PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Tatsuya Aoki (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Darren Sparks (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighter's entrance songs getting the crowd jumping here.

Aoki
vs
Sparks

178 cm
34
181 lbs
28 - 14 - 1

185 cm
31
200 lbs
21 - 15 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Good gas tank

Dynamo Clothing

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 28 - 14 - 1, fighting out of Sydney, Tatsuya Aoki!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 21 - 15 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Darren Sparks!
The judges for this bout are Steve Erwin, Skip Squint and Summer Carpenter.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sparks buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Aoki walks into a left hand.

It looks like Tatsuya Aoki has been cut.
Sparks moves out of range as Aoki strikes.
Sparks looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
A looping hook to the body misses from Aoki. Sparks does a little dance to reset his feet.
Sparks will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Darren Sparks seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Sparks connects with a right hand. Aoki shakes it off.
Aoki walks into a straight right hand from Sparks.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Sparks pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Aoki misses the shot to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sparks is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Aoki.
Sparks misses with a body shot.
Sparks stuns Aoki with a nice body shot, before stepping back out of range.
Sparks takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Aoki swats away the attempt to clinch by Sparks.
Aoki misses the body punch
and Sparks counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Aoki walks into a jab.
Sparks tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Sparks throws a series of punches but Aoki moves out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sparks scores with a jab. Aoki acknowledges it with a nod of the head.

Aoki drops down and drives through with a powerful takedown into guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
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!
Aoki trying to control the position from guard on top but Sparks is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Aoki is looking to advance position but Sparks has hit a scissor sweep - now he's on top in mount!
Aoki is controlling an arm, preventing Sparks from taking his back. Although keeping him in mount is no better to be honest.
Sparks avoids the attempt from Aoki to control.
Aoki working to try and regain half guard.
Sparks fails to move to back control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Aoki is in a tricky position but he's been working on his transitions down at Hate Made Me Asylum, so we'll see if he gets out of it.
Sparks manages to capitalize on a mistake by Aoki to take his back!
Aoki tries to break free.
Aoki is working hard here to advance position.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Sparks throws a big right hand but he misses and hits the mat. Ouch.
Sparks punches Aoki on the ear.
Aoki is trying to stand back up.
Aoki manages to reverse the position and now he's in Sparks's guard. Nice work there by Aoki.
Sparks is looking to stand up but Aoki isn't so interested in that idea.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Aoki postures up and lands a big shot to Sparks's brow.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Sparks keeping moving, preventing Aoki from controlling successfully.
Aoki stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Sparks swivels though and keeps the full guard.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Aoki advances to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Darren Sparks dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Tatsuya Aoki's cut.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

Sparks misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Nice takedown defense from Sparks. No joy for Aoki on that attempt.
Sparks lands three nice shots there - that looked like it hurt!
Sparks moves into range and throws a combination. A nice jab followed by a hook to the body.
Aoki shoots and misses

and Sparks counters with a combination of strikes to the head and body that crumple Aoki!

Aoki is rocked!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Sparks is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!
Oh Aoki is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!

Sparks goes for an armbar but he's fallen flat on his backside there and now Aoki is on top in guard.
Sparks preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Aoki advances to half guard.
Aoki seems to have got his legs back now.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Aoki is working for a kimura but Sparks is defending it quite comfortably.
Sparks on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Aoki throwing shots but Sparks is blocking nicely.
Aoki working over Sparks with some ground and pound. Sparks looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Aoki trying to control the pace.
Aoki winds up and cracks Sparks with a swinging punch to the side of the head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Aoki is trying to control the action in half guard but Sparks is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Sparks is looking to escape.
Aoki 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.
Aoki is trying to control. Sparks wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Sparks has hold of Aoki's hands but Aoki slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Aoki throwing shots but Sparks is blocking nicely.
Aoki wants to pass to mount but Sparks is defending the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Aoki throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Aoki prevents Sparks from standing back up.
Aoki frees up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Sparks in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Aoki lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Aoki looking to finish Sparks with some ground and pound. This is bad for Sparks!
Aoki connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Sparks is trying to escape the mount.
Tatsuya Aoki overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Aoki landing strikes, looking to finish!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Aoki looking to finish Sparks with some ground and pound. This is bad for Sparks!

Sparks is rocked!
Aoki connects with a bit shot that sees Sparks covering up! More strikes from Aoki and the referee jumps in to stop the fight! Aoki is our winner by TKO!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:35 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Tatsuya Aoki!
A victorious Tatsuya Aoki thanked his army of followers in his post fight interview, telling people to make sure they follow him on Twitter.