PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Mike McDonnell (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Shuuji Hanamoto (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Shuuji Hanamoto is staring across the cage at his opponent, tweaking his nipples.

McDonnell
vs
Hanamoto

185 cm
21
182 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

186 cm
21
195 lbs
5 - 4 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Basic striking
Good chin

Good wrestler
Brawler
Powerful

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 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Mike McDonnell!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Shuuji Hanamoto!
The judges for this bout are Shirou Masuda, Hirohito Nitta and Ren Mimura.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
McDonnell throws a sloppy head kick and Hanamoto moves out of range easily.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Hanamoto.
Hanamoto working the head and body with strikes.
Hanamoto landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.
Hanamoto tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.
Hanamoto has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Hanamoto wants to control but McDonnell is keeping him busy.
McDonnell knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Hanamoto on the ground.
McDonnell taking a bit of punishment here - Hanamoto scoring with strikes.
Hanamoto looks up at the clock and then as McDonnell takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Hanamoto smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
McDonnell on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if McDonnell tries to get out of the position.
Hanamoto happy to just control the position for now.
Hanamoto tries to score with some ground and pound. McDonnell controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Hanamoto misses with an attempted head punch from side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hanamoto lands some shots froms side control.
Hanamoto throws an elbow but McDonnell slips to the side and avoids it well.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
McDonnell taking punishment in the form of punches.
McDonnell on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Sloppy strikes there by Hanamoto.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Hanamoto fails to land a wild elbow strike.
Hanamoto working the head and body with strikes.
Hanamoto trying to control the position but McDonnell is working away.
Hanamoto working the ground and pound.
Hanamoto misses with an attempted head punch from side control.
Hanamoto misses with the ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto lands a few punches from side control.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
McDonnell tries to bench press Hanamoto off him but Hanamoto keeps the position.
Hanamoto controls the position.
McDonnell tries to bench press Hanamoto off him but Hanamoto keeps the position.
Hanamoto looks up at the clock and then as McDonnell takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Hanamoto smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
McDonnell tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Hanamoto creates a bit of distance and throws down some hard shots.
An elbow from Hanamoto crashes against the mat.
Hanamoto lands a decent elbow from side control.
Hanamoto throws an elbow but McDonnell slips to the side and avoids it well.
Hanamoto lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear McDonnell down.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto is looking to take a break and control but McDonnell is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
McDonnell tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Hanamoto wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
McDonnell on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Hanamoto working the ground and pound but McDonnell is defending the strikes.
Hanamoto controls the position from side control.
Hanamoto wants to control but McDonnell is keeping him busy.
Hanamoto in side control lands a nice looking series of punches and elbows.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto looks up at the clock and then as McDonnell takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Hanamoto smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
Hanamoto scoring with punches from side control.
McDonnell is trying to get back to his feet.
McDonnell is breathing heavily.
Hanamoto working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
McDonnell tries to escape but Hanamoto is in control.
Hanamoto working the head and body with strikes.
McDonnell looking for a sweep but Hanamoto has passed into full mount! Oh no!
Hanamoto sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Hanamoto scoring with strikes but McDonnell is staying in there.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Shuuji Hanamoto dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Hanamoto shoots in but McDonnell avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Hanamoto keeps the fight on the outside.
Hanamoto closes this distance looking for a takedown but McDonnell circles away.
McDonnell swings for the body but Hanamoto moves out of range.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Hanamoto.
McDonnell tries to bench press Hanamoto off him but Hanamoto keeps the position.
Hanamoto working the ground and pound.
McDonnell on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Hanamoto working the body and head with strikes.
Hanamoto scores with a couple of short elbows.
Hanamoto scores with a couple of short elbows.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Hanamoto working the ground and pound.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Hanamoto in side control lands a decent elbow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
McDonnell regains half guard.
Hanamoto is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
McDonnell is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Hanamoto scores with a couple of nice shots.
McDonnell taking some punishment here, with Hanamoto in his half guard.
Hanamoto perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Hanamoto 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.
Hanamoto is trying to control. McDonnell wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Hanamoto thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
McDonnell keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Hanamoto missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
McDonnell tries to kick Hanamoto off but Hanamoto keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
McDonnell on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Hanamoto not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Hanamoto missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Hanamoto working over McDonnell with some ground and pound. McDonnell looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Hanamoto looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks McDonnell with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Hanamoto seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Nice strikes from Hanamoto there.
McDonnell is refusing to be controlled, as Hanamoto sits in half guard.
Hanamoto looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks McDonnell with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Hanamoto winds up and cracks McDonnell with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Hanamoto looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks McDonnell with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Hanamoto scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Hanamoto lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Hanamoto looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks McDonnell with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
McDonnell is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Hanamoto scores with a couple of nice shots.
Hanamoto is controlling the pace.
McDonnell avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Hanamoto.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto moves nicely into side control.
McDonnell takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Hanamoto lands some shots froms side control.
Hanamoto is putting a hurting on McDonnell here, landing some big shots from side control.
Hanamoto controlling from side mount.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Hanamoto cracks McDonnell with a big elbow.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Shuuji Hanamoto 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!

Hanamoto attempts a leg kick but it's missed by a good margin.
Horrible takedown by Hanamoto or perhaps it was just good defense by McDonnell which made him look bad.

Hanamoto shoots in and bounces McDonnell off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Hanamoto's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
McDonnell wants to stand and escape but Hanamoto is having none of it.
McDonnell keeping moving, preventing Hanamoto from controlling successfully.
Hanamoto landing some decent shots from guard.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Hanamoto lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Shuuji Hanamoto has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hanamoto content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
McDonnell is trying to control the position but Hanamoto postures up.
Hanamoto wants to control from the top but McDonnell keeps moving.
McDonnell is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Hanamoto throws a big right hand that misses.
Hanamoto trying to control the position from guard on top but McDonnell is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Hanamoto postures up and lands a big shot to McDonnell's brow.
Hanamoto distracts McDonnell with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Hanamoto lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
McDonnell trying to keep a closed guard but Hanamoto is proving a slippery customer.
Hanamoto works over McDonnell with some ground and pound from guard.
Hanamoto pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. McDonnell is keeping the position for now.
Hanamoto content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Hanamoto with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Hanamoto with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Hanamoto has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
McDonnell looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Hanamoto lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Hanamoto working some strikes from top position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto working some strikes from top position.
Hanamoto postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
McDonnell utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Hanamoto slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.
Hanamoto keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of McDonnell's head.
Hanamoto is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.
McDonnell keeping moving, preventing Hanamoto from controlling successfully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hanamoto scoring with some ground and pound.
Mike McDonnell has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Hanamoto's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Hanamoto in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
McDonnell avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Hanamoto looking to pass the guard.
Hanamoto trying to control the position from guard on top but McDonnell is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Hanamoto stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. McDonnell swivels though and keeps the full guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Shuuji Hanamoto comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Hanamoto winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Shirou Masuda scores the fight 25:30
Judge Hirohito Nitta scores the fight 25:30
Judge Ren Mimura scores the fight 25:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Shuuji Hanamoto!