PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Jesus Tavares (ranked 2994 p4p, 4879 weight class) and Flynn Knightley (ranked 207 p4p, 294 weight class). The key to victory for Jesus Tavares has got to be keeping the fight on the feet.

Tavares
vs
Knightley

173 cm
20
141
2 - 1 - 0

170 cm
20
135
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Good chin

Excellent grappler
Counter fighter
Granite chin

Sakura Style
Conviction

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Jesus Tavares!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Flynn Knightley!
The judges for this bout are Anthony Taglia, Reed Andrews and Chad Campbell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A jab from Knightley misses.
Knightley throws a low kick but Tavares moves out of range easily.
Tavares connects with a hook to the side of his opponent's head.
Tavares scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Knightley doesn't seem bothered though.
Knightley misses with a takedown
and Tavares counters with a good, hard body kick but Knightley shrugs it off.
Tavares lands a beauty of a right hand that gets the crowd cheering.

Tavares clinches up against the cage.
Tavares blocks an uppercut.

Tavares jumps into guard, dragging Knightley to the mat.

Tavares looking for a guillotine here but Knightley defends easily.
Knightley stays in close to Tavares's body and controls the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tavares looking to hit a scissor sweep but Knightley is one step ahead there.
Knightley chips away with some ground and pound.
Knightley lands a couple of elbows.
Tavares being controlled here, momentarily.
Tavares wants to sweep but no luck.
Knightley is stalling in the full guard.

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.
Tavares wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Knightley is now in half guard.
Knightley works his way into side control.
Tavares is looking to reverse the position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Knightley scoring with punches from side control.
Tavares is trying to improve his position.
Knightley working away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tavares takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Knightley is working Tavares over with some ground and pound from side control.
Tavares is looking for a sweep.
Tavares takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.
Knightley lands some shots froms side control.
Tavares tries to buck Knightley off but Knightley is having none of it.
Knightley just content to control the position.
Knightley is working Tavares over with some ground and pound from side control.
Knightley has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Knightley landing a few strikes.
Knightley lands a nice forearm strike.
Tavares is looking to reverse the position.
Tavares tries to control the position but he's not in luck - Knightley easily slips into full mount!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Knightley is in the full mount, landing strikes.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Knightley raining down hammerfists from mount.
Tavares is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Tavares is in a horrible position here. Knightley smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Tavares is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Tavares knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Knightley on the ground.
Knightley raining down shots from the mount!
Knightley lands a nice shot to the head.

Tavares is rocked!
Knightley working away from the top, dropping strikes.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Flynn Knightley dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Tavares jabs at Knightley's body.
Tavares lands a jab to Knightley's midsection.
Knightley has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Knightley moves forwards but Tavares connects with a nice, crisp jab.
Tavares punishes Knightley's body with a nice straight punch.
Knightley pushing out the jab but it's not landing.

Knightley looking to score a takedown here. Tavares is defending well but Knightley drives through and ends up in Tavares's guard.

Tavares working for a triangle but Knightley defends it easily.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Knightley slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Tavares looks to be working for a triangle here. Oh, it looks like he might have it! Knightley has picked Tavares up and slammed him! Tavares can't keep hold of the triangle and Knightley manages to pass to side control!
Tavares takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Knightley taking a breather here.
Tavares struggling a bit here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.

Knightley wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Tavares, who protects the arm well.

Knightley is trying to get an arm triangle but Tavares is defending well.
Tavares takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Knightley takes a little break here. Tavares wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Tavares takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Knightley looks up at the clock and then as Tavares takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Knightley smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
Knightley lands a decent elbow from side control.
Knightley lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Tavares down.
Knightley scores with punches from side control.
Tavares takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Flynn Knightley has got the better of the ground game so far.
Knightley is chipping away with strikes.
Tavares takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Tavares tries to improve position but can't.
Tavares seems a little lost for a moment, as Knightley dominates the positioning.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tavares tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Knightley wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Knightley in side control, just content to control the action for now.
Knightley cracks Tavares with an elbow. That is naaassty.
Tavares tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Knightley is pausing for a moment. What's he doing? It looks like he's clearing his nose. Oh dude! He's shot a load of snot all down Tavares's shoulder. That is not cool.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Tavares is not in a great position here, taking some shots.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Tavares is looking to reverse the position.
Knightley cracks Tavares with a big right hand but Tavares just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Flynn Knightley showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

Knightley throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Knightley tries to move into range but Tavares moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Tavares scores with a push kick.
Tavares scores with a big left there. The judges will like that one.
Tavares tries to clinch there but Knightley circles away.
Tavares lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
Knightley takes a swing at Tavares's ribcage but misses.
Knightley takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Jesus Tavares is winning the standup battle so far.
Tavares blocks a low kick nicely.
Tavares fails to land with a series of punches.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Tavares turns his hip over beautifully as he lands a nice leg kick.

Knightley closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Tavares is working to avoid the ground and pound but Knightley connects with a decent elbow.
Knightley landing a few strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Knightley working the ground and pound from side control.
Knightley advances nicely into full mount.
Knightley has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Tavares's face.
Knightley scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Tavares?
Knightley working the ground and pound effectively.
Tavares wants to control but Knightley is having none of it.
Knightley scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Tavares?
Knightley controlling his opponent.
Tavares is trying desperately to improve position.
Jesus Tavares has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Tavares tries to lock up and control but Knightley gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
BOOM! Knightley connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Knightley looking to control and managing it successfully.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Knightley landing punches.
Knightley lands a couple of good shots and Tavares has given up his back, trying to escape the position!
Oh Tavares is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Knightley is throwing strikes from the back here. Oh that last one was to the back of the head. Knightley gets a warning from the referee. He throws another strike to the back of the head straight away though and the referee has seen enough. He breaks up the two fighters and stands them back up. Knightley gets a real talking to here and is lucky not to get a point deducted. Knightley apologises and we restart here on the feet.
Tavares fakes and then throws a beautiful body shot. Knightley looks a bit winded and takes a step backwards to take a breath.
Knightley shoots in and drives through. Tavares sprawls well.
Tavares digs a good body shot into Knightley's ribs.
That's a knee to de groin and it's over and out! Knightley crumples to the ground after an illegal strike from Tavares - the referee stops the clock and Knightley gets 5 minutes to recover from that one. "I'm sorry" says Tavares. Knightley manages to get back to his feet and the fight resumes.
Tavares seems to have got his legs back now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tavares throws a two punch combo that lands nicely.
Tavares looks to land a combination. Knightley sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.
Knightley misses the jab.
Tavares throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Tavares connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Knightley moves forwards but Tavares connects with a nice, crisp jab.
Knightley avoids the body shot from Tavares.
Knightley tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
Knightley fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Tavares bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Knightley fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Tavares tries to clinch up

and Knightley counters with a takedown into side control! That could mean trouble for Tavares!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Tavares looking for a sweep but Knightley has passed into full mount! Oh no!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Knightley is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Tavares tries to hold on but Knightley postures up.
The referee warns Tavares that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Tavares takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Knightley cracks Tavares with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Knightley connects with a bit shot that sees Tavares covering up! More strikes from Knightley and the referee jumps in to stop the fight! Knightley is our winner by TKO!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:59 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Flynn Knightley!
A victorious Flynn Knightley thanked his army of followers in his post fight interview, telling people to make sure they follow him on Twitter.