PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Keith Rack (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Neftali De La Cruz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The crowd giving both fighters a great reception on their way into the arena. That's good to see.

Rack
vs
De La Cruz

190 cm
24
249 lbs
5 - 7 - 0

193 cm
22
250 lbs
5 - 4 - 0

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Experienced

BJJ Blue Belt
Decent boxing
Knockout power

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Keith Rack!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Neftali De La Cruz!
The judges for this bout are Tatsuya Matsuyama, Hirohito Nitta and Yuuki Gou.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
De La Cruz throws a right and a left that Rack avoids nicely.
De La Cruz fails to land with a series of punches.
Rack changes levels looking for a counter takedown but doesn't commit.
De La Cruz swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Nice sprawl there from De La Cruz as Rack shoots in.

Rack closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. De La Cruz quickly recovers to half guard.
De La Cruz is trying to stand.
Rack looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks De La Cruz with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

Rack stands up and beckons De La Cruz to join him on the feet.
Rack shoots in looking for a takedown. De La Cruz tries to sprawl out of it but Rack keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the ropes. De La Cruz manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

De La Cruz has taken the fight to the clinch.

Rack pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

De La Cruz closes the distance and clinches.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

Rack pulls guard effortlessly.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Rack has managed to wall walk up one of the corner posts to get back to his feet. De La Cruz is pushing him up against the ropes, looking to control the position.
Rack goes for a takedown attempt but De La Cruz pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Keith Rack. That's going to take a lot out of him.

De La Cruz closes the distance and pushes Rack back into the ropes.

Rack manages to break the clinch.

De La Cruz pushes Rack up against the ropes in a clinch.
We can't be sure of the tactics at this early stage but we have heard that De La Cruz has been working on his takedowns a lot in the buildup to the fight and we can only assume he's going to look to take this to the mat.
Rack misses with a knee strike.
De La Cruz lands a left hand that snaps the head of Rack backwards.
Rack blocks an elbow strike.
A right handed body shot lands from De La Cruz.
De La Cruz is trying to pull guard but being pressed up against the ropes enables Rack to keep the fight standing.

Rack gets double underhooks and manages to take the fight to the ground.
De La Cruz looks winded!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
De La Cruz is looking to stand back up... there's a bit of a scramble and Rack dives into side control.
Rack in side control lands a nice looking series of punches and elbows.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
De La Cruz is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Rack is controlling him well.
Rack landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.

De La Cruz is rocked!
Rack scores with a big shot from side control... and another... and another! Oh De La Cruz is done here - save him referee! More strikes land and eventually the ref does step in and Rack can finally stop beating on his defenseless opponent!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:30 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Keith Rack!