jayden James (ranked 4929 p4p, 2008 weight class) and Hayato Sakuraba (ranked 573 p4p, 293 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

James
vs
Sakuraba

168 cm
31
209
6 - 12 - 0

180 cm
32
202
11 - 13 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter fighter
KO power

BJJ Brown Belt
Decent boxing
Powerful

Highland Clothing

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 6 - 12 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Jayden James!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 13 - 0, fighting out of London, Hayato Sakuraba!
The judges for this bout are James Ackerman, Donald Grub and Andrew Berry.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
We've got one fighter who appears to only be looking to counter and the other not looking particularly aggressive either, so we could be in for a dull fight.
Sakuraba dips to his left and cracks James with an uppercut!

Sakuraba shoots in and bounces James off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.

Sakuraba got a little sloppy there for a moment and James has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Sakuraba has managed to get both his arms back between James's legs - danger averted.
James might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.

James has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Sakuraba can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Sakuraba passes easily into side control. Nice work.
Sakuraba cracks James with a big right hand but James just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
James gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Nice strikes from Sakuraba there.
Sakuraba is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Sakuraba wants to pass to mount but James is defending the position.

Sakuraba is trying to work for a kimura but James is defending well.

Sakuraba is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakuraba working the head and body with strikes.
Sakuraba not doing much here.

James is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Sakuraba pulls his head out easily.
Sakuraba working the head and body with strikes.
Sakuraba working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
James on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Sakuraba connects with a nice short shot to James's temple.

James is rocked!

Sakuraba seems like he's working for an arm triangle here. He's freed his trapped foot and he's rotating nicely. James is in big trouble! He's tapping out! This one is aaaaaaaaaaaall over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:57 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Arm Triangle). Hayato Sakuraba!
A very excited looking Hayato Sakuraba made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.