PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Nick De La Rossa (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ren Akita (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). De La Rossa comes to the ring accompanied by DJ Khaled - Go Hard. These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

De La Rossa
vs
Akita

180 cm
20
144 lbs
4 - 0 - 0

171 cm
25
148 lbs
9 - 1 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Self confident

Powerful takedowns
Counter striker
Good gas tank

FNF Energy - (Sale!)

Shango Designs

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 4 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Nick De La Rossa!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 9 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Ren Akita!
The judges for this bout are Taro Takaoka, Sosuke Kotani and Shigeki Fujiwara.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Nice defenses there by De La Rossa.
De La Rossa doesn't manage to clinch there - Akita circles away.
De La Rossa really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
De La Rossa tries to clinch but Akita is having none of it.
Akita swats away the attempt to clinch by De La Rossa.
De La Rossa wants to clinch up but Akita keeps it at a distance.
Nick De La Rossa seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
De La Rossa tries to close the distance and clinch up but Akita swats him away and circles back towards the center.
De La Rossa tries to close the distance and clinch up against the ropes but Akita paws at him with a jab and circles away.
De La Rossa wants to clinch up but Akita keeps it at a distance.
Akita fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Akita keeps the fight on the outside.

Akita scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Akita wants to control but De La Rossa is keeping him busy.
De La Rossa wants to improve his position but Akita is controlling well.
De La Rossa is trying to control but can't.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Akita is trying to control. De La Rossa wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
De La Rossa tries to get to full guard but Akita has control of the leg.

Akita is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. De La Rossa doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Akita.

Akita is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and De La Rossa defends it well.
De La Rossa wants to control but Akita is keeping busy.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Akita fails with a takedown attempt.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.

De La Rossa clinches up with Akita and pushes him back against the ropes.
Akita blocks an elbow strike.
De La Rossa utilising his Muay Thai to score with a knee to the body.
Akita blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Akita tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. De La Rossa just stands there and leans against the ropes.
Nick De La Rossa has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Ren Akita.
De La Rossa throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
A bit of stalling here from De La Rossa.
Akita avoiding damage as De La Rossa throws knees to the body.
De La Rossa just leaning against Akita, taking a breather.
De La Rossa using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Akita has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Akita blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
De La Rossa crunches a lovely knee into Akita's ribcage.
Akita fails to pull guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
De La Rossa gets underhooks to prevent Akita's takedown attempt.
Akita blocks an elbow strike.
A battle for position here, against the ropes.
De La Rossa misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Akita.
De La Rossa misses with an elbow strike.
De La Rossa wants to stall.
Akita blocks a body shot from De La Rossa.
De La Rossa misses with some punches.
Akita takes a knee to the side of the body.
Akita managing to block the knees to the body from De La Rossa.
De La Rossa dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the ropes.
De La Rossa looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Akita tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
De La Rossa missing with knees to the body.
De La Rossa will no doubt start fighting again in a minute but for now he's just having a little rest, leaning Akita up against the ropes.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. De La Rossa obliges.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
De La Rossa is trying to maintain a safe position but Akita gets an underhook and turns De La Rossa into the ropes.
Maybe De La Rossa would be better served going for some more strikes rather than trying to control so much.
De La Rossa seems a little flustered. He's come in with the intention of controlling the clinch but Akita is preventing him from doing so, at least for the moment.
The ref breaks the fighters up, due to lack of action by Nick De La Rossa.
De La Rossa tries to clinch there but Akita circles away.
De La Rossa moves in looking to clinch but Akita pushes him off.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Akita dives in and grabs De La Rossa's left leg, looking for a takedown. De La Rossa pushes down on Akita's head and hops out.
De La Rossa tries to clinch there but Akita circles away.
Akita circles away from the clinch attempt.

De La Rossa darts in and clinches Akita up against the ropes.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Nick De La Rossa dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

No luck for Akita with that takedown attempt.

Akita bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Akita trying to control the position but De La Rossa is working away.
Akita working the ground and pound but De La Rossa is defending the strikes.
De La Rossa is not content to let Akita control the position.

Akita tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Akita has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!

Akita goes for an armbar here - this could be all over! But no, De La Rossa has escaped beautifully and is now on top in side control! Oh, that's unlucky for Akita but great work by De La Rossa.
Akita is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

De La Rossa decides to stand back up. De La Rossa steps back and let's Akita get back to his feet.

Akita closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming De La Rossa to the mat! De La Rossa manages to get full guard.
De La Rossa not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Akita working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.

Akita thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Akita in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Akita throwing strikes from guard but De La Rossa blocks nicely.
Akita wants to control from the top but De La Rossa keeps moving.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
De La Rossa is avoiding any damage by keeping wrist control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
De La Rossa is trying to control the position but Akita postures up.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
De La Rossa tries to close the distance and clinch up against the ropes but Akita paws at him with a jab and circles away.
De La Rossa tries to clinch but Akita moves out of range.
De La Rossa fails with an attempt to clinch.
De La Rossa wants to clinch up but Akita keeps it at a distance.
Akita connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
De La Rossa wants to clinch up but Akita keeps it at a distance.

De La Rossa gets caught on his heels momentarily as he allows Akita to score an easy takedown into full guard.
De La Rossa working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Akita.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Akita is looking to work some ground and pound but De La Rossa has wrist control.
Akita trying to control but De La Rossa is working from the bottom.
Akita postures up.
Akita trying to control the position from guard on top but De La Rossa is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Akita advances position into side control!
Akita tries to move into full mount but can't pass De La Rossa's legs.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Akita keeps the fight on the outside.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Akita is defended easily by De La Rossa.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Akita is defended easily by De La Rossa.
Nick De La Rossa has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Ren Akita.

Akita feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
De La Rossa not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
De La Rossa keeping moving, preventing Akita from controlling successfully.
De La Rossa looking to control.
Akita pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. De La Rossa is keeping the position for now.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ren Akita showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

De La Rossa is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
De La Rossa wants to clinch up but Akita keeps it at a distance.
De La Rossa is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Akita avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Akita fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
The fight stays on the outside here - De La Rossa looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
De La Rossa is looking to clinch.

Akita closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
De La Rossa struggling a bit here.
Akita looking to punish the body of his opponent here but De La Rossa is avoiding damage well.
Akita takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
De La Rossa is trying to control Akita's posture but Akita avoids it.

Akita is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but De La Rossa is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
De La Rossa is looking for a sweep.
You can see the frustration on De La Rossa's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
The strikes coming from Akita are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Akita trying to control the position but De La Rossa is working away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
De La Rossa tries to clinch up.
Akita shoots for a double leg takedown but De La Rossa sprawls well. He's pushed Akita's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Nick De La Rossa is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Akita swats away the attempt to clinch by De La Rossa.

Akita throws the overhand right but ducks down into a quick takedown attempt. De La Rossa was covering up waiting for the punch and Akita finishes the takedown easily into guard.
De La Rossa keeping moving, preventing Akita from controlling successfully.
Akita tries to free his leg and advance position but De La Rossa is retaining full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
De La Rossa trying to keep a closed guard but Akita is proving a slippery customer.
Akita forces his way into half guard.
De La Rossa manages to get to full guard.
De La Rossa is trying to keep Akita in close.

Akita drops back looking for a leg! De La Rossa is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and De La Rossa manages to kick Akita off! Akita jumps back into De La Rossa's guard.
Akita wants to pass the guard but De La Rossa is keeping the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
De La Rossa controls Akita momentarily but Akita frees himself.
Akita sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed De La Rossa's guard.
Akita looks to land a strike but De La Rossa avoids it nicely and regains full guard.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Akita slips nicely into half guard.
De La Rossa is trying to control but can't.

And that's the end of the fight!
Ren Akita comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Akita has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Taro Takaoka scores the fight 28:29
Judge Sosuke Kotani scores the fight 28:29
Judge Shigeki Fujiwara scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Ren Akita!