Valentin Moldavsky (Russia) vs Szymon Bajor (Poland) | MMA fight, HD

185cm, 105.6kg, Simon Bayou! In the red corner, 187cm, 102.2kg, Valentin Moldaev! Alright, let's take a look here at the RIZIN tournament rules. Three 5-minute rounds, unless... Remember, rounds 1 and 2 are guaranteed. If the judges do not render a decision, it will go to a third round. And anything that happened before that, ladies and gentlemen, you do not count it. They will only score what happens in the final round, if it needs to get there. Let's take a look now, Joe Warren at the strategy. Here we go, Openweight Tournament quarterfinals. This is why we're sitting here today, very excited. There's gonna be some fireworks. So again, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us around the world here at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. My name is Joe Furrow, joined alongside the baddest man on the planet, Joe Warren. Having a wonderful time here, calling these votes. I've been looking forward to this fight. I want to see... I was kind of looking to see how Fedor's other teammate did here. You know, he seems to be moving better, he's a little bouncy, a little flowing, a little better on his feet, bouncing on his toes. They haven't really connected yet. Oh, a good shot, a good left there, landed by Moldavsky. Moldavsky's moving real well, he's on his toes, looking for the range. Bayor with the double jab there, pushing his opponent back. Bayor's keeping his back to that center of the cage real well. I mean ring, I'm sorry. Oh, and there you see there, Moldavsky circling that right hand. Oh, he lands there, a nice hook, he throws the right, steps off, and then throws that left hook, and he's already cut. We see a cut here over the left side of Simon Bayor. Damage. Again, circling that right hand, trying to get Simon's eyes to look over there. You've seen the confidence build. Oh, what a punch thrown there by Moldavsky. He's picking up the pace, Joe. He has basically switched gears, picks up the leg, takes him down to the ground. We see Bayor is bleeding big time now on the left side of his face. Two minutes gone in the first round here. Moldavsky stalking his Polish opponent, trying to get past those legs. Moldavsky doing a very good job in this fight, very smart. You can tell he looks a little bit more like he's a veteran out there right now. He's picking him apart, he's choosing what he wants to do. Look at this, he's doubling up his jab. Oh, and you can see here, Bayor is hurt. He is slowed down a little bit here. He is backing up, he's not using his footwork as much. Probably just still trying to get some of his wits back, Joe. Does throw that overhand power to Bayor. Oh, these guys are starting to throw here. Moldavsky smart, doesn't want any part of this. Circles out, and he gets a takedown. Moldavsky, great takedown. Little lateral drop, double leg. In good position, this is where he saw his teammate win with those overhand rights. Finished a man from the guard. Two minutes to go in the opening round here. On the side, Gaines presents RIZIN Fighting World Grand Prix 2016. The openweight tournament quarterfinals are underway. Valentin Moldavsky representing Russia. And Team Bayor on top of Simon Bayor for Poland right now. Setting up position, looking to get some ground and pound. Just like his opponent, or just like his teammate earlier on this evening. Bayor is trying to control those wrists. Trying to get his hips out so he can go to a submission. But Moldavsky's hips are so strong, is he in there? He's pushing him now out of that ring, underneath the ring. They look like the overhand rights coming. Baiting out there, keeping his hips square with his opponent, Moldavsky. And right now, if he wants to try and jump through that guard, he can actually do that. As from the different calves, you can see here that Bayor's legs are wide open there. Now he's out. Moldavsky's team, well yeah, their team, their Bayor team is just so good in that guard. You know, throwing those overhand rights. I mean, that's right out of the playbook. Back on our feet again, movement. Look for that right hand again. Oh, now he lands a left. Moldavsky just taking apart Simon Bayor. Moldavsky's moving well. The one good thing I like about Moldavsky, Joe, is that when he throws a right, you know there's a left hook coming. Moldavsky's finding a home for that right hand on his chin. That lead left hook is landing. Bayor closing the distance, throwing some knees. 15 seconds to go in this opening round. Moldavsky turns him around, puts him in a corner. That double underhook. There we have it, opening round. In the books here, obviously on my unofficial scorecard, Joe, Valentin Moldavsky, your thoughts? Yes, I think Moldavsky, he just, Valentin moved better. You know, I believe that he looked a little lighter on his feet. He was finding a home for his right hand. He was finding a home for that left hook. Right here we just saw a little double leg lateral drop to his back. You know, then we saw that overhand right. We saw double legs. Oh, that was close. Boom, there's the left. Roksom sends him back. He's finding a home for those punches. What are you telling Simon Bayor if you're in his corner right now? I'm telling Simon Bayor to keep the pressure forward. The best thing he's been doing is when he pushes him against the ring. When he stays at the distance in the middle, he's doing a good job of keeping his back to the center, but he's eating every punch that gets thrown at him. And if you're in Moldavsky's corner? I'm going to tell him to keep that pace up. I'm going to tell him to stay overconfident. Make sure that he keeps throwing those hands. They're finding a home. And, you know, once he gets to the ground, that he's focused on landing power shots. Round two about to get underway here. Simon Bayor representing Poland. Valentin Moldavsky representing Team Fedor in Russia. Here we go. We got a swell over Simon's eye. Look at that. Looks like Moldavsky's having fun out there, circling around, just doing what he needs to do. Oh, and a nice left hook throws sweat all the way around. The referee had to duck out of the way there. Yeah, you know, Moldavsky level change overhand right left hook. That's when he's landed double underhooks into a trip. These are Greco positions. These are Russian positions. Now he can go head and arm choke or he can work. 25 seconds to get that takedown. He's in the dominant position now on the ground. Look for knees. Look for just these punches to come through here. Keep his hands locked. Moldavsky needs to keep his hands locked, pop his hips and bring Simon back to his face on the ground. Moldavsky's got to be careful. Make sure he's protecting that right hand because as you can see here, Bayor's trying to get that submission, trying to get that kimura. This is why you don't unlock your hands. He's doing a good job. He needs to get his head back in the inside. He's still in trouble. If he can roll that wrist, Moldavsky will be in big trouble. We can hear him yelling. You need to hook your legs there if you're on top. Moldavsky needs to... Here comes a sweep, Joe. Here comes a sweep. No, he needs to go to half guard. He's able to punch. Good job. Great job by Moldavsky there. Great job. I'm telling you, that was staying very smart. We talked about not unlocking his hands. He unlocks his hand. Moldavsky, he almost gets submitted by Simon. I'm saying he's in good positions now. Head and arm choke, what we talked about before. He's looking for that head and arm choke now. He's hiding that head. And this is what we talked about earlier. He needs to posture and land some power. Now he's going back to submission again. He needs to keep his head on the center line. He's dropping his head to the right or left so it's underneath armpits and that's why he's getting caught. Well, the most important thing for Moldavsky, like you said, is he's got to keep his hips centered. Make sure his head doesn't move off that center line because when he does is when it's very dangerous. That's when limbs are exposed. And this is Jiu-Jitsu 101. Do not put your hands on the mat. If you post your hands on the mat is where you get set up for a submission. You know, this is just being tired here or inexperienced. We are midway through the second round. Will we see a third round? I don't think we're going to see a third round, Joe. Moldavsky doing what he needs to do to emerge victorious. He needs to fight his head back inside on that center line we talked about. You can't make the argument, though. And I know there's people out there that will say yay and or nay, but Simon Bajor, with that submission attempt, did more in this fight to try and finish it. Yeah, I guess so, but it was just an attempt. Or this round, excuse me. It just was an attempt. It wasn't even close to a finish. You know, he didn't sweep him and he wasn't in a submission position. He just had his hands locked. As we see here, Valentino... And then we're talking strategy again here, Joe. We're talking, you know, the Russian's sitting here. He's saying, I'm winning from this position. I stay in this position with good hip pressure. I win this fight. There will be no third round. It'll move me forward, move me into this, you know, out of the quarterfinals into the semifinals. Just playing a bit of strategy here. Not over-exerting. Simply saying, you know what, I'm in a dominant position, like you said. Just keep working away here, chipping away. Everything will be fine. Yep, yep. He's got one minute and 20 seconds. And he's going to be moving forward in this tournament. What does Simon Bajor need to do right now to ensure A, a third round, or B, a finish of his opponent? He probably needs his corner to jump in and help him. Because I don't think there's any other chance right now. Oh, he's hunting for submission. Simon, he's looking at everything he can do. You can see him go for those up kicks. Now he got his guard passed. Now he's in side guard. He's in terrible position. There's 45 seconds left. And he's incurred some massive damage. If you look at that left eye, it is swelling up crazy over that eyebrow. The Russian, he didn't even go for the north-south choke right there. He knew, he was waiting, saving his energy. Look at that knot on that eye. He has the opportunity to go for an armbar or a choke here, but he is going to ride this out here. He's got 20 seconds. 20 seconds, potentially, for Valentin Moldavsky to move on to the semifinals, which will take place two days from now, same arena. Punches under the armpit. Oh, that one rocked Simon Bajor. Moldavsky did a great job in the second round here. Controlled position won this fight with control. Didn't get hurt. Didn't waste energy. Looks a little tired, though. There is some massive, massive swelling here. Let's take a look at some of the action from the fight here. There you have the right punch and the takedown landed by Valentin Moldavsky. Double unders. Bring him to his back. Controlled position, side mount. Right here, we talked about him bringing his head back into that center. He was in danger here. Him going to that side, you know, the half is what saved him. Defending the Kimura attempt from the bottom by Simon Bajor. Moldavsky does emerge victorious. If he was able to perhaps turn that wrist over, would have been a different story, but a great job by Moldavsky to defend it, and then he got on top towards the end of the round, and he landed some monstrous punches. There's some ground and pound. You want to talk about scoring some damage? Take a look at Simon Bajor's eye. Yeah, did a great job on top. Controlled position and landing punches. Let's hear what the judges have to say. Will somebody be moving on right now when we see a third round? I doubt it, but the judges will determine right now if Valentin Moldavsky or Simon Bajor moves on to the semifinals. There you go, all of them. Son! An excellent job there by Valentin Moldavsky. This guy continues to prove why he is undefeated and why he is going to be a threat for anybody in this tournament. He moves on to the semifinals, which will take place within two days here at the Saitama Super Arena. This guy is a force to be reckoned with, and let's be honest, do we really believe he gave a total of 100% in that fight there? I think he was very strategic and still did all kinds of damage to Simon Bajor.