PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Jesse Holmes (ranked 4846 p4p, 5069 weight class) and John St Pierre (ranked 417 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Holmes
vs
St Pierre

176 cm
25
146
0 - 0 - 0

177 cm
25
155
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Big right hand

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Solid chin

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Jesse Holmes!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, John St Pierre!
The judges for this bout are Alec Ball, William Peck and Robert Douchet.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
St Pierre shoots in for a takedown but Holmes shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.

Holmes moves into the clinch.
St Pierre has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Holmes is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
St Pierre manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.

St Pierre pulls guard successfully.
St Pierre looking to hit a scissor sweep but Holmes is one step ahead there.
St Pierre keeps trying to improve his position.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
St Pierre is trying to keep Holmes in close.

St Pierre is working an open guard so Holmes takes the opportunity to get back to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Holmes rushes St Pierre and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.
St Pierre wants a takedown but no success here.
Jesse Holmes has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of John St Pierre.
Both fighters working to control the clinch.

St Pierre breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Holmes keeps the fight on the outside.
Jesse Holmes is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
St Pierre fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
St Pierre shoots in and drives through. Holmes sprawls well.
Holmes lands a slapping body shot.
Holmes works over St Pierre's head and body with a nice combination.
Holmes throws a series of strikes that have St Pierre backpedaling.

Holmes moves into the clinch.
St Pierre tries to pull guard but Holmes holds him up against the cage and eventually St Pierre drops back down to his feet.
St Pierre is stalling here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Holmes's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Holmes tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Holmes tries to work over St Pierre's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.

St Pierre ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. St Pierre no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
St Pierre looking to hit a scissor sweep but Holmes is one step ahead there.

St Pierre had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Holmes defends it easily.

St Pierre is active off his back here, looking for submissions.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

St Pierre looking for a guillotine here but Holmes defends easily.
Holmes preventing the sweep.

St Pierre looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Holmes tries to stand but St Pierre is controlling from the bottom.
Holmes has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Holmes trying desperately to get back to his feet here but he's not having any joy at all. He's going to tire himself out if he's not careful.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Holmes misses with a body shot.

St Pierre closes the distance and after a bit of a stuggle, scores a takedown into Holmes's guard.
St Pierre forces his way into half guard.
Holmes wants to stand back up but St Pierre manages to pass into side control.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Holmes pushes St Pierre away and creates a bit of space to escape. He's almost out here... but no, St Pierre gets a good hold of his legs and remains firmly in side control.
St Pierre looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Holmes is avoiding damage well.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Jesse Holmes dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

St Pierre is looking to clinch.
Holmes misses with a two punch combination.
St Pierre steps in looking to clinch after the strikes miss from Holmes.
St Pierre dodges the punch combination from Holmes.
Holmes is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that St Pierre can do to turn this around?
Holmes fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Nice shot lands for St Pierre.
Jesse Holmes is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Holmes moves out of range as St Pierre throws a body kick.
St Pierre fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
St Pierre keeps the fight on the outside.
Holmes throws a series of punches but St Pierre avoids them all with ease.
St Pierre throws a low kick but it's checked well by Holmes.
St Pierre dodges the punch combination from Holmes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Holmes misses with a series of wild punches.
Holmes circles away from the clinch attempt.
Horrible takedown attempt by St Pierre or perhaps it was just good defense by Holmes, which made it look bad.
St Pierre tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Holmes manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Holmes went nuts there looking for a big combo counter but none of the flurry connected.
St Pierre tries to work over Holmes's front leg with a kick but Holmes checks it.
Holmes is looking for a counter combo.
St Pierre gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Holmes counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Jesse Holmes has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of John St Pierre.
Holmes displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
St Pierre misses with a low kick.
Holmes appears to be looking for a big counter.

St Pierre darts in and clinches Holmes up against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
St Pierre wants a takedown.
St Pierre jumps guard but Holmes turns him against the cage and keeps the fight standing.
Holmes is trying to break free.

St Pierre breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Holmes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but St Pierre paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Jesse Holmes seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Holmes tries to close the distance and clinch but St Pierre swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
St Pierre will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
St Pierre throws a sloppy head kick
and Holmes counters with a one-two to the body.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
St Pierre takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
St Pierre fails to land the takedown.
Holmes ducks down and throws a hook to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Holmes displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from St Pierre.
St Pierre shoots in looking for a takedown but Holmes manages to keep the fight standing, pushing St Pierre's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Holmes misses the shot to the body.
Holmes is looking to wear down St Pierre with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.
Left hook, right uppercut from Holmes.

St Pierre tries to keep at a distance but Holmes has taken the fight into the clinch.
Holmes prevents a takedown attempt there.

St Pierre pulls guard.
St Pierre trying to control the position.
Holmes knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for St Pierre on the ground.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
St Pierre is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

St Pierre trying to control the action but Holmes is working from the bottom.
Holmes taking some punishment here, with St Pierre in his half guard.
St Pierre moves nicely into side control.

St Pierre decides to take the fight back to the feet.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Jesse Holmes dominated that second round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare each other down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

St Pierre fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Holmes avoids it really well and circles away.
Holmes throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.

St Pierre drives through with a takedown into guard.
St Pierre throws a big elbow that misses.
Holmes keeping moving, preventing St Pierre from controlling successfully.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Holmes wants to get back to his feet but St Pierre passes into half guard.
St Pierre controlling the action here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Holmes looks like he's trying to stand up.
St Pierre trying to control from half guard but Holmes is working away.
John St Pierre has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
St Pierre is figuring out what he wants to do next.
St Pierre looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Holmes with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
St Pierre looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Holmes with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
St Pierre looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
St Pierre scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Holmes looks like he's trying to stand up.
St Pierre slips a nice elbow through Holmes's hands, connecting with Holmes's forehead.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
St Pierre lands with a punch from half guard.
St Pierre scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
St Pierre works his foot free and advances to mount.
St Pierre lands a heavy elbow.
St Pierre trying to control but he's not successful this time.
St Pierre lands a nice shot to the head.
St Pierre scores with a couple of good head shots there.

Holmes is rocked!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
St Pierre controlling the position easily from mount.
BOOM! St Pierre connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Oh Holmes is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
St Pierre controlling from the full mount.
Jesse Holmes is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Holmes seems to have got his legs back now.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!

And that's the end of the fight!
John St Pierre comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Holmes has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Alec Ball scores the fight 29:28
Judge William Peck scores the fight 29:28
Judge Robert Douchet scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Jesse Holmes!