PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Ryan Bateman (ranked 4644 p4p, 0 weight class) and Jim The Great (ranked 4523 p4p, 0 weight class). Bateman comes to the cage accompanied by Critical Mass. We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Bateman
vs
The Great

196 cm
20
210 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

186 cm
18
200 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Good chin

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Heavy handed

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Ryan Bateman!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Jim The Great!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Bishop, Donald Grub and James Atkins.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Bateman scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. The Great doesn't seem bothered though.
The Great scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
The Great lands a vicious shot with the stealth of a sniper and the strength of a viper. Are vipers that strong? I can think of lots of things that are stronger than a viper - not many rhyme with sniper though.
The Great is looking to clinch.
Bateman moves into range and throws a lovely three punch combination.

It looks like Jim The Great has been cut.
Bateman doesn't succeed with the takedown
and The Great counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Bateman lands a jab to the head.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Bateman tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but The Great was well out of range. Poor timing from Bateman.
Bateman throws a hook to the side of The Great's head but The Great sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Bateman lands with an uppercut that bounces The Great off the cage and back into range.
Ryan Bateman seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Bateman throws an ugly left hook that misses
and The Great counters with a three punch combination, finished off with a leg kick. Nice work.
The Great moves away from the strike by Bateman.
The Great is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Bateman fails to land with a series of punches.
It seemed like The Great was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Bateman shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Let's see what he's got on the mat.
Bateman throws a big right hand that misses.
Bateman is stalling in the full guard.
Bateman's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.
Bateman working some strikes from top position.
Bateman won't allow The Great to get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Bateman is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Bateman has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Bateman's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Bateman controlling from the top position.
Bateman loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Bateman seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
The Great wants to get back to his feet but Bateman is in a dominant position and won't allow it.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Bateman throws a series of punches but The Great avoids them all with ease.
The Great avoids a lazy jab quite easily.

Bateman closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. The Great quickly recovers to half guard.
The Great looks winded!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bateman controlling the pace.
Bateman slips a nice elbow through The Great's hands, connecting with The Great's forehead.
Bateman sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Further stalling from Bateman.
Bateman not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Bateman thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Bateman content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
The Great wants to get back to full guard.
The Great is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Bateman throwing shots but The Great is blocking nicely.
Bateman is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
The Great keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Bateman keeping composed on the top, looking to control the action.
If it seems like I'm not saying a lot, it's just because Bateman is stinking the place up with his stalling.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ryan Bateman dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Jim The Great's cut.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

The Great steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Bateman.
Bateman looks to land a left hand but The Great moved out of range nicely.
Ryan Bateman is winning the standup battle so far.
The Great slips a jab and a cross from Bateman.
The Great moves to clinch but Bateman breaks away

and Bateman decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in The Great's guard.
Ryan Bateman overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Bateman's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Bateman accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Bateman not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
Bateman is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that The Great can do to turn this around?
Bateman seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down The Great for as long as he can get away with.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bateman continues to stall.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
The Great dodges the punch combination from Bateman.
Bateman fails with a takedown attempt from distance.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Bateman.
The Great shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Bateman as he jumps to the side.
The Great is breathing heavily.

Bateman decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Bateman controlling the action here.
Bateman slips a nice elbow through The Great's hands, connecting with The Great's forehead.
Bateman working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Bateman in particular looking to stall.
Bateman throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Bateman is figuring out what he wants to do next.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The Great keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Bateman is taking a breather. The Great says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.
Bateman lands strikes from half guard.
Bateman trying to control the pace.
Bateman prevents The Great from standing back up.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Bateman is pressing down on The Great's thigh, looking to free his foot. The Great is holding on for now.
Bateman working The Great over with strikes.
Bateman controlling the action here.
Nice strikes from Bateman there.
Bateman takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Bateman with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ryan Bateman dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Jim The Great's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

The Great leaves Bateman with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
The Great takes one to the side of the head.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Bateman.
Bateman throws a sloppy head kick
and The Great counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
The Great displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
The Great is looking to score with low kicks.
Bateman is looking to counter punch.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
The Great tries to drive through with a takedown attempt but Bateman defends well and The Great ends up having to push Bateman into the cage where they will battle it out in the clinch.
The Great tries to bum rush Bateman with a series of wild strikes but Bateman uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
The Great doesn't manage to clinch there - Bateman circles away.
Bateman appears to be looking for a counter takedown.
The Great will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Bateman closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Bateman seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
Bateman lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Bateman controlling the action here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Bateman passes the guard and advances to mount!
Bateman putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Bateman sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Bateman raining down shots from the mount!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The Great takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Bateman is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. The Great can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Bateman connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Bateman landing strikes from the mount and The Great is in trouble!
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Bateman controlling from the full mount.
Bateman raining down shots from the mount!
Bateman controlling his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Bateman lands a heavy elbow.
Bateman content just to control the position here.
The Great is really trying hard to get back to his feet.
Bateman working The Great over with strikes here.
Bateman controlling the pace for now.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Jim The Great has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Ryan Bateman is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Bateman prevents The Great from getting the reversal.

And that's the end of the fight!
Ryan Bateman showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Bateman has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Daniel Bishop scores the fight 30:27
Judge Donald Grub scores the fight 30:27
Judge James Atkins scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Ryan Bateman!
Ryan Bateman decided to go for the less than humble approach in his post fight interview, telling everyone how he is going to conquer the world. The crowd seemed to like it when really that sort of approach could have gone either way.