PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between John Silva (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joseph Watson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Watson's choice of entrance music: Sick Puppies - You're Going Down. We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Silva
vs
Watson

178 cm
18
175 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

188 cm
20
181 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Tends to cut

Attliction

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, John Silva!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Joseph Watson!
The judges for this bout are John Roberts, Alyssa Summers and Franklyn Lucas.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Silva misses with a takedown attempt - Watson sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Watson scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.

Silva gets caught flat footed, as Watson shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.
Watson has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Silva is proving hard to escape from.
Watson won't allow Silva to sweep him here.
Watson content to stall in guard here.
Silva is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Silva looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Watson trying to control but Silva is working from the bottom.
Watson wanted to stand there but Silva had control of the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.

Watson has Silva up against the cage in a clinch.

Silva drags the fight down to the ground.
Watson passes into half guard.
Silva wants to sweep but Watson has passed to side control!
Silva is looking for a sweep.
Silva gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.
Silva wants to improve his position but Watson is controlling well.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Silva is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Watson's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Watson's back!
Watson covering up well under a barage of strikes.
Watson looks gassed!
Silva misses with a punch to the head.
Silva struggling to keep hold of the position.
Silva is not going to allow Watson to sit and survive in this position.
Even with his hooks in, Silva manages to miss with strikes from the back.
Watson rolls and manages to get back to half guard. Nicely done.
Watson is trying to get back to full guard.
Silva missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Silva with a lazy takedown attempt
and Watson makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Silva.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silva cracks Watson with an elbow. That is naaassty.
Silva looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Watson is avoiding damage well.
Watson dodges the ground and pound from Silva.
Silva in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
You can see the frustration on Watson's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Silva throwing shots but missing, from side control.
Watson sneaks back into half guard.
Watson is trying to control but can't.
Watson keeping control of the position.
Watson is trying to get back to full guard.
Watson regains full guard. Nicely done.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Watson wants to stand up but Silva is controlling him.
Silva throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Watson trying to control the position here.
Watson looking to hit a scissor sweep but Silva is one step ahead there.
Watson is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Silva tries to get to full guard but Watson has control of the leg.
Watson trying to control the action but Silva is working from the bottom.
Silva wants to get back to full guard.
Silva striking from the bottom.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joseph Watson 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.

Silva checks the leg kick nicely there.
Silva tries to clinch up but Watson circles away and keeps his distance.
Silva with a poor takedown
and Watson makes the exchange count by landing a cracking kick to the body. Silva really felt that one!
Silva with a poor takedown

and Watson counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Silva's guard now.
Watson pushing down on Silva's thigh, trying to pass to half guard. He's managed it... Nice work.
Silva is looking to get full guard. It looks like he might be successful but at the last minute Watson jumps into side control!
Silva can't do much from the bottom here.
Watson is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Silva will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Watson blocks the strikes from Silva.
Silva is trying to escape and get back to his feet.
Silva is trying to get back to half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silva trying to remain calm as Watson controls from the top position.
Watson trying to control the position but Silva is working away.
Silva tries to improve position but can't.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
Some bone on bone action there as Silva checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Silva doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Watson makes the exchange count by landing a cracking kick to the body. Silva really felt that one!
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for John Silva. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Silva closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Watson is trying to control Silva's posture but Silva avoids it.
Watson dodges the ground and pound from Silva.
Silva fails to land a wild elbow strike.
Watson is trying to buck Silva off.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Watson can't do much from the bottom here.
Watson stuck in half guard on the bottom here.
Silva misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.
Watson is trying to get back to half guard. He's pushing on Silva's leg. He's managed it. Nice work.
Silva missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
The fighters are battling for position here. Watson manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Silva passes Watson's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Watson is looking for a sweep. Silva is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Watson slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Watson keeping moving, preventing Silva from controlling successfully.
Watson working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Silva.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silva throws a strike but Watson rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.
Silva wants to hit a switch here but Watson passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Silva there!
Watson dominating with strikes here.
Silva keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Silva 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.
Silva is working hard here to advance position.
Silva is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Silva is in all sorts of trouble here.
Silva is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Watson wants to control the pace but Silva is squirming around nicely.
Silva is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Silva is wriggling around trying to escape.
Watson fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Watson controlling from mount.
Silva is just holding on here. Watson manages to take his back.
Silva manages to reverse the position and now he's in Watson's guard. Nice work there by Silva.

Watson is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Silva landing some decent shots from guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joseph Watson showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Silva checks the leg kick nicely there.
Silva doesn't succeed with the takedown

and Watson counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Silva punching from the bottom.
Watson slows the pace down in half guard.
Silva tries to roll over but Watson keeps him under control.
Joseph Watson has got the better of the ground game so far.
Watson content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
Watson takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Silva works his way to full guard. Good work.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silva will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.
Silva trying to strike off his back.
Silva is trying to control the position but Watson postures up.
Silva pulls Watson in close to his closed guard and prevents Watson from doing any damage or advancing position.
Silva looking for a sweep. Not yet Silva, not yet.
Watson controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Watson stopping the sweep attempt from Silva.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
Watson moves in looking to clinch but Silva pushes him off.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Silva shoots in but doesn't get the takedown
and Watson counters with a low kick, right behind Silva 's knee.
Silva takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
Watson throws a series of punches but Silva moves out of range.

Silva darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Silva sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Watson defending well though.

Watson kicks off Silva and gets to his feet.
Watson misses with a wild combination.

Watson clinches up with Silva and pushes him back against the cage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Watson prevents Silva from breaking the clinch.
Watson landing knees to the body.
Watson is pressed up against the cage. Silva has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Watson down to the mat. Watson avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for John Silva. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Watson closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Watson is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Silva is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Well, if Watson is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Watson blocks the strikes from Silva.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Watson escapes and gets back to his feet.
Silva misses with a takedown

and Watson counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Silva's guard now.
Silva is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Silva is on top in guard.
Silva trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Watson is trying to control the position but Silva postures up.
Silva lands a couple of elbows.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Watson seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.
Watson avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
John Silva has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Silva tries to free his leg and advance position but Watson is retaining full guard.
Watson avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.

And that's the end of the fight!
Joseph Watson comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Watson has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 John Roberts scores the fight 27:30
Judge Alyssa Summers scores the fight 27:30
Judge Franklyn Lucas scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Joseph Watson!