PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between John Wayne Gracie (ranked 1018 p4p, 2842 weight class) and Diyorbek Nurudinov (ranked 130 p4p, 313 weight class). Gracie kept the crowd waiting but all that was forgotten when his ring entrance music started. The incomparable musical genius that is Thriller by Michael Jackson. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Gracie
vs
Nurudinov

194 cm
41
269
25 - 9 - 0

195 cm
31
270
15 - 16 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Very quick

Olympic wrestler
Excellent boxer
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the heavyweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 25 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, John Wayne Gracie!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 16 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Diyorbek Nurudinov!
The judges for this bout are Frank Dennis, Chris Downing and Tiny Johnson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Gracie throws a leg kick but Nurudinov moved away.
No luck for Nurudinov with that takedown attempt.
Gracie with a nice calf kick.
Gracie has been talking about how he's improved his wrestling in the run up to the fight so let's see if that's enough to sway the balance.
Nurudinov throws a body punch but Gracie moves out of range.
Nurudinov avoids the body shot from Gracie.
John Wayne Gracie seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Gracie throws a low kick but Nurudinov avoids it.
Nurudinov checks a low kick from Gracie.
Gracie uses good footwork to get in and out and land a nice right hand before Nurudinov has time to react.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Gracie bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Nurudinov regains half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Gracie is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Nurudinov wants to sweep but Gracie has passed to side control!

That's one minute gone in the round.

Gracie is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Nurudinov has escaped the position, nice work there.
Nurudinov is trying to get back to half guard.
Nurudinov tries to escape but Gracie is in control.
Gracie remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Gracie working the head with strikes.
Gracie cracks Nurudinov with a big elbow.
Gracie lands a decent elbow from side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gracie in side control lands a decent elbow.
Nurudinov is trying to get back to half guard. He's pushing on Gracie's leg. He's managed it. Nice work.
Gracie 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.
Gracie is taking a breather. Nurudinov 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.

Nurudinov looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Gracie in particular looking to stall.
Nurudinov is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Gracie scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Nurudinov tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Gracie has advanced to mount. Uh oh.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Gracie with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Nurudinov takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Nurudinov tries to reverse the position but Gracie maintains control.
Gracie working the ground and pound effectively.
Nurudinov wants to get back to his feet.
Nurudinov can't escape the position.
Nurudinov is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Gracie sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Gracie putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!

It looks like Diyorbek Nurudinov has been cut.
Gracie dominating with strikes here.
Gracie controlling the pace for now.
Gracie lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Nurudinov working to try and regain half guard.
Gracie tries to control but Nurudinov wriggling away.
Nurudinov is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Gracie with good strikes from the mount here!

Nurudinov is rocked!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Wayne Gracie dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Diyorbek Nurudinov's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Nurudinov takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Gracie tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Well, he's not going to score with shots like that. A lazy body kick attempt from Gracie.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Gracie.

Gracie feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.

Gracie avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Gracie looking to control the position here, rather than advance.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Gracie keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Nurudinov's head.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Nurudinov looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Gracie wants to control from the top but Nurudinov keeps moving.
Gracie works over Nurudinov with some ground and pound from guard.
Nurudinov looking for a sweep. Not yet Nurudinov, not yet.

Nurudinov is looking for a triangle but Gracie pushes his legs off easily.
Gracie advances position into side control!
Gracie controlling the position from side mount.
Gracie lands some shots froms side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nurudinov tries to buck Gracie off but Gracie is having none of it.
Nurudinov is pushing Gracie's head away, looking to escape. Gracie manages to hold on to the position though.
Gracie is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Nurudinov can do to turn this around?
Nurudinov tries to buck Gracie off but Gracie is having none of it.
Gracie happy to just control the position for now.
Nurudinov really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Gracie. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Nurudinov is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Gracie cracks Nurudinov with a big elbow.
Nurudinov is trying to escape the position but Gracie is controlling the position.
Gracie lands a decent elbow from side control.
Gracie is chipping away with strikes.
Nurudinov is still in real trouble! Can Gracie finish him?
Gracie in side control here. He's dropped a big elbow there and Nurudinov looks hurt! Oh, he is hurt! Gracie turns on the heat and pounds him out for a TKO victory! Good killer instinct there!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). John Wayne Gracie!
John Wayne Gracie retains his heavyweight title!
After winning the bout, John Wayne Gracie thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.