PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between John Hughes (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Gerry Smithies (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Hughes
vs
Smithies

184 cm
21
185 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

193 cm
25
185 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Inexperienced

Good takedowns
Counter striker
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, John Hughes!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Gerry Smithies!
The judges for this bout are Ben Zyskovitsi, Anni Minnemäki and Marco Blurström.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hughes misses with a series of wild punches.
Smithies tries for a takedown but Hughes circles away easily

and Hughes counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Smithies!
Smithies tries to hold on but Hughes postures up.
Hughes throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Hughes wants to control the pace but Smithies is squirming around nicely.
Hughes is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Smithies is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
Hughes content just to control the position here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Smithies tries to hold on but Hughes postures up.
Hughes tries to control but Smithies wriggling away.
Smithies tries to lock up and control but Hughes gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Smithies is squirming around, avoiding Hughes's attempts to control the action.

We're going to have a standup here because John Hughes wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.
Hughes throws a jab when Smithies was well out of range.
Hughes misses with a takedown attempt

and Smithies counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Smithies.
Smithies trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hughes wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Smithies is now in half guard.

Smithies is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.
Hughes wants to get back to full guard.
Smithies tries to pass the half guard into mount. Hughes knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Hughes is in trouble now - Smithies has advanced to mount!
Smithies moves to take his opponent's back.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Gerry Smithies will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Hughes is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in Smithies's half guard.
Smithies trying to control from the bottom.

Smithies looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hughes trying to control the pace.

Smithies looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Hughes landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.

That's two 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.
Hughes trying to control from Smithies's half guard. Smithies has other ideas though and has regained full guard.

Smithies is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Hughes is looking to advance position but Smithies has hit a scissor sweep - now he's on top in mount!

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Smithies is going oldschool here, as he tries to force Hughes to tap using a forearm choke. This isn't 1993 though, so Hughes shrugs it off.
Hughes is trying to get back to his feet but can't.
Hughes tries to lock up and control but Smithies gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.

Smithies is working close to his opponent, looking to work a submission by the looks of things. Oh, he's managed to get a guillotine from mount as his opponent reached up! That looks tiiiiight! Will he tap? YES, he's tapped! Impressive submission by Smithies!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:03 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Guillotine). Gerry Smithies!