PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Dontrelle Francois (ranked 4419 p4p, 4356 weight class) and Hajime Nakamura (ranked 228 p4p, 224 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Nakamura's choice of entrance music: Soldier of Fortune - Loudness. Dontrelle Francois had real problems making weight for this fight. After initially coming in at 137.0lbs, he had two hours to make the official fight weight. He made it but it will have taken a lot out of him to cut those extra few pounds. We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Francois
vs
Nakamura

175 cm
25
146
0 - 0 - 0

174 cm
25
145
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Dangerous knees
Good chin

Good takedowns
Basic striking
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Dontrelle Francois!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Hajime Nakamura!
The judges for this bout are Winston Alpacca, Santiago Holmes and Peter Branson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Francois lands a jab followed by a nice looking cross.
Nakamura is looking to chop away at Francois's legs.
Nakamura throws a body shot but no joy.
Nakamura misses with a straight left.
Nakamura takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
Nakamura fails in his attempt to clinch.
Nakamura closes the distance but Francois moves to the side
and Francois counters with a three punch combo that has Nakamura backing up. Nakamura nods at Francois to acknowledge the strikes.
Nakamura waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Francois.
Nakamura avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Francois tries to clinch but Nakamura moves out of range.
Nakamura is looking to clinch.
Francois has a takedown stuffed.
Nakamura fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
As Nakamura tries to get set, Francois tries to push him back and clinch up but Nakamura manages to avoid the attempt.

Nakamura darts in and clinches Francois up against the cage.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Francois decides to pull guard.
Nakamura missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Francois preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Francois working a defensive guard but Nakamura manages to pass into side control anyway.

Nakamura looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Nakamura takes a little break here. Francois wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Francois gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Nakamura controlling from the full mount.
Nakamura's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nakamura throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Nakamura has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Nakamura controlling his opponent.

Nakamura has control of Francois's right arm, working for a kimura. It's a bit of a token attempt though and Francois regains control of the situation pretty easily.
Francois tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Francois knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Nakamura on the ground.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nakamura manages to capitalize on a mistake by Francois to take his back!
Nakamura has the hooks sunk in and you can see the will to fight slowly draining out of Francois's body.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Francois is trying to break free.
Nakamura controls the action.

Nakamura is working for the choke. It looks like he might have got it... has he...? Yes! Francois is tapping out! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:52 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Hajime Nakamura!
Hajime Nakamura seemed lost for words in his post fight interview but he remembered to thank his fans and directed everyone to his website.