PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Roycio Gracie (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rob Tate (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Roycio Gracie has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Gracie
vs
Tate

190 cm
19
190 lbs
4 - 0 - 0

185 cm
18
192 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

Good takedowns
Counter striker
Granite chin

Good wrestler
Basic striking
Tends to cut

Hell's Kitchen Lab Corp

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the middleweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Roycio Gracie!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Rob Tate!
The judges for this bout are Steve Montenegro, David Schapiro and Eddie Farnsworth.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Tate looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Tate blocks the strikes from Gracie.
Tate tries to stand but his hand is stuck under Gracie.
Tate is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Tate trying to control the pace.
Gracie missing with punches from the bottom.
Gracie trying to control from the bottom.
Gracie on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Nice strikes from Tate there.
Tate seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Tate slips a nice elbow through Gracie's hands, connecting with Gracie's forehead.
Gracie is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tate scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Tate is trying to control the action in half guard but Gracie is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Tate scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Tate working the head and body with strikes.
Tate wants to lay and pray for a moment but Gracie keeps working.
Tate looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Gracie with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Tate passes to side control.
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 not in a great position here, taking some shots.
Tate working the head and body with strikes.
Gracie is looking to reverse the position.
Tate working the head with strikes.
Gracie taking punishment in the form of punches.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Tate working the body and head with strikes.
Tate working the head and body with strikes.
Gracie is trying to improve his position.
Tate scores with a couple of short elbows.
Tate wants to control but Gracie is keeping him busy.
Tate looks up at the clock and then as Gracie takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Tate smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!

Tate stands up.

Tate bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Tate is working Gracie over with some ground and pound from side control.
Check out the look on Tate's face as he threw that strike - that's one determined fighter!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tate lands a few punches from side control.
Tate working the ground and pound.
Tate connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Gracie some visible discomfort.
Gracie prevents Tate from improving position.

Tate decides to stand up, so the ref orders Gracie to his feet.

Tate closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Tate lands in his opponent's guard.
Tate chips away with some ground and pound.
Tate slips nicely into half guard.
Nice strikes from Tate there.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tate wants to lay and pray for a moment but Gracie keeps working.
Gracie taking some punishment here, with Tate in his half guard.
Tate prevents Gracie from improving his position.
Tate is figuring out what he wants to do next.
Tate slips a nice elbow through Gracie's hands, connecting with Gracie's forehead.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Tate content to control rather than advance.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Tate's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rob Tate dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Gracie dodges the punch combination from Tate.

Tate gets a clinch.
Gracie prevents the takedown attempt.
Tate keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Gracie's efforts to push away.

Tate lands a takedown into guard.
Tate works over Gracie with some ground and pound from guard.
Tate scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Gracie keeping moving, preventing Tate from controlling successfully.
Tate sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Gracie's guard.
Tate stops Gracie from getting back to his feet.
Tate wants to free his trapped foot but Gracie is holding on for dear life with his legs.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tate working Gracie over with strikes.
Tate takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Tate scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Tate lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Tate wants to work for an arm triangle but Gracie is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.
Gracie wants to improve his position but Tate is controlling well.
Gracie is looking to control Tate's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Gracie avoid being mounted?
Tate drops an elbow to the side of Gracie's head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ground and pound from Tate.
Tate passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Gracie!
A nice elbow there by Tate.
Tate looking to finish Gracie with some ground and pound. This is bad for Gracie!
Tate is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Gracie takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Tate fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Tate with a couple of short strikes.
Tate landing punches.
Tate tries to control but Gracie wriggling away.
Gracie really trying hard to get back to half guard here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tate lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Gracie hang on?
Gracie is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Gracie is working to get back to half guard.
Tate postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Gracie looks a forlorn figure.
Tate pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Gracie in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.

Gracie is rocked!
Tate lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Oh Gracie is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Gracie tries to lock up and control but Tate gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Gracie seems to have got his legs back now.
Tate lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tate with a couple of short strikes.
Tate in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Tate lands a big shot there that rocks Gracie but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Tate with a couple of short strikes.
Gracie is in a horrible position here. Tate smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Gracie is in all sorts of trouble here.
Gracie in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Tate looking to finish Gracie with some ground and pound. This is bad for Gracie!
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Tate cracks Gracie with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Tate postures up and throws a big right hand. BOOM! Right on the button! Gracie is out cold - huge knockout for Tate!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:59 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Strikes). Rob Tate!
Rob Tate is the new middleweight champion!