PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Norifumi Sakuraba (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Matt Heizel (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Sakuraba
vs
Heizel

187 cm
22
170 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

184 cm
19
178 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Counter striker
Self confident

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
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 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Norifumi Sakuraba!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Matt Heizel!
The judges for this bout are Yuuki Gou, Yukihiro Yamamoto and Shirou Masuda.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Heizel throws a series of strikes that have Sakuraba backpedaling.
Heizel misses with the combination.
Heizel stuffs the takedown.
Heizel scores with the left hand. Sakuraba knows he should have avoided that one.

Sakuraba is rocked!
Sakuraba showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Heizel.
A punch combination from Heizel misses.
Heizel fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Heizel misses with a wild combination.
Sakuraba misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Heizel tries to bum rush Sakuraba with a series of wild strikes but Sakuraba uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Heizel misses with a double jab.
Heizel ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Sakuraba moves away.
Heizel rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Sakuraba moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Heizel digs a good body shot into Sakuraba's ribs.
Sakuraba ducks under a wild hook from Heizel.
Heizel throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Sakuraba.
Heizel misses with a looping right.
Heizel thows a body shot but no joy.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Sakuraba showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Heizel.
Sakuraba fails with a takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Norifumi Sakuraba. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Sakuraba fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Heizel misses with a two punch combination.
Heizel scores with a punch to the gut of his opponent.

Heizel lands a left and a right that send Sakuraba crashing to the mat, dazed. Heizel thinks about following him to the mat but decides to wave him back up to his feet!
Oh Sakuraba is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Heizel swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Sakuraba seems to have got his legs back now.
Heizel connects with a good straight punch right through the guard and follows up with a right hook and a left hook! That last one sent Sakuraba tumbling to the canvas! Heizel pours on the pressure with more strikes and the referee has no hesitation diving in to stop the fight! Sakuraba was done - good stoppage!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:02 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Punches). Matt Heizel!