PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Taiki Aoki (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rafael Misiek (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Aoki comes to the cage accompanied by Cudi the Kid. Misiek is bouncing up and down as he enters the arena, backed by El Picante. These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Aoki
vs
Misiek

170 cm
25
155 lbs
12 - 4 - 0

181 cm
24
185 lbs
11 - 9 - 1

Abu Dhabi Champ
Solid boxing
Cardio machine

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Dynamo Clothing
Milwaukee's Best 160 (85% laundry)

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 12 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Taiki Aoki!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 9 - 1, fighting out of New York, Rafael Misiek!
The judges for this bout are Alexandre Firmino, Paulo Santos and Daniel Cesar.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Aoki has closed the distance and engaged Misiek in a clinch.
Aoki struggles to land a body shot inside as Misiek controls his hands.
Aoki tries a body shot but Misiek blocks it.
Aoki misses with a body punch.
Aoki lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Misiek backwards.
I was talking to Aoki's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Aoki on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Aoki can't find room to land a body shot as Misiek controls the action.
Aoki misses with a body punch.
Nice elbow from Misiek.
Aoki has dropped down and is looking to force the takedown but it's defended by Misiek after a bit of a struggle.
Aoki lands with a right to the head.
Misiek blocks an uppercut.
Aoki struggles to land a body shot inside as Misiek controls his hands.
Misiek with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Aoki manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.
Misiek looks to throw an elbow but misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Misiek pulls guard successfully.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Aoki prevents Misiek from getting back to his feet.
Misiek really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Aoki. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Aoki throws a big right hand that misses.
Aoki scoring with some ground and pound.
Aoki might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Misiek tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Misiek avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Misiek seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.
Misiek is looking to stand up but Aoki isn't so interested in that idea.
Aoki postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Misiek keeping moving, preventing Aoki from controlling successfully.
Aoki throws a big right hand that misses.
Misiek wants to get back to his feet but he's too absorbed in his own little project and Aoki manages to pass to side control.
Aoki is trying to control the action in half guard but Misiek is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Misiek is trying to get back to full guard.
Misiek gets full guard.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Aoki distracts Misiek with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Misiek keeping moving, preventing Aoki from controlling successfully.
Misiek throws some sloppy strikes off his back.
Aoki content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Aoki throws a big elbow that misses.
Aoki trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Aoki passes into half guard.
Aoki missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Aoki is nestled in close to Misiek, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Misiek flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.
Misiek has hold of Aoki's hands but Aoki slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Aoki performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Aoki seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Misiek does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Aoki missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Aoki is nestled in close to Misiek, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Misiek works his way to full guard. Good work.
Aoki wants to control from the top but Misiek keeps moving.
Misiek is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Aoki wants to control from the top but Misiek keeps moving.

Misiek looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Aoki passes into half guard.
Aoki thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Misiek's head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Misiek flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.
Aoki has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Aoki frees up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Aoki lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Aoki cracks Misiek with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Misiek felt the need to train up his defensive grappling in the buildup to the fight. Presumably he was expecting to be in a difficult position like this, so let's see if he can get out of it.
Aoki punishing his opponent with strikes.
Misiek working to try and regain half guard.
Aoki connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Aoki trying to control but Misiek is having none of it.
Misiek tries to lock up and control but Aoki gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Aoki looking to finish Misiek with some ground and pound. This is bad for Misiek!
Misiek tries to reverse the position but Aoki maintains control.
Aoki can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Misiek is looking to escape.
Aoki avoids the attempt from Misiek to control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Taiki Aoki dominated that round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Aoki misses with the combination.
Aoki tests Misiek's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Aoki looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Misiek tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Aoki was well out of range. Poor timing from Misiek.
Aoki throws a big shot that misses.
Aoki misses with a wild body shot.
Rafael Misiek is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Aoki tries to clinch up but Misiek circles away and keeps his distance.
Misiek lands a nice leg kick that just misses Aoki's sensitive parts.
Misiek slips a straight right by Aoki.
The crowd cheers as Aoki lands an impressive looking overhand right. Misiek doesn't seem phased though.
Aoki pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Misiek uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Aoki.
A jab from Aoki misses.
Taiki Aoki seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Misiek rushes in with a sloppy looking punch

and Aoki counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Misiek tries to get to full guard but Aoki has control of the leg.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Misiek is trying to stand.
Aoki wants to take a breather but Misiek is having none of it.
Aoki thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Aoki not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Aoki is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Aoki seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Misiek does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
It really doesn't seem like the step up in weight is hurting Aoki here at all. He's more than holding his own against the bigger man.
Aoki takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Misiek is looking to improve his position.

Misiek is defending against the submission attempts here by Aoki.
Aoki is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Misiek is trying to get back to full guard.
Misiek on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Aoki scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Aoki not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Misiek is refusing to be controlled, as Aoki sits in half guard.
Aoki sitting and controlling from the half guard.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Aoki lands a nice short elbow.
Misiek has hold of Aoki's hands but Aoki slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Aoki has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Misiek throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A nice elbow there by Aoki.
Aoki looking to finish Misiek with some ground and pound. This is bad for Misiek!
Misiek takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.

Aoki with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Aoki lands with some strikes.
Misiek working to try and regain half guard.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Aoki lands a couple of good shots and Misiek has given up his back, trying to escape the position!
Misiek looks to control his opponent's hands but he's not mananging it at the moment.
Misiek grimaces as he takes a shot to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Aoki looking for the choke but no joy.
Aoki throwing damaging strikes from the back! Misiek could be in trouble here!
Aoki is looking to control Misiek but Misiek is wriggling around and keeping busy.
Aoki lands shots from the back.
Aoki is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Misiek can do to turn this around?
Aoki lands a punch to the side of the head from the back.
Misiek tries to escape the position.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Can Misiek hold on?! Aoki is landing more strikes to his hapless foe.
Aoki throwing strikes from the back - he gets a warning from the referee for striking the back of the head but all these shots are hurting Misiek!

Misiek is rocked!
Aoki lands a shot to the head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Taiki Aoki dominated that second round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. This is the final round!

Misiek takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Misiek is still on wobbly legs! Can Aoki finish him?
Aoki lands a two punch combo.
Aoki drops Misiek with a big left hand! Misiek is injured, injured bad! Aoki jumps in and finished him with strikes! The fight is over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:13 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Taiki Aoki!
Taiki Aoki gave a mention to Zombie Nutrition in his post fight interview. That will please them (and hopefully generate some sales).