PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between MJ Ruiz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Kazuhira Honda (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Honda has chosen Zetsubou Billy - Maximum The Hormone as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Ruiz
vs
Honda

173 cm
25
154 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

170 cm
18
155 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Intelligent

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, MJ Ruiz!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Kazuhira Honda!
The judges for this bout are Yukihiro Shimada, Yuuki Gou and Hirohito Nitta.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Ruiz feints and as Honda raises his hands in defense, Ruiz changes levels and drives through with a takedown into guard.
Honda wants to improve his position but instead Ruiz has moved into half guard.

Ruiz decides he's had enough of the ground and stands up.
Ruiz tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Ruiz is looking to clinch but Honda is avoiding it.
Ruiz tries to close the distance and clinch up but Honda swats him away and circles back towards the center.

Ruiz takes the fight into the clinch.
Honda jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Ruiz walks away with a smile on his face. Honda gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.

Ruiz looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Honda trying to control here.
Honda keeps control of the position for the meantime.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Honda wants to get back to full guard.

Ruiz stands up and beckons Honda to join him on the feet.
Ruiz closes the distance and clinches up with Honda, looking for a takedown. Ruiz pushes Honda against the cage but Honda circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Honda gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Ruiz counters with a big head kick but Honda shrugs it off.
Ruiz tries to clinch but Honda moves out of range.
Honda circles away from the clinch attempt

and Honda counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Honda.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Ruiz keeping moving, preventing Honda from controlling successfully.
Honda looks gassed!

Ruiz wriggles free and stands up.
Ruiz tries to clinch but Honda is having none of it.

Ruiz scores a takedown into full mount!
Honda really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Ruiz lands a big elbow.
Ruiz in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Honda really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Ruiz raining down hammerfists from mount.
Honda tries to lock up and control but Ruiz gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.

Ruiz working to secure an arm triangle but it's not happening for him just yet.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Ruiz lands a big elbow.
Honda is in a horrible position here. Ruiz smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Honda is squirming around, avoiding Ruiz's attempts to control the action.
Ruiz is really struggling to control Honda but he's trying to hold on to the position.
Ruiz prevents Honda from getting the reversal.
Ruiz content just to control the position here.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Ruiz scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Honda?
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

MJ Ruiz 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.

Ruiz pushes Honda up against the cage in a clinch.

Honda successfully pulls guard.
Honda keeping full guard, as Ruiz tries to pass.
Ruiz trying to pass the guard. He's being very persistent here but Honda manages to land a sweep and now he's on top!
Honda stops Ruiz from standing up.
Honda seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Honda tries to free his leg and advance position but Ruiz is retaining full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Honda wants to control from the top but Ruiz keeps moving.
Honda won't allow Ruiz to get back to his feet.
Honda looking to sit in guard and control but Ruiz gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Honda is breathing heavily.

Ruiz got a little sloppy there for a moment and Honda has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Ruiz has managed to get both his arms back between Honda's legs - danger averted.
Ruiz wants to stand but Honda is controlling his posture from full guard.
Honda pulls Ruiz in to control the position.
MJ Ruiz overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ruiz showing good wrestling skills to control the position.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Ruiz doesn't manage to clinch there - Honda circles away.

Ruiz moves into range and clinches up with Honda.
Honda is looking to take this one to the mat.

Ruiz escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Ruiz stuffs the takedown attempt from Honda. Honda gets slowly back to his feet.
Ruiz keeps Honda at a distance using the push kick.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Ruiz closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Ruiz lands in his opponent's guard.
Ruiz postures up.
Ruiz advances to half guard.
Ruiz is looking to take a break and control but Honda is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Honda wants to improve his position but Ruiz is controlling well.

Ruiz stands, ready to strike. The ref makes him back up and allows Honda to get to his feet.

The fight moves into the clinch position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Ruiz manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Ruiz is looking to stand up but Honda isn't so interested in that idea.

Ruiz pushes Honda off and gets back to his feet.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Honda blocks a head kick by Ruiz.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Ruiz tries to clinch but Honda moves out of range.

Honda has taken the fight to the clinch.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

MJ Ruiz dominated that second round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action! This is the final round!

Honda gets caught on his heels momentarily as he allows Ruiz to score an easy takedown into full guard.
Honda is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Well, if Honda is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Ruiz is trying to stand up here but Honda is controlling him well.
Honda perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Honda is keen to just control but Ruiz is a slippery customer.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Honda prevents Ruiz from standing back up.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Kazuhira Honda.
Honda fails with the takedown
and Ruiz counters with a nice body kick.

Ruiz gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Honda blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

Ruiz pulls guard.

Ruiz has his feet on Honda's hips. He pushes off and gets to his feet. Nice work.
Ruiz avoids the head kick by Honda.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Ruiz clinches up against the cage.

Honda successfully pulls guard.
Ruiz postures up.
Ruiz is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Honda looking to control.
Ruiz's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Ruiz lands a jab-cross combination.
Honda fails with the takedown.
Ruiz misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Honda gets caught napping as Ruiz dives in and scores a takedown. Honda manages to retain guard.
Honda has Ruiz pulled in close to control his posture.
Honda working a defensive guard here.

Kazuhira Honda has forced the referee to step in and restart the fight on the feet.
The fight stays on the outside here - Ruiz looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Ruiz shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Ruiz showed some decent athleticism there.
Honda controlling the position for now.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Ruiz looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Honda with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Ruiz decides to stand and escape the position.
MJ Ruiz is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

A momentary lapse in concentration from Honda enables Ruiz to shoot in and score with a neat double leg. Honda manages to secure a closed guard as the fighters hit the mat.

And that's the end of the fight!
MJ Ruiz showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Ruiz has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Yukihiro Shimada scores the fight 30:27
Judge Yuuki Gou scores the fight 30:27
Judge Hirohito Nitta scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... MJ Ruiz!