PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Lucas Buck (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nunzio Romano (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Buck
vs
Romano

177 cm
21
155 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

174 cm
22
160 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Improved boxing
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Likes ground

FIGHT19: FIGHTWEAR

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 New York, Lucas Buck!
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, Nunzio Romano!
The judges for this bout are Anthony Taglia, Jorge Garcia and Dean Styles.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Buck tries for a takedown but Romano sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.

Buck fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Romano, pushing him back against the ropes.
Romano lands a left hand that snaps the head of Buck backwards.

Romano escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Buck tries to close the distance and clinch up against the ropes but Romano paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Romano shoots for a takedown but Buck saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Buck fails with the takedown
and Romano counters with a three punch combination, finished off with a leg kick. Nice work.
Romano closes the distance and clinches up with Buck, looking for a takedown. Romano pushes Buck against the ropes but Buck circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Buck digs a good body shot into Romano's ribs.
Romano closes the distance and clinches up with Buck, looking for a takedown. Romano pushes Buck against the ropes but Buck circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Lucas Buck has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Nunzio Romano.
Buck wants to clinch
and Romano counters with a nice body kick.

Romano shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Let's see what he's got on the mat.
Romano wants to control from the top but Buck keeps moving.
Romano trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Romano is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
Buck is trying to control the position from the bottom.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Romano trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Buck is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
Romano passes into half guard.
Romano looks gassed!
Romano is trying to control the action in half guard but Buck is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Buck wants to improve his position but Romano is controlling well.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Romano working over Buck with some ground and pound. Buck looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Buck trying to control but Romano postures up.
Romano controlling the action here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.

Romano decides he's had enough of the ground and stands up.
Buck darts in trying to clinch

and Romano counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Romano trying to control but Buck is working from the bottom.
Buck doesn't do any damage with a couple of strikes from the bottom.
Buck keeping full guard, as Romano tries to pass.
Buck keeping moving, preventing Romano from controlling successfully.
Buck manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Buck working for a submission but Romano is keeping him at bay.
Romano gets back to half guard.
Buck trying to control from Romano's half guard. Romano has other ideas though and has regained full guard.
Buck is looking to stand up but Romano won't let him.
Romano wants to get back to his feet but Buck is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Buck scoring with some ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Romano manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Buck manages to get himself to full guard.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Romano accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Romano missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Romano is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Romano looking to sit in guard and control but Buck gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Romano working a defensive guard here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Nunzio Romano 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.

Buck wants to clinch but Romano slips to the side

and Romano counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Romano postures up in Buck's guard and throws a big left but Buck blocks it.
Romano forces his way into half guard.
Romano is just content to waste time from the top position. Buck takes advantage of the situation and regains full guard.
Buck wants to stand and escape but Romano is having none of it.
Buck is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Romano stands up over Buck, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.

Buck has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Romano can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Romano controls the pace of the fight for a moment.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Romano passes Buck's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Buck wants to get back to full guard.

Romano postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Buck to stand up.
Buck closes the distance looking to clinch

and Romano decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Buck's guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Romano looking to pass the guard.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Romano's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Romano content to stall in guard here.
Romano trying to control the position from guard on top but Buck is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Romano is in a good position here but he's just trying to control... And he's not even managing to do that successfully.
Buck wants to stand but Romano is controlling the position.
Romano throwing strikes from guard but Buck blocks nicely.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.

Buck tries to keep at a distance but Romano has taken the fight into the clinch.
Romano prevents Buck from breaking the clinch.
Buck has a couple of punches blocked by Romano.
Romano is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Buck is looking to break free of the clinch but Romano has double underhooks.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Both guys are working to get underhooks.

Romano breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Buck scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Buck throws a push kick but Romano slaps the foot to one side.
Left hook, right uppercut from Buck.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Romano.
Romano advances nicely into full mount.
Buck really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Romano looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Buck is desperately trying to improve his position but Romano has a good base and remains in mount.
Buck bucks up and manages to get a nice reversal! He's in guard on the top - nicely done!
Buck won't allow Romano to sweep him here.
Nunzio Romano has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Buck has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Romano is proving hard to escape from.
Romano 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.
Romano seems keen to control Buck's posture.
Romano is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Romano stands up from half guard.
Romano doesn't manage to clinch there - Buck circles away.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Nunzio Romano showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the ring so we can get back down to business. So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Nice takedown defense from Buck. No joy for Romano on that attempt.

Buck has taken the fight to the clinch.
Romano lands a nice elbow.

Buck manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.

Romano decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Buck, up you get!
Romano takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.
Buck doesn't succeed with the takedown

and Romano counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Romano trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Romano advances position into side control!
Romano works to advance to full mount. Buck defends for a few seconds but eventually he succumbs.
Buck tries to hold on but Romano postures up.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Romano controlling his opponent.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Romano can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Buck is looking to escape.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Buck is working to get back to half guard.
Romano controlling the position easily from mount.
Romano is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Romano is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Buck can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Romano looking to control but Buck is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Buck tries to lock up and control but Romano gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.

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.
Romano working Buck over with strikes here.
Buck is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Romano tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Romano with the ground and pound from mount.
Romano trying to control but Buck is having none of it.
Buck is wriggling around trying to escape.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Buck is working hard here to advance position.
Buck wants to hold on but Romano pushes him away.
Buck taking shots to the head.
Buck prevents any damage by holding on tight.
Romano tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Romano lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
A nice elbow there by Romano.
Buck has given up his back, trying to stand up. Not clever.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Romano struggling to keep hold of the position.
Buck manages to reverse the position and now he's in Romano's guard. Nice work there by Buck.
Romano is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Romano trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!
Buck won't allow Romano to sweep him here.
Lucas Buck has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Buck loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Romano chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Romano thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Buck if he has to take too many more of those.

And that's the end of the fight!
Nunzio Romano comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Romano winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Anthony Taglia scores the fight for Nunzio Romano!
Judge Jorge Garcia scores the fight for Nunzio Romano!
Judge Dean Styles scores the fight for Nunzio Romano!

Nunzio Romano wins by unanimous decision!