PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between George St Pierre (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Kenshii Tanamoto (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Tanamoto has chosen Slipknot - Wait and Bleed as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. This should be fireworks!

St Pierre
vs
Tanamoto

190 cm
22
160 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

177 cm
22
154 lbs
1 - 4 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Tends to cut

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, George St Pierre!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Kenshii Tanamoto!
The judges for this bout are Sosuke Kotani, Shigeki Sano and Tatsuya Matsuyama.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

St Pierre closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - St Pierre lands in his opponent's guard.
Tanamoto wants to stand up but St Pierre is controlling him.
St Pierre not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
St Pierre trying to control but Tanamoto is working from the bottom.
St Pierre tries to free his leg and advance position but Tanamoto is retaining full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

St Pierre drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and Tanamoto dives on top into guard.
St Pierre will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Tanamoto wants to stand and escape but instead St Pierre has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.

St Pierre decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Tanamoto, up you get!
St Pierre throws a right and a left that Tanamoto avoids nicely.

The fight moves into the clinch position.

St Pierre pulls guard.
St Pierre controls Tanamoto momentarily but Tanamoto frees himself.
St Pierre is breathing heavily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Tanamoto preventing the sweep.
Tanamoto is looking to stand up but St Pierre won't let him.
Tanamoto is fighting to break St Pierre's control of his arms but St Pierre is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
St Pierre really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
St Pierre tries to land a sweep but no joy.
St Pierre controls Tanamoto momentarily but Tanamoto frees himself.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tanamoto wants to stand and escape but instead St Pierre has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.
St Pierre stops Tanamoto from standing up.
St Pierre is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Tanamoto wants to get back to his feet but St Pierre is in a dominant position and won't allow it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
St Pierre sitting in guard, not really doing much.
St Pierre looking to sit in guard and control but Tanamoto gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

St Pierre scrambles and gets back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

George St Pierre dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Tanamoto tries to clinch but St Pierre moves away

and St Pierre decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Tanamoto's guard.

St Pierre decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.

St Pierre has closed the distance and engaged Tanamoto in a clinch.

St Pierre decides to pull guard.
Tanamoto is looking to stand up but St Pierre won't let him.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
St Pierre has Tanamoto pulled in close to control his posture.

St Pierre is actively looking for submissions from his back. He's worked himself a little space on the bottom and seems to be going for a triangle. No, he's switched into an armbar! That was slick! Tanamoto rolls with it to try and escape but St Pierre cranks on the arm and Tanamoto is forced to tap out! This one is aaaaaaaaall over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:48 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). George St Pierre!