PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Mabishiro Sakamoto (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Sergio Santos (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Mabishiro Sakamoto looks tired to me. Hopefully he has got enough gas left in the tank to put in a good performance.

Sakamoto
vs
Santos

175 cm
18
160 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

172 cm
20
165 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
KO power

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of New York, Mabishiro Sakamoto!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Sergio Santos!
The judges for this bout are Bruno Lombardi, John Kavanagh and Reed Andrews.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Santos scores with a head kick.

It looks like Mabishiro Sakamoto has been cut.
Sakamoto looks exhausted already! Oh dear, he should have come in in better shape than this!

Santos closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Sakamoto did well to prevent Santos getting side control.
Santos wants to control but Sakamoto is keeping him busy.
Santos not doing much here.
Santos passes to side control.

Santos decides to stand up, so the ref orders Sakamoto to his feet.

Santos shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Santos was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Santos raining down shots from the mount!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakamoto tries to lock up and control but Santos gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Santos is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Sakamoto can't stay in a position like this for much longer.

Santos is standing up out of mount! Strange tactic there - he must really want this one on the feet!

Santos closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Sakamoto did well to prevent Santos getting side control.
Santos stalling.
Sakamoto blocking the ground and pound attempt from Santos.
Santos trying to mount his opponent but Sakamoto defends it.
Santos lands strikes from half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santos wants to control but Sakamoto is keeping him busy.
Sakamoto wants to get back to his feet.
Santos controlling the pace.
Santos prevents Sakamoto from standing back up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santos lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Santos is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Santos takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

Santos looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Santos is looking to advance position but Sakamoto won't allow it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Sakamoto trying to control here.
Santos looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Sergio Santos dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Mabishiro Sakamoto's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Sakamoto misses with a double jab.

Santos clinches.
Sakamoto tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Santos avoids it.
Santos gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.

Santos breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

Santos shoots in looking for a single leg takedown. Sakamoto is trying to defend but Santos finishes it well and ends up in half guard. Let's see if he can advance position further.
Santos thows a huge punch but Sakamoto dodges it nicely.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Santos looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Santos stalling.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakamoto is trying to maintain the position but Santos is very close to passing his half guard.
Santos not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Sakamoto wants to control but Santos is keeping busy.
Santos sitting and controlling from the half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Santos works his way into side control.
Santos working away.
Santos creates a bit of distance and throws down some hard shots.

Santos decides to stand up, so the ref orders Sakamoto to his feet.
Sakamoto on the wrong end of a nice hook.

Santos shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Sakamoto napping and manages to drive through into side control!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sakamoto gets back to half guard.
Sakamoto trying to control but Santos postures up.

Sakamoto kicks Santos off and gets back to his feet.
Santos is looking to take this fight into the clinch.

Santos closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Sakamoto is trying to control Santos's posture but Santos avoids it.

Santos decides to take the fight back to the feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Santos shoots for a takedown but Sakamoto saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Santos tries to close the distance and clinch but Sakamoto swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

Sakamoto looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Santos!
Sakamoto unloading with bombs!
Sakamoto tries to control but Santos wriggling away.
Santos is in all sorts of trouble here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Sergio Santos showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The cut man is working on Mabishiro Sakamoto's cut.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final round!

Sakamoto drives through with a takedown into guard.

Sakamoto got a little sloppy there for a moment and Santos has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Sakamoto has managed to get both his arms back between Santos's legs - danger averted.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Sakamoto trying to control but Santos is working from the bottom.
Sakamoto stopping the sweep attempt from Santos.
Santos wants to stand but Sakamoto is controlling the position.
Sakamoto wanted to stand there but Santos had control of the position.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Sakamoto is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Santos throwing strikes off his back to little effect.
Sakamoto trying to control but Santos is working from the bottom.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.

Sakamoto closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Santos did well to prevent Sakamoto getting side control.
Santos tries to strike from the bottom but it doesn't land.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santos trying to control but Sakamoto postures up.

Sakamoto stands up from half guard... He's had enough of that ground malarky for the time being.
Sakamoto fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Santos cracks the inside of Sakamoto's front leg.
A jab from Santos does it's job there.

Santos darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Santos throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santos winds up and cracks Sakamoto with a swinging punch to the side of the head.

Sakamoto pushes Santos off and gets back to his feet.
Sakamoto fails with the takedown

and Santos counters with a takedown into side control.
Sakamoto is looking for a sweep.
Santos trying to control the position but Sakamoto is working away.

Santos stands up and beckons Sakamoto to his feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Santos shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Sakamoto as he jumps to the side.
Sakamoto misses with an attempted mid kick.
Santos has his takedown stuffed

and Sakamoto counters with a takedown into side control.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Santos tries to buck Sakamoto off but Sakamoto is having none of it.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Sakamoto lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.

Sakamoto has had enough of the ground for now and decides to stand.

And that's the end of the fight!
Mabishiro Sakamoto showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Santos has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Bruno Lombardi scores the fight 27:29
Judge John Kavanagh scores the fight 27:29
Judge Reed Andrews scores the fight 27:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Sergio Santos!