PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Maxim Grishin (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ilnur Ilias (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Ilias has chosen Rob Dougan - Clubbed to Death 2 as his entrance music. Ilnur Ilias is the more experienced fighter, so let's see if that makes a difference tonight.

Grishin
vs
Ilias

185 cm
26
135 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

165 cm
26
130 lbs
4 - 0 - 0

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Very quick

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

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 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Maxim Grishin!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Ilnur Ilias!
The judges for this bout are Igor Prikhodko, Viktor Lagutenko and Konstantin Menshow.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Ilias fails to land with a series of punches.

Grishin gets a takedown into half guard.
Ilias is in trouble now - Grishin has advanced to mount!
Grishin unloading with bombs!
Grishin sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Grishin seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Ilias for as long as he can get away with.
Grishin raining down hammerfists from mount.
Grishin putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Grishin thowing shots but they're missing.
Grishin controlling the pace for now.
Grishin with shots to the head and body - Ilias looks very uncomfortable down there.
Grishin will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Grishin sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Grishin raining down hammerfists from mount.
Grishin raining down hammerfists from mount.
Ilias in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Grishin landing punches.
Grishin cracks Ilias with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Grishin lands with some strikes.
Grishin tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Grishin lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Grishin content just to control the position here.
Grishin dominating with strikes here.
Grishin controlling from mount.
Grishin with the ground and pound from mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Grishin content just to control the position here.
Grishin pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Grishin landing strikes, looking to finish!
Grishin lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Ilias hang on?
Ilias taking shots to the head.
Grishin landing punches.
Ilias takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Grishin controlling from mount.
Grishin postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Ilias looks a forlorn figure.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Grishin landing strikes from the mount.
Grishin lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Grishin scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Grishin controlling from the full mount.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Grishin dominating with strikes here.
Grishin lands with some strikes.
Grishin scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Ilias?
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Grishin with a couple of short strikes.
Ilias looks gassed!
Grishin is landing with some decent strikes but Ilias is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Grishin takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Maxim Grishin 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.

Ilias misses with a series of wild punches.
Ilias looks to land a right hand but Grishin moved out of range.
Ilnur Ilias seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Some wild striking there from Ilias.
Ilias misses with a double jab.

Grishin shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Ilias's guard.
Maxim Grishin overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Grishin is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Grishin really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Grishin's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Ilias is breathing heavily.
Grishin postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Grishin postures up in Ilias's guard and throws a big left but Ilias blocks it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Grishin controls from within his opponent's guard.
Grishin has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Maxim Grishin just wasn't active enough.

Grishin shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Grishin showed some decent athleticism there.
Grishin missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Grishin takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Grishin lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Grishin thows a big elbow that misses, also allowing Ilias to regain full guard.
Grishin scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Grishin controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Grishin's corner. There ya go! There ya go!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Grishin postures up in Ilias's guard and throws a big left but Ilias blocks it.
Ilias preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Ilias can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Grishin controls the pace.
Ilias working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Grishin.
Grishin 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.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Maxim Grishin wasn't doing enough on the ground.

Ilias tries to sprawl but Grishin drives through with a takedown into half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Grishin content to control rather than advance.
Grishin is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Ilias can do to turn this around?
Grishin sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Ilias defending well though.
Grishin throwing shots but Ilias is blocking nicely.
Grishin takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Grishin throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Grishin in particular looking to stall.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Maxim Grishin dominated that second round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Grishin showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Ilias.

Grishin shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Ilias napping and manages to drive through into side control!
A lull in the action here as Grishin stalls from top position.
An elbow from Grishin crashes against the mat.
Grishin remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Grishin is working Ilias over with some ground and pound from side control.
Grishin scoring with punches from side control.
Grishin looks up at the clock and then as Ilias takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Grishin smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Grishin scores with punches from side control.
Ilias takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Grishin controlling the position from side mount.
Grishin advances to full mount.
Grishin has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Ilias's face.
Grishin is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Ilias can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Grishin unloading with bombs!
Grishin landing punches.
Grishin controlling from mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Grishin raining down shots from the mount!
Grishin working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Grishin lands a big elbow.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Grishin connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Grishin raining down shots from the mount!
Grishin landing strikes from the mount and Ilias is in trouble!
Grishin landing strikes, looking to finish!
Grishin scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Ilias?

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Grishin controlling from the full mount.
Grishin unloading with bombs!
Ilias is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Grishin 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.
Grishin scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Grishin controlling from mount.
Grishin with a couple of short strikes.
Grishin is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Ilias can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Ilias is in a horrible position here. Grishin smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Grishin cracks Ilias with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Ilnur Ilias has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
BOOM! Grishin connects with a massive shot to the dome!

And that's the end of the fight!
Maxim Grishin showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Grishin has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Igor Prikhodko scores the fight 30:25
Judge Viktor Lagutenko scores the fight 30:25
Judge Konstantin Menshow scores the fight 30:25

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Maxim Grishin!