PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Leonardo Lecci (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Kazushi Sakuraba (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Lecci
vs
Sakuraba

177 cm
22
195 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

180 cm
22
185 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Good knees
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Leonardo Lecci!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Kazushi Sakuraba!
The judges for this bout are Yukihiro Shimada, Shirou Masuda and Yasuomi Hirokawa.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sakuraba shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Lecci sprawls well. Lecci wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Sakuraba gets slowly back to his feet.
Lecci tries to clinch but Sakuraba moves out of range.
Lecci keeps the fight on the outside.
Sakuraba shoots in for a takedown but Lecci shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.

Lecci has taken the fight to the clinch.
Sakuraba takes a knee right on the jaw!

It looks like Kazushi Sakuraba has been cut.

Lecci breaks the clinch.

Sakuraba shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Sakuraba showed some decent athleticism there.
Sakuraba prevents Lecci from standing back up.
Sakuraba uses his free foot to push down on Lecci's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Lecci.
Lecci's corner are shouting for him to stand up but that's bad cornering - how is he meant to stand up when he's mounted? He should be looking to improve his position on the ground before trying to stand back up.
Sakuraba landing shots from mount.
Sakuraba controlling from the full mount.
A nice elbow there by Sakuraba.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakuraba lands a big shot there that rocks Lecci but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Sakuraba raining down shots from the mount!
You get the feeling that Lecci really doesn't like being in this position too much.
Lecci has given up his back, trying to stand up. Not clever.
Sakuraba lands strikes to the head.
Sakuraba is working the ground and pound. Can Lecci escape?
Sakuraba cracks Lecci with a big shot to body and one to the head - really punishing Lecci from the back mount here, looking to soften him up.
Sakuraba is controlling his opponent, waiting for an opportunity to finish.
Sakuraba softening up his opponent with strikes here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Lecci controlling the position well but he knows he's in a bad position.
Lecci is breathing heavily.
Sakuraba scores with punches to the body.
Lecci wants to get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Sakuraba is cranking Lecci's head sideways - that looks painful. He's managed to get his other arm under the chin and this looks bad for Lecci! He's tightened the choke and Lecci is tapping out!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:44 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Kazushi Sakuraba!