PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Khen Aranico (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Matthew Kurose (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Aranico comes to the cage accompanied by Psycho. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Aranico
vs
Kurose

173 cm
21
145 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

176 cm
24
143 lbs
8 - 10 - 1

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid boxing
Experienced

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Khen Aranico!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 10 - 1, fighting out of Tokyo, Matthew Kurose!
The judges for this bout are Shigeki Fujiwara, Yukihiro Shimada and Yasuomi Hirokawa.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Kurose feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.

Kurose drops back looking for a leg! Aranico is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and Aranico manages to kick Kurose off! Kurose jumps back into Aranico's guard.
Kurose postures up.
Kurose trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

Kurose drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Aranico manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Kurose has Aranico in his guard.
Kurose looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

Kurose throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Kurose is trying to keep Aranico in close.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Aranico preventing the sweep.
Aranico pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Kurose is keeping the position for now.
Aranico stopping the sweep attempt from Kurose.
Aranico wants to pass the guard but Kurose is keeping the position.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Aranico throws a nice looking combination but Kurose bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.

Aranico throws the overhand right but ducks down into a quick takedown attempt. Kurose was covering up waiting for the punch and Aranico finishes the takedown easily into guard.
Aranico advances position into side control!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Kurose is looking to regain half guard here but Aranico keeps moving and retains side control.
Aranico postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.

Aranico decides to stand back up.
Kurose fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Aranico lands an overhand right.
Kurose misses with a double jab
and Aranico counters with a nice body shot.
Kurose looks gassed!
Kurose shoots in but no luck this time.
Aranico misses with a combination

and Kurose counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Aranico!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Kurose in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Aranico in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
The referee warns Aranico that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Aranico really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Kurose looking to ground and pound but Aranico is blocking nicely.
Kurose is landing with some decent strikes but Aranico is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Aranico can't escape the position.
Aranico wants to control but Kurose is having none of it.
Kurose looking to control but Aranico is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Aranico wants to control but Kurose is having none of it.
Kurose looking to finish Aranico with some ground and pound. This is bad for Aranico!
Kurose controlling the position easily from mount.
Kurose can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Aranico is looking to escape.
Kurose cracks Aranico with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Matthew Kurose dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Aranico slips a jab from Kurose.

Kurose shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
Aranico blocking the ground and pound.
Kurose can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Aranico is looking to escape.
Kurose content just to control the position here.
Aranico is squirming around, avoiding Kurose's attempts to control the action.
Aranico's corner are shouting for him to stand up but that's bad cornering - how is he meant to stand up when he's mounted? He should be looking to improve his position on the ground before trying to stand back up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kurose throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Kurose misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Kurose scoring with strikes but Aranico is staying in there.
Kurose pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.

Kurose jumps to the side looking to secure the arm triangle…. Ooooh, that looks tight… Aranico is gargling but he's managed to escape! Nice work there by Aranico and Kurose has given up the dominant position trying to land that submission.
Kurose is breathing heavily.
An elbow from Kurose crashes against the mat.
Kurose trying to control the position but Aranico is working away.
Aranico is trying to improve his position.
Kurose is putting a hurting on Aranico here, landing some big shots from side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Kurose in side control, throwing shots but Aranico defends.

Kurose is working to tighten is grip on Aranico's neck. He's isolated an arm and is working for an arm triangle. Aranico has recognised the danger and is trying to turn with the submission but Kurose is really squeezing tight and eventually Aranico passes out! Kurose breaks the hold and jumps onto the cage to celebrate! Submission of the night, I'd say!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:33 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Arm Triangle). Matthew Kurose!