Manabu Soya vs. Ulka Sasaki

[6.0] "Some very solid work from Soya here. Sasaki was once again alright, working well with his opponent despite his opponent being the one to lift him up."

[6.0] "It's nice to see raw power finally beat technique/subimssion wrestling, as I found myself expecting the inevitable Sasaki win by catching Soya with armbar out of nowhere. He actually did catch Soya shortly before the finish, but Soya escaped and hit a couple of great looking Lariats for the win."

[5.0] "Sasaki isn't just working for me like this. I understand his early push due to being a somewhat established fighter... but I don't like it, especially against bigger and better wrestlers. I think I'm repeating my previous point from the tournament's beginning. At least Soya won here, and Sasaki get a fresh line of challengers from the tournament."

[7.0] "This was a fun watch. Sasaki is still learning, which of course he is 8 months in, but Soya brought the best out of him here. His kicks were saucy, his selling was salty, his gait was stalking, and the two clearly had the agreement to go hard when you saw those shoot headbutts from Soya and those slaps from Sasaki. I like how his submissions were sold by Soya: immediately hit the rope if caught, try to power out if it's only in the setup stage. This leaned in Soya's favour most of the time, but I'd like to see this match again in the fall, maybe Soya can be the guy who defeats Sasaki for the National Title. I like Soya's rebrand and his work, but he still doesn't fee like a main eventer to me, so maybe a run woth the red belt could change that."