PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Katsu Imai (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lincoln Abraham (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Lincoln Abraham has the eye of the tiger tonight.

Imai
vs
Abraham

185 cm
18
211 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

185 cm
20
211 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Katsu Imai!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Lincoln Abraham!
The judges for this bout are Felipe Paraventi, Daniel Cesar and Paulo Santos.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Imai avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Abraham lands a head kick!
Abraham tries to clinch but Imai is having none of it.

Imai tries to keep at a distance but Abraham has taken the fight into the clinch.
Imai avoiding damage as Abraham throws knees to the body.
Abraham landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.
Imai looking to stall.
Imai fails to pull the fight into his guard.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Abraham tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Imai avoiding damage as Abraham throws knees to the body.
Abraham looking to throw knees to the head but Imai is blocking nicely.
Abraham using the Thai clinch to land knees to the body.
Abraham misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Imai.
Abraham connects with a nasty looking knee right to Imai's face.
Abraham landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.
Abraham with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Imai drops down for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Abraham tries to land knees in the clinch but Imai avoids the damage to the body.
Abraham tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Abraham looks gassed!
Abraham throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Imai blocks it with crossed arms.
Abraham throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Imai blocks it with crossed arms.
Imai jumps guard but Abraham stands there with Imai around his waist. Imai gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Katsu Imai. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Imai has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Abraham is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Abraham lands a knee to the body.
Imai misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Abraham.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Abraham with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Imai jumps guard but Abraham stands there with Imai around his waist. Imai gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Abraham tries to land knees in the clinch but Imai avoids the damage to the body.
Abraham missing with knees to the body.
Knees to the body from Abraham.
A knee to the head by Abraham.
Imai managing to block the knees to the body from Abraham.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Abraham lands a nice knee to the body.
Imai has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Abraham avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Abraham.
Imai avoiding damage as Abraham throws knees to the body.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Imai.
Abraham looking to throw knees to the head but Imai is blocking nicely.
Abraham scores a nice knee to the body.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Imai.
Abraham tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Imai fails to pull guard.

Imai jumps guard and drags Abraham to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
Abraham stopping the sweep attempt from Imai.
Imai is working hard here to advance position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Imai bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Abraham's guard.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Abraham can do anything to dispel that myth.
Imai trying to control the position from guard on top but Abraham is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Abraham really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Imai. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Imai throws a big right hand that misses.

Imai drops back looking for a leg! Abraham is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and Abraham manages to kick Imai off! Imai jumps back into Abraham's guard.
Abraham keeping moving, preventing Imai from controlling successfully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Imai stands and throws Abraham's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Abraham avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Imai.
Abraham is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Imai asserts his dominance and retains side control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Imai.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Abraham, right into the meat.
Katsu Imai is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Abraham lands a high kick!
Lincoln Abraham seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Abraham tries to clinch but Imai moves out of range.
A head kick misses from Abraham.
Imai tries to close the distance and clinch up but Abraham swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Abraham throws a head kick that misses.
Abraham is looking to clinch but Imai is avoiding it.
Imai tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Abraham tries to clinch up

and Imai counters by clinching up.
Abraham tries to land a knee to the head but Imai blocks with his arms.
Abraham crunches a lovely knee into Imai's ribcage.
Abraham unloads a knee to the mid-section. Imai lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Abraham lands a nice knee to the body.
Abraham landing knees to the head.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Abraham tries to land a knee to the head but Imai blocks with his arms.
Abraham unloads a knee to the mid-section. Imai lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Imai is looking to control Abraham's arms but Abraham gets an underhook and turns him. Now Imai has his back to the cage.
Imai stalls.
Imai managing to block the knees to the body from Abraham.

Imai gets the body lock takedown. After a quick scramble, Abraham regains guard.
Abraham wants to stand but Imai is controlling the position.
Abraham is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
Imai won't allow Abraham to get back to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Imai with a flurry of punches that miss.
Abraham wants to get back to his feet but Imai is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Imai postures up.
Abraham is looking to stand up but Imai isn't so interested in that idea.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Good leg kick by Abraham there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
Abraham pulls out of a head kick attempt.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Abraham unloads a knee to the mid-section. Imai lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Abraham landing knees to the head.
Abraham unloads a knee to the mid-section. Imai lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Abraham using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Imai has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Abraham connects with a nasty looking knee right to Imai's face.
Abraham misses with a knee to the head.
Abraham lands a nice knee to the body.
Abraham connects with a nasty looking knee right to Imai's face.
Imai avoiding damage as Abraham throws knees to the body.
Abraham throws a knee to the head but misses.
Imai fails to pull the fight into his guard.
Imai can't get the takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Katsu Imai. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Abraham tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Abraham misses with a knee strike.
Imai tries to jump guard but he falls flat on his backside. Abraham smiles and moves away.
Abraham tries a head kick but it misses.
Lincoln Abraham is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Abraham throws a head kick that misses.
Abraham looks for the body kick but Imai saw that one coming.
Imai fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Abraham, right into the meat.

Abraham closes the distance and clinches.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Imai is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Abraham is keeping busy.
Abraham using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Imai has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Imai with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Abraham letting Imai take a breather here.
Abraham trying to land knees to the body.
Abraham tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Both guys are working to get underhooks.
Abraham tries a knee to the head but Imai blocks it.

Imai drags the fight down to the ground.
Abraham is looking to work some ground and pound but Imai has wrist control.

Abraham stands up from guard. Let's bang!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Abraham circles away from the clinch attempt.
Imai tries to clinch up but Abraham circles away and keeps his distance.
Imai fails with an attempt to clinch.
Abraham wants to clinch up but Imai keeps it at a distance.
Imai chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Abraham can pounce on him.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lincoln Abraham showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Abraham clinches with his opponent.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Imai avoiding damage as Abraham throws knees to the body.
Imai tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Abraham lands a knee to the head.
Imai has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Abraham avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
Imai is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Imai doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Imai on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Imai wants to stall.
Imai takes a knee right on the jaw!
Imai avoiding damage as Abraham throws knees to the body.
Imai tries to pull guard but Abraham holds him up against the cage and eventually Imai drops back down to his feet.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Katsu Imai. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Abraham misses with a knee to the head.
Imai jumps guard but Abraham stands there with Imai around his waist. Imai gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.

Imai successfully pulls guard.
Imai is trying to control the position but Abraham postures up.
Imai tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Imai is trying to keep Abraham in close.

Imai looking for a triangle here. Abraham is fighting it but it looks tight! Imai pulls the arm across and this one won't last much longer! Nope, Abraham is tapping out - this one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:28 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle Choke). Katsu Imai!