PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Bart Van Cherry (ranked 4545 p4p, 4843 weight class) and Hayato Sakuraba (ranked 567 p4p, 588 weight class). Bart Van Cherry has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Van Cherry
vs
Sakuraba

188 cm
20
188
0 - 2 - 0

180 cm
25
190
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Hates pizza

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Bart Van Cherry!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Hayato Sakuraba!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Franklin, Winston Alpacca and David Hoff.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Sakuraba moves into the clinch.
Van Cherry is looking to break free of the clinch but Sakuraba has double underhooks.
Van Cherry is trying to drag Sakuraba to the mat but Sakuraba just about manages to keep his footing. He used the cage to his advantage there.

Sakuraba pulls guard.
Sakuraba looking to hit a scissor sweep but Van Cherry is one step ahead there.
Sakuraba manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Van Cherry manages to get himself to full guard.

Sakuraba keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Van Cherry's head.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Van Cherry looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Sakuraba with a nice head shot there.
Van Cherry tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Sakuraba landing some decent shots from guard.
Sakuraba postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sakuraba loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

Sakuraba drops back for a leg here. A bit of a high risk move... He's looking for a kneebar by the looks of things. Now both of them are looking for submissions. Sakuraba seems to have locked his on tight now - Van Cherry screams in pain and taps out furiously! It certainly was a high risk move but it's paid off for Sakuraba, as he picks up the win!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:28 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kneebar). Hayato Sakuraba!