Liam manages to get back to his feet and survives the remaining seconds until the bell rings. But the damage from that exchange is significant, and the sixth round proves brutally difficult for him.
Umemoto, meanwhile, becomes increasingly fixated on finding that sensation again. He keeps pressing forward, trying to push Liam into the same kind of violent exchange that had driven him into that strange state at the end of the fifth round.
But Liam's condition has changed. Wounded and struggling to recover, he no longer has the aggression needed to push Umemoto back toward that same edge.
"Umemoto keeps coming forward! Liam is still trying to hold him off!"
"Good defense from O'Connell! He blocks the right hand and immediately ties Umemoto up!"
"Liam is buying himself time here. He knows he needs to recover, but Umemoto isn't giving him a second to breathe!"
"Umemoto goes back to the body! Liam absorbs it and circles away!"
