PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Chris Griffin (ranked 5165 p4p, 4510 weight class) and Kotetsu Yama (ranked 472 p4p, 443 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Griffin
vs
Yama

173 cm
19
165
0 - 0 - 0

168 cm
19
159
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Decent elbows
Big heart

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter fighter
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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Chris Griffin!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Kotetsu Yama!
The judges for this bout are Matti Vanhoillinen, Anni Minnemäki and Marco Blurström.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Yama cracks a nice hook into Griffin's ribs.
Yama works Griffin's body with a nice hook.

Griffin pushes Yama up against the cage in a clinch.
Yama can't get the takedown.

Griffin escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Griffin doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Yama feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Griffins jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Griffin fails to land the takedown.
Griffin misses with a takedown attempt
and Yama counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Griffin shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Yama but Yama pushes him off and we're back to square one.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Chris Griffin. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Griffin gets his head snapped back by a nice shot there.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Griffin with a lazy takedown attempt
and Yama counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Griffin takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Yama wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
Yama stuns Griffin with a nice body shot, before stepping back out of range.

Yama gets a takedown into half guard.
Yama prevents Griffin from improving his position.
Griffin is looking to control Yama's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Griffin avoid being mounted?

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Yama not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Griffin tries to push off, looking to stand up, but Yama manages to move to mount!
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Yama cracks Griffin with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Griffin tries to hold on but Yama pushes him away.
Griffin holds on, trying desperately to control.
Yama landing strikes from the mount and Griffin is in trouble!
Griffin is bucking up trying to escape but Yama cracks him with another couple of good strikes.

Griffin is rocked!
Griffin is trying desperately to improve position.
Griffin is working hard here to advance position.
Yama lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Yama looking to finish Griffin with some ground and pound. This is bad for Griffin!
Oh Griffin is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Yama lands a heavy elbow.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Griffin really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Griffin seems to have got his legs back now.
Griffin wants to control but Yama is having none of it.
Yama in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Yama landing strikes, looking to finish!
Yama looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Yama loads up on a couple of big shots to the head that have Griffin scrambling to escape. He can't get free though and several more unanswered shots from Yama land to the head. The referee has no choice but to stop the fight. Yama stands and salutes the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:57 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Kotetsu Yama!