PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Shun Watanabe (ranked 3481 p4p, 0 weight class) and Junior Dos Santos (ranked 17998 p4p, 0 weight class). Junior Dos Santos acknowledges the crowd's support as he enters the cage.

Watanabe
vs
Dos Santos

174 cm
31
172 lbs
13 - 9 - 0

196 cm
28
172 lbs
12 - 15 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Very quick

Powerful takedowns
Counter fighter
Granite chin

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 13 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Shun Watanabe!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 12 - 15 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Junior Dos Santos!
The judges for this bout are Aafke Stam, Radbod Blank and Saam Ante.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
We've got one fighter who appears to only be looking to counter and the other not looking particularly aggressive either, so we could be in for a dull fight.

Watanabe gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Watanabe lands an elbow inside.

It looks like Junior Dos Santos has been cut.
Watanabe misses with a shot to the kidneys.

Watanabe tightens his grip and picks Dos Santos up, before dumping him to the ground. Dos Santos manages to land in guard.
Watanabe pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Dos Santos is keeping the position for now.
Watanabe landing with the ground and pound.

Dos Santos looking for a guillotine here but Watanabe defends easily.

Dos Santos working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Watanabe doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Watanabe manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Dos Santos throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Watanabe postures up and lands a big shot to Dos Santos's brow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Watanabe stands up over Dos Santos, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.

Dos Santos working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Watanabe doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Watanabe manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Watanabe is working Dos Santos over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Dos Santos is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Watanabe chips away with some ground and pound.
Watanabe with a nice head shot there.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Watanabe trying to control but Dos Santos is working from the bottom.

Dos Santos looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Watanabe looking to sit in guard and control but Dos Santos gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

Watanabe tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Dos Santos throwing strikes but missing.
Dos Santos pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Watanabe is keeping the position for now.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Watanabe striking off his back but it's not causing Dos Santos any problems.
Watanabe scores with a couple of body punches from the bottom.
Dos Santos stands and throws Watanabe's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Watanabe is looking to reverse the position.
Watanabe is trying to control Dos Santos's posture but Dos Santos avoids it.
Dos Santos is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.

Dos Santos is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Watanabe knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Watanabe manages to land a sweep and he's now on top! Lovely Jiu Jitsu!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Watanabe lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Watanabe seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Watanabe lands with a punch from half guard.
Dos Santos works his way to full guard. Good work.
Watanabe pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Dos Santos is keeping the position for now.

Dos Santos throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Watanabe is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Watanabe trying to control but Dos Santos is working from the bottom.
Watanabe trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

Dos Santos had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Watanabe defends it easily.

Dos Santos looking for a guillotine here but Watanabe defends easily.
Watanabe cracks Dos Santos with a solid left hand.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Watanabe postures up and lands a big shot to Dos Santos's brow.
Watanabe landing with the ground and pound.
Watanabe stands up over Dos Santos, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Watanabe lands a couple of decent looking shots.

Watanabe looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Watanabe in side control lands a decent elbow.
Watanabe has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
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!
Watanabe scoring with punches and elbows.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Shun Watanabe dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Junior Dos Santos's cut.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Dos Santos misses with a takedown attempt
letting Watanabe counter with a right hand.
Watanabe tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Dos Santos manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Watanabe jabs at Dos Santos's body.
Dos Santos tries for a takedown but Watanabe sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Watanabe tests Dos Santos's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Watanabe is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Dos Santos can do to turn this around?
Dos Santos tries to check a leg kick but that clearly hurt him.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Watanabe misses the body punch

and Dos Santos counters with a shoot takedown. Watanabe fights it but they end up in guard.
Watanabe avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Dos Santos wants to control from the top but Watanabe keeps moving.

Dos Santos drops back, looking for a kneebar! Watanabe looks panicked! The fighters roll across the mat, one looking to finish, one looking to escape. Watanabe looks to have wriggled free... Yes, he's got his leg free and he's dived into side control! Good work there from Watanabe!

Watanabe connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Dos Santos some visible discomfort.

Watanabe looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Dos Santos is looking for a sweep.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Watanabe wants to lay and pray for a moment but Dos Santos keeps working.
Dos Santos is looking for a sweep.
Dos Santos takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.
Watanabe scores with punches from side control.
Dos Santos takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Watanabe trying to control the position but Dos Santos is working away.
Watanabe in side control lands a nice looking series of punches and elbows.
Dos Santos struggling a bit here.
Watanabe working the ground and pound from side control.
Dos Santos wants to control but Watanabe postures up.
Dos Santos misses with a strike from the bottom.
Dos Santos is moving his hips around well on the bottom and has managed to get back to half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Dos Santos looking for submissions off his back.
Watanabe landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Watanabe connects with a nice short shot to Dos Santos's temple.
Dos Santos is trying to maintain the position but Watanabe is very close to passing his half guard.
Watanabe is nestled in close to Dos Santos, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Watanabe 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.

Dos Santos is rocked!
Watanabe slips a nice elbow through Dos Santos's hands, connecting with Dos Santos's forehead.
Dos Santos is still in real trouble! Can Watanabe finish him?
Watanabe lands a big elbow - Dos Santos is out of it! He's waving his arms around but his eyes are closed and he's not intelligently defending himself - the ref has no choice but to jump in and stop the fight! This one is in the books! A TKO win for Watanabe!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Shun Watanabe!
Shun Watanabe decided to thank the fans in attendance for making a great atmosphere. It seemed to go down pretty well.