PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Hirihito Yoshita (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Shinji Kagawa (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Yoshita comes to the ring accompanied by Hole in the wall. Shinji Kagawa struggled to make weight for this fight. He only made it down to 186.3lbs at the first attempt and had to take the additional two hours to make the official bout weight. Let's see how much it's taken out of him. Shinji Kagawa looks lathargic as he enters the arena. Wake up son, you're about to have a fight!

Yoshita
vs
Kagawa

185 cm
19
190 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

172 cm
22
189 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Intelligent

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 2 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Hirihito Yoshita!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Shinji Kagawa!
The judges for this bout are Ren Mimura, Taro Takaoka and Kenichi Hosakawa.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Yoshita shoots in but Kagawa avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Kagawa looks really tired already! That doesn't bode well for a good, competitive fight!

Yoshita changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Kagawa looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
Yoshita is working Kagawa over with some ground and pound from side control.
Yoshita will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Yoshita controlling the position from side mount.
Yoshita's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.

That's one minute gone in the round.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.
Yoshita fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.

Kagawa gets caught on his heels momentarily as he allows Yoshita to score an easy takedown into full guard.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
Yoshita pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Kagawa is keeping the position for now.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Kagawa can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Yoshita controls the pace.
Yoshita has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Yoshita won't allow Kagawa to sweep him here.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Yoshita controls from within his opponent's guard.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.

Yoshita closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Kagawa to the mat! Kagawa manages to get full guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Yoshita is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.

That's five minutes gone in the round.

Kagawa had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Yoshita defends it easily.
Yoshita controls the pace of the fight for a moment.

That's six minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Yoshita has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.

Yoshita drops down and drives through with a powerful takedown into guard.
Yoshita slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.
Yoshita slips nicely into half guard.
Yoshita controlling the action here.

That's seven minutes gone in the round.

That's eight minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Yoshita.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Hirihito Yoshita. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Yoshita closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Kagawa is looking for a sweep.
Yoshita in side control, just content to control the action for now.

That's nine minutes gone in the round.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Hirihito Yoshita dominated that round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action! Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Kagawa gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily

and Yoshita counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Kagawa's guard now.
Yoshita is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.

Kagawa looks to be working for a triangle here. Oh, it looks like he might have it! Yoshita has picked Kagawa up and slammed him! Kagawa can't keep hold of the triangle and Yoshita manages to pass to side control!
Kagawa is breathing heavily.
Yoshita controls the position.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.
Yoshita shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Kagawa as he avoids it easily.

Yoshita scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Yoshita takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Kagawa is looking to control Yoshita's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Kagawa avoid being mounted?
Yoshita keeping composed on the top, looking to control the action.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.
Yoshita shoots in looking for a takedown. Kagawa tries to sprawl out of it but Yoshita keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the ropes. Kagawa manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Yoshita scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.
Kagawa sneaks back into half guard.
Kagawa is trying to get back to full guard.
Yoshita works his foot free and advances to mount.
Hirihito Yoshita overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Yoshita sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

That's five minutes gone in the round.
Kagawa is trying desperately to improve position.
Yoshita controlling from mount.

That's six minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.

Yoshita scores with a takedown into Kagawa's guard.
Yoshita is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.

That's seven minutes gone in the round.

That's eight minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Hirihito Yoshita just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.

Yoshita shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Yoshita showed some decent athleticism there.
Yoshita stalling.
Yoshita tries to pass to full mount but Kagawa defends it.
Kagawa is looking to improve his position.

That's nine minutes gone in the round.
Yoshita keeping composed on the top, looking to control the action.
Kagawa tries to get to full guard but Yoshita has control of the leg.
Yoshita trying to pass the guard but Kagawa defending well.

Kagawa actively working from the bottom here.
Hirihito Yoshita is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Yoshita is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Kagawa can do to turn this around?
Yoshita is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.

And that's the end of the fight!
Hirihito Yoshita showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Yoshita has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Ren Mimura scores the fight for Hirihito Yoshita!
Judge Taro Takaoka scores the fight for Hirihito Yoshita!
Judge Kenichi Hosakawa scores the fight for Hirihito Yoshita!

Hirihito Yoshita wins by unanimous decision!