PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Kazushi Sakuraba (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Omar Little (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Little's choice of entrance music: Snoop Dogg - Murder was the Case. Kazushi Sakuraba has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Sakuraba
vs
Little

183 cm
33
175 lbs
29 - 19 - 0

185 cm
31
178 lbs
17 - 6 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Counter fighter
Insanely flexible

Excellent grappler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Project Mayhem

Fury Nutrition Inc.
BeastMode

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 29 - 19 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Kazushi Sakuraba!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 17 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Omar Little!
The judges for this bout are Yves DeLean, William Peck and Dillan Fox.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Little pivots, looking for a leg kick but Sakuraba is out of range and Little settles back down.
Little goes for a high kick. It partially lands.
Little throws a decent looking leg kick but it doesn't land clean.

Little manages to get an easy takedown there - catching Sakuraba on his heels. He'll look to pass Sakuraba's guard now, I'm sure.

Sakuraba working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Little doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Little manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.

Sakuraba is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Little defends well.
Sakuraba preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Little scoring with punches to the head and body.
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!
Little passes Sakuraba's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Little scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Sakuraba wants to improve his position but Little is controlling well.
Sakuraba is working hard here to advance position.
Sakuraba has hold of Little's hands but Little slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakuraba trying to control from the bottom.
Little is pressing down on Sakuraba's thigh, looking to free his foot. Sakuraba is holding on for now.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!

Sakuraba is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Little pulls his head out easily.
Sakuraba gets back to full guard.

Little drops back looking for a leg! Sakuraba is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and Sakuraba manages to kick Little off! Little jumps back into Sakuraba's guard.

Little avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Little with a nice head shot there.
Little wants to control from the top but Sakuraba keeps moving.
Sakuraba bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Little's guard.
Little is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Sakuraba trying to control but Little is working from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Little working for a triangle but Sakuraba defends it easily.
Sakuraba is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Little working a defensive guard here.
Sakuraba won't allow Little to sweep him here.
Sakuraba missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Little can't keep his opponent in guard - Sakuraba advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Little is pressing down on Sakuraba's left leg trying to get back to full guard. He's managed it.

Little has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Sakuraba can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Little controls Sakuraba momentarily but Sakuraba frees himself.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sakuraba trying to control but Little is working from the bottom.
Little lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Sakuraba!
Little can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Sakuraba is looking to escape.
Little is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Sakuraba regains half guard.
Sakuraba regains full guard. Nicely done.

Sakuraba looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Sakuraba utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Sakuraba is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Little trying to control the position from guard on top but Sakuraba is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Little lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Little missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.

Little drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Little jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.
Little postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Sakuraba bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Little's guard.
Little is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Little wants to control but Sakuraba passes easily into half guard.
Little has found himself in a tricky position here. He's been working his transitions in training so let's see if he can work his way out of it.
Little is looking to improve his position.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Little keeps trying to improve his position.
Sakuraba tries to pass the half guard into mount. Little knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Little is looking for a sweep. Sakuraba is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Omar Little dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Little fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Sakuraba.

Little gets the takedown into side control.
Little has knee on belly and now moves to full mount! Trouble for Sakuraba!
Sakuraba is bucking up trying to escape but Little cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Sakuraba is desperately trying to improve his position but Little has a good base and remains in mount.
Little breaks from Sakuraba's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Little with a couple of short strikes.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Little has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Sakuraba's face.
Sakuraba has improved his flexibility recently so we will have to see if he can use that to his advantage.
Sakuraba is working to get back to half guard.
Little tries to control but Sakuraba wriggling away.
Sakuraba sneaks a leg under to get to half guard.

Sakuraba looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Sakuraba is not content to let Little control the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Little prevents Sakuraba from improving his position.
Little is keen to just control but Sakuraba is a slippery customer.
Little prevents Sakuraba from improving his position.
Sakuraba moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.

Sakuraba is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Little is aware though and is defending well.
Little forces his way into half guard.
Little is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Sakuraba is looking to improve his position.
Sakuraba blocking the ground and pound attempt from Little.

Little is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Little scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Little seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Sakuraba works his way to full guard. Good work.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Sakuraba keeping moving, preventing Little from controlling successfully.
Little throwing strikes from guard but Sakuraba blocks nicely.
Little cracks Sakuraba with a solid left hand.

Sakuraba looking for a guillotine here but Little defends easily.
Little trying to control the position from guard on top but Sakuraba is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Sakuraba throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sakuraba has momentary wrist control but Little slips an elbow through the middle.
Little controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

Little is posturing up here but Sakuraba has hold of an arm and he's gone for an armbar! Little tries to roll out but it's too tight and Little has to tap! Slick submission there by Sakuraba!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:42 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Kazushi Sakuraba!
A victorious Kazushi Sakuraba thanked his army of followers in his post fight interview, telling people to make sure they follow him on Twitter.
Omar Little spoke after the fight, saying 'What an amazing honor! That guy is a living legend and obviously a demon on the ground. I figured this fight was going to end up on the floor so I had to embrace it and try and beat a god at his own game. He got the best of me tonight but I will never forget this experience.'.