PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Zion Melton (ranked 3637 p4p, 23774 weight class) and Josh Wyte (ranked 435 p4p, 689 weight class). Josh Wyte struggled to make weight for this fight. He only made it down to 156.3lbs at the first attempt and had to take the additional two hours to make the official bout weight. Let's see how much it's taken out of him. Zion Melton has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Melton
vs
Wyte

172 cm
19
159
2 - 1 - 0

150 cm
20
166
0 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Good low kicks
Powerful

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Zion Melton!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of London, Josh Wyte!
The judges for this bout are Chris Downing, Tiny Johnson and George Francis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Wyte cracks Melton with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.

It looks like Zion Melton has been cut.
Melton avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
As Wyte tries to get set, Melton tries to push him back and clinch up but Wyte manages to avoid the attempt.
Melton ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Wyte throws the left hand but Melton avoids the punch easily.
Melton slips under a jab from Wyte.

Wyte lands a big uppercut and Melton crumbles to the floor! The ref thinks about stopping the fight but Melton looks OK. Wyte waves Melton back to his feet!

Melton is rocked!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Melton uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Wyte.
Oh Melton is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Josh Wyte seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Wyte waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Melton.
Melton appears to be looking for a counter takedown.

Wyte gets caught napping as Melton dives in and scores a takedown. Wyte manages to retain guard.
Wyte is wriggling around but Melton manages to pass to half guard.

Melton postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Wyte to stand up.
Melton seems to have got his legs back now.
We've been hearing reports that Melton has been drilling takedowns in recent sessions so let's see if that has an impact on the result of this fight.
Wyte pushing out the jab but it's not landing.

Melton fakes a strike and closes the distance, dragging Wyte to the ground. Melton is now in Wyte's guard.
Wyte has a butterfly guard looking to sweep but Melton has passed into side control.
Melton scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Wyte to see if he's OK.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Wyte tries to improve position but can't.
Melton working the head and body with strikes.
Melton lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Wyte is trying to get back to half guard.
Melton lands a few punches from side control.
Wyte taking punishment in the form of punches.
Melton lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Wyte down.
Melton working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Wyte looks winded!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Melton scores with a couple of short elbows.
Melton is working Wyte over with some ground and pound from side control.

Melton decides to stand back up. Melton steps back and let's Wyte get back to his feet.

A momentary lapse in concentration from Wyte enables Melton to shoot in and score with a neat double leg. Wyte manages to secure a closed guard as the fighters hit the mat.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Melton makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Wyte really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Melton. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Melton distracts Wyte with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Melton postures up and lands a big shot to Wyte's brow.
Melton is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Melton 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.
Wyte wants to improve his position but instead Melton has moved into half guard.
Melton is nestled in close to Wyte, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Melton is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Wyte is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Melton scores with a couple of nice shots.
Melton looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Melton winds up and cracks Wyte with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Melton looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Ground and pound from Melton.
Melton scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Melton landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Melton landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Melton working the head and body with strikes.
Wyte is trying to maintain the position but Melton is very close to passing his half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Melton looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Melton drops an elbow to the side of Wyte's head.

Melton escapes and gets back to his feet.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Melton landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.

Melton breaks from the clinch.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Melton closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Melton works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

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

Melton scores with a slapping inside leg kick.
Zion Melton is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Melton moves out of range of the strikes.
Josh Wyte seems to be getting the better of the standup.

Melton closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Wyte pushes Melton off but Melton dives into side control.
Melton cracks Wyte with a big elbow.
Melton works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
Wyte taking punishment in the form of punches.
Wyte wants to control but Melton postures up.
Melton will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Melton landing strikes.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Melton stands up.
Wyte is breathing heavily.
Wyte throws an overhand right that lands on Melton's shoulder, as Melton tries to avoid the shot.
Melton attempts a counter takedown but Wyte avoids it well and moves away.
Wyte swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Melton 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.
Wyte is looking to stand back up but Melton counters by passing into half guard. Oops... bit sloppy there by Wyte.

Melton winds up and cracks Wyte with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Melton 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.

Melton escapes and gets back to his feet.

Melton shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Wyte tries to kick Melton off in order to stand up. Melton Avoids the leg push though and dives into side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Melton is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Wyte can do to turn this around?
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Wyte taking a bit of punishment here - Melton scoring with strikes.
Melton scoring with punches and elbows.
Check out the look on Melton's face as he threw that strike - that's one determined fighter!
Wyte tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Wyte tries to slip a leg under to move to half guard but Melton presses down on the leg and jumps into full mount!
Melton looking to finish Wyte with some ground and pound. This is bad for Wyte!
Melton with a couple of short strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Melton is landing with some decent strikes but Wyte is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Melton lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Wyte hang on?
Melton scoring with strikes but Wyte is staying in there.

Wyte is rocked!
A nice elbow there by Melton.
Wyte is still in real trouble! Can Melton finish him?
Wyte working to try and regain half guard.
Melton with the ground and pound from mount.
Melton lands a big shot to the head and Wyte winces in pain. He's tapped out due to strikes!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:56 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Strikes). Zion Melton!