PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Tsuyoi Kakuto (ranked 2588 p4p, 344 weight class) and Rafael De Santos (ranked 2840 p4p, 371 weight class). Kakuto comes to the cage accompanied by Gorillaz-Dirty Harry. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Kakuto
vs
De Santos

190 cm
24
220 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

186 cm
29
199 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Brawler
Granite chin

Excellent grappler
Basic striking
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Tsuyoi Kakuto!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Rafael De Santos!
The judges for this bout are Summer Carpenter, Darius Henderson and Ron Honeybunn.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
De Santos fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Kakuto avoids it really well and circles away.
Kakuto tries to counter by moving into the clinch but De Santos manages to circle out of the way.
De Santos shoots in looking for a takedown but Kakuto manages to keep the fight standing, pushing De Santos's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
De Santos avoids the head kick by Kakuto.
Kakuto has been working on his boxing with his coaches at Official UFC Performance Institute Training Center in the buildup to the fight.
Kakuto throws a head kick but De Santos moves out of range.

Kakuto scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
De Santos regains full guard. Nicely done.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
De Santos is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
De Santos looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Kakuto pushes down on De Santos's leg and manages to get into half guard.
De Santos works his way to full guard. Good work.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Kakuto drops back looking for a leg! De Santos is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and De Santos manages to kick Kakuto off! Kakuto jumps back into De Santos's guard.
Kakuto stays in close to De Santos's body and controls the position.
Kakuto seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down De Santos for as long as he can get away with.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.

De Santos isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Kakuto stacks De Santos 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 Kakuto!
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
De Santos tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Kakuto wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Kakuto trying to control the action but De Santos is working from the bottom.
De Santos tries to improve position but can't.
De Santos regains half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
De Santos wants to get back to full guard.
Kakuto is keen to just control but De Santos is a slippery customer.
Kakuto with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
If this pace continues, the referee will definitely step in and force a standup.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.

De Santos scores with a takedown into Kakuto's guard.
De Santos trying to control the position from guard on top but Kakuto is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Kakuto utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Kakuto is adopting a defensive guard.
Kakuto keeping moving, preventing De Santos from controlling successfully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Kakuto has thrown up a leg looking for a triangle. De Santos doesn't defend quickly enough and Kakuto has managed to lock this one up! Can De Santos escape?! NO! He's tapping out! Damn, that was a quick submission - congrats to Kakuto on a fantastic submission victory.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:29 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle). Tsuyoi Kakuto!
As Tsuyoi Kakuto got his breath back, he grabbed the microphone and managed to blurt out the following: "Tennōheika Banzai!!!!" 天皇陛下万歳, ("Long live the Emperor"), '.