PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Yves Marchant (ranked 2574 p4p, 6384 weight class) and Joe Smith (ranked 289 p4p, 0 weight class). Marchant comes to the cage accompanied by gandagana. Smith comes into a darkened arena with his song building. Ordinary Average Guy - Joe Walsh kicks in, the lights come on and the crowd goes wild! What a showman! This should be a great matchup!

Marchant
vs
Smith

171 cm
28
154
7 - 1 - 0

166 cm
27
150
8 - 4 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter fighter
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Powerful

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 7 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Yves Marchant!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Joe Smith!
The judges for this bout are Darius Henderson, Skip Squint and Eliza Hachem.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Marchant doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Smith connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.

Smith decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.

Marchant actively working from the bottom here.
Smith trying to control the pace.

Smith is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Marchant sees it coming and defends easily.
Smith thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Smith trying to control the pace.

Marchant actively working from the bottom here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Smith not doing much here.
Smith blocks the strikes from Marchant.
Marchant wants to improve his position but Smith is controlling well.
Smith scoring with strikes to the body and head.

Marchant with the active half guard here but Smith passes nicely into side control.
Smith content to control the pace. The referee will try and keep them active though.
Marchant tries to improve position but can't.
Smith wants to control but Marchant is keeping him busy.
Marchant tries to strike from the bottom but misses.
Marchant is moving his hips around well on the bottom and has managed to get back to half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Smith is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Marchant looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Smith is controlling the pace.
Marchant is trying to get back to full guard.
Smith not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Smith controlling the pace.
Smith seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Marchant does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Smith scoring with strikes to the body and head.

Marchant looking for submissions off his back.
Marchant strikes from the bottom but Smith passes into mount!

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Marchant defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Smith.
Smith fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Marchant is trying desperately to improve position.
Marchant is squirming around, avoiding Smith's attempts to control the action.
Marchant tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Smith controlling from mount.
Smith cracks Marchant with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Marchant gets back to half guard.
Smith is looking to take a break and control but Marchant is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.

Marchant has guillotine here! It looks pretty tight! Could this be all over! No, Smith escapes and passes into side control at the same time. Nice work there by Smith!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Smith is staying tight to Marchant's torso, preventing him from escaping.
Marchant is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Smith has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Smith 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.
Smith trying to control the position but Marchant is working away.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Marchant is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Smith dominated that round.
That's time! Marchant's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Smith gets a double leg takedown into Marchant's guard.

Marchant working for a triangle but Smith defends it easily.

Marchant looking for a guillotine here but Smith defends easily.
Smith lands a couple of decent looking shots.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Marchant throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.

Marchant working for a triangle but Smith defends it easily.
Smith with a flurry of punches that miss.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Marchant working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Smith doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Smith manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.

Marchant looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Smith wants to control from the top but Marchant keeps moving.
Smith works a leg free and moves into half guard.
Smith sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Marchant tries to get to full guard but Smith has control of the leg.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.

Smith is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

Marchant looking for submissions off his back.
Still in half guard, Smith seems content to control.

Smith is trying to work for a kimura but Marchant is defending well.

Marchant looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Smith is pressing down on Marchant's thigh, looking to free his foot. Marchant is holding on for now.
Smith wants to stand but Marchant has hold of a leg and an arm, so he's trapped for now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Marchant looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Smith is pressing down on Marchant's thigh, looking to free his foot. Marchant is holding on for now.
Marchant works his way to full guard. Good work.

Marchant is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.

Marchant looks to be working for a triangle here. Oh, it looks like he might have it! Smith has picked Marchant up and slammed him! Marchant can't keep hold of the triangle and Smith manages to pass to side control!
Smith connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Marchant some visible discomfort.

Smith tries for a kimura but Marchant is defending well.
Marchant is looking for a sweep.
Smith is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Marchant will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.
Smith is continuing to stall.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Marchant tries to buck Smith off but Smith is having none of it.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Smith advances to full mount.
Marchant is flailing around like a fish out of water, trying to land strikes.
Marchant is squirming around, avoiding Smith's attempts to control the action.
Marchant regains half guard.
Marchant is trying to get back to full guard.
Smith working Marchant over with strikes.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Marchant tries to roll over but Smith keeps him under control.

Marchant looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Smith trying to control the action but Marchant is working from the bottom.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Smith showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! This is the final round!

Smith lands a really nice looking cross but Marchant seems unphased.
Smith tries to grapple but his opponent circles

and Marchant decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Smith's guard.
Marchant 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.

Smith is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Marchant is fighting to break Smith's control of his arms but Smith is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
Smith's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marchant trying to control but Smith is working from the bottom.
Smith has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

Smith is looking for a triangle but Marchant pushes his legs off easily.
If this pace continues, the referee will definitely step in and force a standup.

Smith has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Marchant can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

Smith shoots in and bounces Marchant off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Marchant keeping moving, preventing Smith from controlling successfully.

Marchant is looking for a triangle here but Smith uses the submission attempt to pass into side control.
Marchant is letting Smith control him for a moment.
Marchant sneaks back into half guard.
Marchant is staying active underneath Smith, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Smith seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.
Marchant tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Smith has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
Smith trying to control but Marchant is having none of it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marchant keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Marchant is working hard here to advance position.
Smith lands a heavy elbow.
Joe Smith is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.
Marchant is working to get back to half guard.
Smith trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Smith lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Smith can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Marchant is looking to escape.
Smith tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Marchant is in all sorts of trouble here.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Smith is standing up out of mount! Strange tactic there - he must really want this one on the feet!
Smith throws a right high kick that is partially blocked by Marchant.
Smith misses with a head kick.

Marchant gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.

Marchant looking to try and escape his hips here, looking for a submission. It looks like he's going for a triangle but Smith is defending well. Marchant quickly switches to an armbar and extends the arm! Smith has no choice but to tap, to a very quick submission! Wow, that was lightning fast! Marchant celebrates on the cage, with the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:44 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Yves Marchant!
A very excited looking Yves Marchant made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.