[2009-02-15-BattlARTS] Alexander Otsuka vs Yujiro Yamamoto

[GOTNW]

This is the stuff right here, one of my favourite things about Otsuka is how unique and interesing his transitions are, he'll go from a Scorpion Deathlock to an Indian Deathlock to a Sleeper in one fluent motion in about three seconds and that's just a random example from an early mat exchange. The finishing stretch has some amazing stuff, like Yamamoto using Cena's Giant Swing counter we lost our shit for about 4 years earlier and just an awesome sense of struggle with Otsuka going for badass throws and Yamamoto trying to counter with any way he can. It's also really cool how Otsuka makes even pro style moves like Piledrivers and even a Frankensteiner seem more legit with how nicely he sets them up and executes them. Stars; a lot of.

[Jordan]

Whew, this ruled. I knew there was no way I wouldn't love this after Yamamoto hit that abesigiri and managed to dive in for a kneebar attempt in the same motion. And Otsuka had a lot of counters and setups in here that looked so impossible that I had to rewind them multiple times. Also loved Yamamoto late flash submission attempts to try and stop the inevitable. Great match, I should try and binge watch some BattlArts stuff since I finally have a period where I'm not swamped by grad school stuff.