They’re back at it, this time with a little more seriousness
and a little less umphs behind the strikes. The slower-paced matwork dominates
the opening of the match, with Takada being dominated by Maeda. Takada’s
looking for an answer to Maeda’s holds and kicks but can’t find it as Maeda
overwhelms him with strikes and keeps him going back to the ropes with the
wakigatame. There’s some really terrific selling from Takada in these moments,
crumbling from the heavy blows as he desperately tries to fight back,
exhausting his outs between the rope breaks and the falls. There’s a glimmer of
hope as he levels Maeda with a big kick but Maeda’s able to take back control
on the mat, once again forcing Takada to his home away from home with a
leglock. Something seems to snap inside Takada as he comes back swinging and
kicking, knocking Maeda down with a solebutt and high kick, slamming him with
the belly-to-belly. There’s a great little moment when Maeda tries to trap
Takada’s arm for the crossface chickenwing and Takada counters with the single
leg crab hold to force the rope break. The final minute or so of the match was awesome, as the score is tied and they’re just unloading with big ass kicks. Takada lands a high
kick, Maeda collapses, quickly trying to stand on rubber legs but failing as
the fans go nuts for Takada’s TKO victory.
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