PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Yasuda Takahiro (ranked 4748 p4p, 4673 weight class) and Joshua Whitlock (ranked 379 p4p, 375 weight class). Takahiro comes to the cage accompanied by Majinahanashi. Whitlock has chosen YoungBoy NBA - Murder as his entrance music. We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Takahiro
vs
Whitlock

176 cm
18
145
0 - 0 - 0

173 cm
18
146
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Big heart

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

Nutritional Shaved Ice
Mile High

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Yasuda Takahiro!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Joshua Whitlock!
The judges for this bout are Ren Mimura, Hirohito Nitta and Shigeki Fujiwara.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Whitlock feints a jab promting Takahiro to slip. Whitlock then demonstrates his capabilities by jabbing again. Takahiro slips again and ducks right into an uppercut.
Takahiro takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Takahiro fails in his attempt to clinch.
Whitlock swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Takahiro is looking to clinch but Whitlock is avoiding it.
Whitlock lands with a hook. Takahiro tried to avoid it but it clipped the top of his head.
Takahiro tries to clinch but Whitlock moves out of range.
Nice uppercut lands for Whitlock. That snapped Takahiro's head back.
Whitlock scores with a shot to the body.
The fight stays on the outside here - Takahiro looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Whitlock stooping low to avoid any incoming strikes and then lunges in with an uppercut come cross that lands flush.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Takahiro fails with an attempt to clinch.
Takahiro slips a jab and a cross from Whitlock.
Takahiro fails with an attempt to clinch.
Despite the aggression on Whitlock's face he doesn't fully commit to the counter.
Takahiro on the wrong end of a nice hook.
Nice straight punches there by Whitlock. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Whitlock.

Takahiro is rocked!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Takahiro fails with an attempt to clinch.
Whitlock is clearly trying to counter these attacks from Takahiro with a body shot.
Whitlock lands a beauty of a right hand that gets the crowd cheering.
Takahiro tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Whitlock manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Whitlock ducks down and throws a hook to the body.
The crowd cheers as Whitlock lands an impressive looking overhand right. Takahiro doesn't seem phased though.
Whitlock fakes low and throws an overhand right that catches Takahiro on the side of the head.
Whitlock misses with a straight left.
Whitlock is moving around nicely and scores here with a single head shot.
Oh Takahiro is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Takahiro is looking to clinch.
Whitlock scores with a hook.
Takahiro tries to clinch but Whitlock moves out of range.
Takahiro wants to clinch up but Whitlock keeps it at a distance.
Takahiro is looking to clinch.
Takahiro seems to have got his legs back now.

Takahiro darts in and clinches Whitlock up against the cage.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Whitlock letting Takahiro take a breather here.
The pace really dropping off here, momentarily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Whitlock pushes Takahiro back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Takahiro is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Whitlock is keeping busy.
Whitlock doesn't land with the attempted body shot.

Whitlock breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Takahiro's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Whitlock connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Takahiro scrambles back to his feet.

Takahiro moves into the clinch successfully.
Whitlock's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Whitlock lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Takahiro backwards.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Whitlock swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Whitlock tries to break free but Takahiro pushes him back against the cage.
Whitlock avoiding damage as Takahiro throws knees to the body.
Whitlock is trying to break free.
Whitlock looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Whitlock misses with some punches.
A battle for position here, against the cage.
Takahiro manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Whitlock struggles to land a body shot inside as Takahiro controls his hands.
A left hand lands to the body for Takahiro.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Takahiro effectively controlling the action here.
Whitlock throws a head punch that misses.
Whitlock blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Takahiro working aggressively here.
A bit of stalling here from Takahiro.
Whitlock blocks a body shot from Takahiro.
Whitlock is looking to break free of the clinch but Takahiro has double underhooks.
Takahiro misses with a body punch.
Takahiro misses with an elbow over the top.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.
Whitlock tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Takahiro is working hard here but doesn't seem to be able to control effectively, up against the cage.
Takahiro stalling the fight.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Joshua Whitlock 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.

Takahiro takes a shot right to the bread basket.

Whitlock drops Takahiro with a beautiful combination! Takahiro stares up at his opponent, who ushers him back to his feet - Whitlock is looking for the KO!
Whitlock misses with a body shot
and Takahiro counters with a three punch combo that has Whitlock backing up. Whitlock nods at Takahiro to acknowledge the strikes.
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!
Takahiro drops his hands and takes a jab to the jaw for his troubles.
Joshua Whitlock seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Takahiro darts in trying to clinch

and Whitlock counters with a crisp right hand that drops Takahiro! Whitlock lets Takahiro back up to his feet, looking for a finish!
Whitlock dips down and scores with a jab to the body.

Takahiro has closed the distance and engaged Whitlock in a clinch.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.
Whitlock throws a punch but it's blocked by Takahiro.
Whitlock is looking to break free of the clinch but Takahiro has double underhooks.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Takahiro.
Takahiro wants to stall.
The referee calls for Takahiro to work.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Takahiro tries to throw a body punch but Whitlock avoids it by throwing Takahiro back against the cage.
Takahiro tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Whitlock's elbow.
Whitlock is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Whitlock working aggressively here.
Takahiro misses with a short punch on the inside.
Whitlock has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Whitlock goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
The pace really dropping off here, momentarily.
Whitlock working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Whitlock lands a hook to the side of the head.
Takahiro dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Takahiro avoiding damage.
Takahiro gets a warning from the ref for wasting time.
Whitlock looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Whitlock lands with a light punch inside.
Whitlock managing to block the knees to the body from Takahiro.
Whitlock's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Whitlock dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Whitlock wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Takahiro is struggling to control the position.
Takahiro throws a head punch that misses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Whitlock scores with a shoulder strike.
Whitlock working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Whitlock managing to block the knees to the body from Takahiro.
Joshua Whitlock seems to be working more effectively in the clinch in the fight so far.
Takahiro is struggling to control the position.
Takahiro dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Takahiro tries to throw a body punch but Whitlock avoids it by throwing Takahiro back against the cage.
Takahiro is struggling to control the position.
Takahiro misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Whitlock misses with some punches.
Takahiro misses with a shot to the kidneys.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Whitlock softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
Whitlock fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Takahiro dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Whitlock effectively controlling the action here.

Whitlock manages to break the clinch.
Whitlock throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Whitlock ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Whitlock throws a right hand that Takahiro ducks under and follows up with a left that Takahiro also avoids with ease.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Takahiro throws a series of punches but Whitlock moves out of range.
Whitlock looks like he wants to counter punch here.
The fighters circle momentarily. Whitlock darts into range and connects with a nice straight punch.
Whitlock lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Takahiro at a distance.
Takahiro wants to clinch up but Whitlock keeps it at a distance.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Joshua Whitlock showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action! This is the final round!

The fighters circling - Takahiro throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Nice cross by Whitlock.
Takahiro wants to clinch

and Whitlock counters with a crisp one two that drops Takahiro! Whitlock thinks about following him to the mat for a moment but instead steps back and waves Takahiro to his feet! Takahiro is in big trouble!
Whitlock throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Whitlock cracks Takahiro with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
The fight stays on the outside here - Takahiro looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Whitlock looked like he wanted to counter with a punch but didn't throw it.

Whitlock lands a big uppercut and Takahiro crumbles to the floor! The ref thinks about stopping the fight but Takahiro looks OK. Whitlock waves Takahiro back to his feet!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Takahiro fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Whitlock manages to avoid it.
Whitlock moves into range and connects with a jab.
Takahiro finds himself stumbling back on wobbly legs after being clipped by a right hand. He's up against the cage, ducking and weaving under Whitlock's strikes but an uppercut finds it's way through and Takahiro falls! - He's completely out of it and the ref jumps in to save him!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:50 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Joshua Whitlock!
A very excited looking Joshua Whitlock made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.