PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Khalil Malla (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mikel Pizzero (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Well, I have no idea who's going to take this one!

Malla
vs
Pizzero

183 cm
18
162 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

180 cm
21
155 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Solid chin

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Khalil Malla!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Mikel Pizzero!
The judges for this bout are Donatello Bradman, Steve Erwin and Eliza Hachem.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Malla shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Pizzero defends it nicely.
Pizzero stuffs the takedown.
Malla tries to clinch up but Pizzero circles away and keeps his distance.
Pizzero tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Malla paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Malla darts in trying to clinch

and Pizzero counters by clinching up.
Malla jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Pizzero walks away with a smile on his face. Malla gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Khalil Malla. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Malla with a lazy takedown attempt

and Pizzero counters with a single leg into guard. Malla didn't expect that.
Pizzero throws and elbow that misses. Malla uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Pizzero's guard. Nice move by Malla!
Pizzero has his hands on Malla's head, controlling the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pizzero keeping moving, preventing Malla from controlling successfully.
Malla trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Malla postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Pizzero looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.

Mikel Pizzero has forced the referee to step in and restart the fight on the feet.

Pizzero gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Pizzero stops a takedown attempt from Malla.
Malla changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Pizzero fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Malla blocks a head kick by Pizzero.
Pizzero misses with a body kick.
Malla misses with a takedown

and Pizzero holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.
Malla jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Pizzero walks away with a smile on his face. Malla gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Malla shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Pizzero holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Malla jumps guard but Pizzero stands there with Malla around his waist. Malla gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Malla tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.

Malla manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Malla can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Pizzero controls the pace.
Malla keeping full guard, as Pizzero tries to pass.
Pizzero looking to sit in guard and control but Malla gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Pizzero seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Malla throws a big right hand that misses.
Pizzero working a defensive guard here.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Malla stopping the sweep attempt from Pizzero.
Pizzero controlling the position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mikel Pizzero dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Malla shoots and misses

and Pizzero counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Malla is looking to improve his position.
Pizzero stalling away here and it's allowed Malla to slip out his trapped foot and regain full guard.
Pizzero looking to pass the guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Malla looking to control.
Malla tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Pizzero looking to pass the guard.
Pizzero postures up.
Pizzero is breathing heavily.
Pizzero slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Horrible takedown by Pizzero or perhaps it was just good defense by Malla which made him look bad.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Malla has his takedown stuffed

and Pizzero counters with a nice double leg into half guard.

Malla actively working from the bottom here.
Malla throws a strike from the bottom that misses.
Pizzero trying to control from Malla's half guard. Malla has other ideas though and has regained full guard.
Malla is trying to control the position from the bottom.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pizzero really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Malla. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Pizzero preventing the sweep.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Malla throws a couple of shots from the bottom but they don't land.
Malla bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Pizzero's guard.
Pizzero looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Malla thows a big elbow that misses.
Malla throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Malla throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Malla trying to control but Pizzero is working from the bottom.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mikel Pizzero showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. This is the final round!

Pizzero dives in and grabs Malla's left leg, looking for a takedown. Malla pushes down on Pizzero's head and hops out.

Pizzero scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Malla gets back to full guard.
Malla trying to keep a closed guard but Pizzero is proving a slippery customer.
Malla manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Pizzero manages to get himself to full guard.
Pizzero takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Malla wants to control from the top but Pizzero keeps moving.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Malla throwing strikes but missing.
Malla passes Pizzero's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Malla missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Malla works his foot free and advances to mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Malla thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Mikel Pizzero has got the better of the ground game so far.
Pizzero avoids a series of strikes thrown by Malla.
Malla thowing shots but they're missing.
Malla can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Pizzero is looking to escape.
Malla misses with a head shot.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pizzero blocking the ground and pound.
Malla punching from mount but Pizzero doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Pizzero has given up his back - I don’t know if this is a deliberate ploy to try and escape or if he is just struggling down there.
Malla throwing sloppy strikes.
Malla 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.
Malla misses with punches from the back.
Even with his hooks in, Malla manages to miss with strikes from the back.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Pizzero covering up well under a series of strikes from Malla.

Malla looking for the choke but no joy.
Malla somehow managing to miss with a strike from the back.

And that's the end of the fight!
Khalil Malla showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Pizzero 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 Donatello Bradman scores the fight 28:29
Judge Steve Erwin scores the fight 28:29
Judge Eliza Hachem scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Mikel Pizzero!