PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Takanori Sakurai (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Hank Le Tank (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Sakurai might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to number girl syndrome. Le Tank has chosen The Trooper as his entrance music. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Sakurai
vs
Le Tank

176 cm
26
147 lbs
10 - 13 - 0

169 cm
29
141 lbs
14 - 6 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Solid boxing
Very quick

Good wrestler
Excellent boxer
Good gas tank

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 10 - 13 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Takanori Sakurai !
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Hank Le Tank!
The judges for this bout are Elvis Blanc, Dillan Fox and Ian Loll.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sakurai lands a jab to the nose.
Le Tank throws a body punch but Sakurai moves out of range.
Le Tank lands a nice looking body kick.
Le Tank misses with a wild combination.
Donk. Sakurai catches Le Tank right on the button with a cross.
Sakurai waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Le Tank.
The fight stays on the outside here - Le Tank looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Le Tank misses with a shot to the body

so Sakurai counters with a double leg into guard. Good agility.
Sakurai throwing strikes from guard but Le Tank blocks nicely.
Le Tank lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Sakurai !
Le Tank raining down hammerfists from mount.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Sakurai takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakurai is trying desperately to improve position.
Le Tank working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Le Tank scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Le Tank with a couple of short strikes.
Le Tank with the ground and pound from mount.
Le Tank is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Sakurai can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Sakurai is working to get back to half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Le Tank looking to control but Sakurai is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

Le Tank moves into side control, trying to work for a kimura. That looks painful! Will he finish!!?? No, Sakurai has worked his arm free - good work by Sakurai !
Le Tank looks up at the clock and then as Sakurai takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Le Tank smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Le Tank cracks Sakurai with a big right hand but Sakurai just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Le Tank is putting a hurting on Sakurai here, landing some big shots from side control.
Sakurai is looking to regain half guard here but Le Tank keeps moving and retains side control.
Le Tank wants to control but Sakurai is keeping him busy.
Le Tank is in a good position here but he's just trying to control... And he's not even managing to do that successfully.
Le Tank working the body and head with strikes.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Le Tank trying to control the position but Sakurai is working away.
Sakurai sneaks back into half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sakurai is trying to get back to full guard.
Le Tank landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Sakurai is staying active underneath Le Tank, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Le Tank slips a nice elbow through Sakurai 's hands, connecting with Sakurai 's forehead.
Le Tank uses his free foot to push down on Sakurai 's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Sakurai .
Le Tank postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Sakurai looks a forlorn figure.
Le Tank raining down shots from the mount!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Le Tank pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Le Tank lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.

Le Tank jumps to the side looking to secure the arm triangle…. Ooooh, that looks tight… Sakurai is gargling but he's managed to escape! Nice work there by Sakurai and Le Tank has given up the dominant position trying to land that submission.
Le Tank working the ground and pound from side control.
Le Tank scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Sakurai to see if he's OK.
Le Tank scoring with punches from side control.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Le Tank lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Sakurai down.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Sakurai is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Sakurai taking punishment in the form of punches.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Hank Le Tank 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.

Le Tank shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Sakurai counters with a nice double leg into guard.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Sakurai accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Sakurai preventing the sweep.
Sakurai wants to control from the top but Le Tank keeps moving.
Le Tank is trying to control the position but Sakurai postures up.
Sakurai trying to control the position from guard on top but Le Tank is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Sakurai is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Le Tank is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
Sakurai postures up.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Takanori Sakurai just wasn't active enough.
Le Tank is looking to clinch.
Le Tank lands with a shot to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Le Tank throws a head kick that misses.
Le Tank pivots, looking for a leg kick but Sakurai is out of range and Le Tank settles back down.
A looping hook to the body misses from Le Tank. Sakurai does a little dance to reset his feet.
Hank Le Tank is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Le Tank misses with a body punch

and Sakurai decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Le Tank's guard.
Sakurai wants to pass the guard but Le Tank is keeping the position.
Le Tank is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Sakurai is trying to get back to full guard.
Le Tank passes to full mount!
Le Tank scoring with strikes but Sakurai is staying in there.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sakurai is bucking up trying to escape but Le Tank cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Le Tank is in the full mount, landing strikes.

Le Tank has hold of Sakurai 's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Sakurai manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
Le Tank prevents Sakurai from getting the reversal.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Le Tank punishing his opponent with strikes.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Le Tank breaks from Sakurai 's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Le Tank lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Sakurai hang on?
Sakurai is working to get back to half guard.
Le Tank trying to control but Sakurai is having none of it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Le Tank controlling the position easily from mount.
Le Tank unloading with bombs!
Le Tank lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Le Tank lands a nice shot to the head.

Sakurai is rocked!
Le Tank with good strikes from the mount here!
Oh Sakurai is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Le Tank looking to control but Sakurai is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Sakurai takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Le Tank postures up and throws a couple of big shots that have Sakurai in real trouble here! The ref calls for Sakurai to improve his position which he doesn't do, so the referee has no choice but to end the fight due to the strikes!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:02 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Hank Le Tank!