PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Elijah Judah (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Isamu Yamada (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Yamada has chosen Yoshida Brothers - Ibuki as his entrance music. The key to victory for Elijah Judah has got to be keeping the fight on the feet.

Judah
vs
Yamada

175 cm
19
160 lbs
4 - 1 - 0

179 cm
19
162 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
Granite chin

Good wrestler
Counter fighter
Fast

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Elijah Judah!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Isamu Yamada!
The judges for this bout are Shirou Masuda, Tatsuya Matsuyama and Yukihiro Yamamoto.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Judah with a body punch. A glancing blow.
Nice shot lands for Yamada.
Yamada lands a nice looking body kick.
Yamada misses with a leg kick
and Judah counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
A combination from Judah does no damage.
Judah swings for the body but Yamada moves out of range.
Judah misses with the combination.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Judah ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Yamada moves away.
Judah tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Yamada was well out of range. Poor timing from Judah.
Judah lands a head shot.
Judah avoids a kick to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Yamada swings widly with a right hand
and Judah counters with a straight right hand.
Judah throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Yamada takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
Judah fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Judah scores with a body shot.
Jab by Judah.
Judah throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Judah connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Yamada with a poor takedown
and Judah counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Yamada keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Judah pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
A looping hook to the body misses from Judah. Yamada does a little dance to reset his feet.
Yamada is definitely looking for the counter takedowns here.
A swing and a miss from Judah.
Yamada on the wrong end of a decent looking cross there.
Judah misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Yamada.
Judah swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Judah looks to score with a jab to the body but Yamada is just out of range.
Judah misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Yamada fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Judah misses with a body shot.
Yamada tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
Judah throws a hook but Yamada avoids it easily.
Judah avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Elijah Judah seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Yamada misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Yamada throws a front kick aimed at Judah's knee but Judah avoids it well.
Yamada throws a leg kick which misses Judah's front leg but catches the back leg as Judah tries to avoid it.
Judah sizes up Yamada with a pawing jab and scores with a straight right down the middle.
Judah misses with an uppercut

and Yamada counters with a shoot takedown. Judah fights it but they end up in guard.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Judah keeping full guard, as Yamada tries to pass.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Yamada won't allow Judah to get back to his feet.
Yamada looking to pass the guard.
Yamada is looking to pass into half guard but Judah pushes him away with his feet and jumps on top - now Judah is in guard.

Yamada looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Judah puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Elijah Judah dominated that round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

Judah misses with a right hand

and Yamada decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Judah's guard.
Yamada pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Judah is keeping the position for now.
Yamada trying to move into half guard but instead Judah has managed to sweep!

Yamada isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Judah stacks Yamada on his neck as he steps over and passes to the side. He's now in a much more dominant position where he can look to do some serious damage. Nice move by Judah!
Yamada is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Judah tries to get to his feet but he's trapped momentarily.
Yamada is looking for a sweep.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Yamada can do anything to dispel that myth.
Yamada is sneaking out the side here. He's bucked Judah off and has taken his back!

Yamada looking for the RNC.
Judah wants to control his opponent's hands but Yamada gets his hands free.

Yamada is staying calm and holding on to the back position, whilst working on a rear naked choke. Judah is defending well though. Yamada let's go of the attempt for now.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Yamada is persistently looking for the submission but Judah is defending it well.

Yamada has his hand under the chin of his opponent looking for the choke. He's nearly got it! This one could be all over! But no, Judah has freed his hand and lives to survive another… well, another couple of seconds at least!

Yamada working for the choke.
Judah tries to break free.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Yamada is staying calm and holding on to the back position, whilst working on a rear naked choke. Judah is defending well though. Yamada let's go of the attempt for now.

Yamada patiently working for the choke. Which fighter will keep their nerve here?

Yamada goes for a risky armbar from back mount and it's not paid off. Judah escapes and is now in half guard on top.
Judah is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Yamada!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Yamada is working to get back to half guard.
Yamada sneaks a leg under to get to half guard.
Yamada is looking to get back to full guard here but Judah has managed to pass to side control instead.
Yamada is looking to reverse the position.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Yamada being controlled for a moment.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Isamu Yamada showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Judah fakes low and throws an overhand right that catches Yamada on the side of the head.
Judah throws a right and a left that Yamada avoids nicely.
Yamada with the counter takedown but Judah avoids it easily.
Judah throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Judah swings widly with a right hand

and Yamada decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Judah's guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Yamada tries to free his leg and advance position but Judah is retaining full guard.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
Judah wants to get back to his feet but Yamada is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Judah has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
Isamu Yamada has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Yamada throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Yamada is pushing down on Judah's leg trying to pass to half guard. Judah is fighting to maintain full guard but Yamada has managed to sneak the leg through.
Yamada looks to land a strike but Judah avoids it nicely and regains full guard.
Yamada is looking to pass into half guard but Judah pushes him away with his feet and jumps on top - now Judah is in guard.

Yamada manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Judah manages to get himself to full guard.

Yamada works a leg free and moves into half guard.
Yamada tries to pass to full mount but Judah defends it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Judah is trying to control but can't.
Judah is looking to escape.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.

Yamada is looking for a kimura but Judah is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Yamada to get the leverage.
Yamada is stalling here. Judah is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Yamada seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Judah has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Yamada is looking for a sweep.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Yamada manages to land a sweep and he's now on top! Lovely Jiu Jitsu!
Yamada tries to pass to full mount but Judah defends it.

Yamada is actively looking for submissions here but good counter grappling here from Judah as he works his way to full guard.
Judah is controlling Yamada's posture.
Yamada loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Yamada preventing the sweep.
Yamada postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Yamada trying to control but Judah is working from the bottom.
Judah keeping full guard, as Yamada tries to pass.
Yamada advances to half guard.

Yamada is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

Yamada is trying to work for a kimura but Judah is defending well.
Yamada takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

Yamada is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Judah has managed to free his arm - good work.

And that's the end of the fight!
Isamu Yamada comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Yamada has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 28:29
Judge Tatsuya Matsuyama scores the fight 28:29
Judge Yukihiro Yamamoto scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Isamu Yamada!
An out of breath Isamu Yamada thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.