PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Isaiah Okongwu (ranked 262 p4p, 314 weight class) and Akira Maeda (ranked 43 p4p, 53 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Okongwu might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to Killin Dem (ft. Zlatan) - Burna Boy. On his way into the cage it seems that Isaiah Okongwu has been attacked by a crazed fan! It looks like it might have been the just bleed guy! Luckily Isaiah Okongwu seems to be OK! I thought that lunatic was in prison!?

Okongwu
vs
Maeda

180 cm
28
214
12 - 6 - 0

192 cm
27
209
12 - 7 - 1

Great wrestler
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Olympic wrestler
World class MT
Heavy handed

Brooklyn Apothecary
Brooklyn Threads

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the light heavyweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 12 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Isaiah Okongwu!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 12 - 7 - 1, fighting out of St Petersburg, Akira Maeda!
The judges for this bout are Nard Betker, Aafke Stam and Daniel Blasius.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A shot to the liver by Maeda. Beautiful body shot.
Okongwu lands a leg kick that knocks Maeda off balance momentarily.
Maeda jabs Okongwu right on the nose. Okongwu blinks but takes it well.
Okongwu misses with a looping left.
A little jabbing left from Maeda on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.
Jab, jab by Maeda - just one landing.
Okongwu throws a body shot but no joy.
Okongwu thumps Maeda with a low kick.
Maeda misses with a jab, cross combination.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Maeda clobbers Okongwu with an overhand right that has the crowd gasping. That made a horrendous noise.
A looping hook to the body misses from Okongwu. Maeda does a little dance to reset his feet.
Maeda now looks to counter with a shot at the body.
Maeda ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Okongwu moves away.
Okongwu appeared to be looking to counter that last move with a leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Maeda looks to land a left hand but Okongwu moved out of range nicely.
It looked like Okongwu wanted to counter with a hook but didn't fully commit.
Okongwu scores with a push kick.
Maeda blocks the body kick.
Maeda changes levels for a counter takedown but doesn't follow through with his attempt.
Maeda is using his reach advantage to land shots from outside his opponent's range.
Okongwu throws a two punch combo that lands nicely.
Okongwu throws a hook but Maeda blocks it.
Okongwu misses with an uppercut.
Okongwu tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Maeda was well out of range. Poor timing from Okongwu.
Maeda misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Okongwu.
Okongwu tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Maeda was well out of range. Poor timing from Okongwu.
Maeda now looks to counter with a shot at the body.
Maeda misses the jab.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Okongwu throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Maeda misses with a straight right.
Maeda throws an overhand right that lands on Okongwu's shoulder, as Okongwu tries to avoid the shot.
Maeda takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Maeda clobbers Okongwu with an overhand right that has the crowd gasping. That made a horrendous noise.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Maeda checks a low kick from Okongwu.
Maeda looks like he wants to counter punch here.
Okongwu walks into a jab.
Maeda takes a swing at Okongwu's ribcage but misses.
Maeda misses with a shot to the body
and Okongwu counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Okongwu throws the kick towards the body but Maeda avoids it.
Maeda pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
An attempted straight right counter from Okongwu misses the target.
Okongwu takes a swing at Maeda's ribcage but misses.
Okongwu throws a lazy uppercut

and Maeda counters with a takedown into side control.
Maeda working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
Okongwu is not content to let Maeda control the position.
A bit of a lull in the action here.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Maeda throwing shots but missing, from side control.
Maeda trying to control the action but Okongwu is working from the bottom.
Maeda lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Okongwu down.
Okongwu tries to improve position but can't.
Maeda has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Maeda controls the position.
Maeda in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Okongwu is moving his hips around well on the bottom and has managed to get back to half guard.
Maeda scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Okongwu trying to control from the bottom.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Maeda not landing any meaningful shots this time.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Akira Maeda will probably get the nod.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Okongwu bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Maeda's head.
Maeda throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Okongwu takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
Okongwu fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Maeda has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Okongwu scores with a kick to the body.
Okongwu lands a jab to the head.
Okongwu lands with a nice low kick. That'll leave a bruise.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Okongwu keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Maeda throws a predictable looking body shot
and Okongwu counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Okongwu has his head snapped back a nice jab. A little nod from Okongwu there as he acknowledges the shot.

That's one minute gone in the round.
and Okongwu counters with a massive uppercut that badly hurts Maeda! He's just covering up as Okongwu starts to tee off till the referee steps in and stops the fight!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:10 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Isaiah Okongwu!
Isaiah Okongwu retains his light heavyweight title!
After winning the bout, Isaiah Okongwu thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.