PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Jeronimo Santos (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Stefano Faggiani (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.

Santos
vs
Faggiani

169 cm
25
160 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

189 cm
18
158 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite 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 New York, Jeronimo Santos!
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, Stefano Faggiani!
The judges for this bout are Russell Pearce, John Kavanagh and John Roberts.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Santos throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Santos shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Faggiani sprawls well. Faggiani wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Santos gets slowly back to his feet.

Faggiani rushes Santos and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.

Faggiani escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Faggiani with a poor takedown

and Santos counters with a nice double leg into guard.
Santos looking to sit in guard and control but Faggiani gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Faggiani wants to control from the top but Santos keeps moving.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Faggiani wants to pass the guard but Santos is keeping the position.
Santos wants to sweep here but Faggiani controlling him for the moment.
Faggiani trying to control the position from guard on top but Santos is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Stefano Faggiani was stalling too much, according to the referee.
Faggiani tries to clinch there but Santos circles away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Faggiani throws a low kick, looking for Santos's leg but Santos calmly moves out of range.
Faggiani shoots in for a double leg but Santos sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Faggiani tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Santos counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.

Santos has Faggiani up against the cage in a clinch.

Santos breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Santos lands a jab, followed by a cross and another cross, as Faggiani backs up against the cage.
Faggiani will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Jeronimo Santos has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Stefano Faggiani.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Faggiani closes the distance looking to clinch
and Santos counters with a nice body shot.
Faggiani shoots in but Santos avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Santos lands a nice shot to the body.
Faggiani looks gassed!
A slapping leg kick lands for Santos.
Santos looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Faggiani is fending him off so far but Santos persists. Nope, Faggiani circles away and we're back to standing.
Faggiani shoots in for a double leg but Santos sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Faggiani shoots in and drives through. Santos sprawls well.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Santos lands a jab. Then a cross. Then finally a nice hook to the body. Good work there by Santos.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Santos pushes forward with a 1-2 combination that forces Faggiani back to the cage. Santos follows up with a solid lead hook to the liver.
Santos with a body punch. A glancing blow.
Santos lands with a good body shot.
Horrible takedown by Santos or perhaps it was just good defense by Faggiani which made him look bad.
Santos's corner calls for a 1, 2 combination and Santos duly obliges.
Santos goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Santos scores with a three punch combo!
Faggiani drops his hands momentarily and Santos takes advantage with a crisp shot to the head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jeronimo Santos dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Santos drives through with a takedown into Faggiani's guard. Let's see what he can do from the top position.
Santos working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Santos trying to move into half guard but instead Faggiani has managed to sweep!

Faggiani drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Santos manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Faggiani has Santos in his guard.
Santos might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Santos throws a big right hand that misses.
Santos is stalling in the full guard.
Santos postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Santos showing good wrestling skills to control the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Santos lands a couple of digs.
Faggiani is breathing heavily.
Santos trying to control but Faggiani is working from the bottom.
Santos in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Santos stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Faggiani swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Santos slips nicely into half guard.
Santos working the head and body with strikes.

Santos decides to stand and escape the position.
Santos throws a right and a left that Faggiani avoids nicely.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santos misses with a jab, cross combination.
Faggiani wants to clinch

and Santos counters with a shoot takedown. Faggiani fights it but they end up in guard.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Faggiani looking for subs off his back but Santos has passed one foot through into half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Santos tries to pass to full mount but Faggiani defends it.
Faggiani is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Faggiani is not content to let Santos control the position.

Santos is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santos is trying to control the action in half guard but Faggiani is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Santos working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Santos is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Faggiani can do to turn this around?
Santos winds up and cracks Faggiani with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Santos not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Santos looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Santos has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Faggiani is in a horrible position here. Santos smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Santos trying to control but Faggiani is having none of it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Faggiani is wriggling around trying to escape.
Santos sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Santos 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.
Santos in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Santos tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Santos connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
This has been an exciting period of action!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Santos is landing with some decent strikes but Faggiani is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Santos putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Santos lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jeronimo Santos dominated that second 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. 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.

Santos closes the distance and lands a one-two.
Santos will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Santos throws a right hand that Faggiani ducks under and follows up with a left that Faggiani also avoids with ease.
Stefano Faggiani seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Faggiani wants to clinch.
Faggiani shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Santos as he jumps to the side.

Santos scores a takedown into full mount!
Faggiani takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Santos looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Santos with a couple of short strikes.
Santos connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Santos tries to control but Faggiani wriggling away.
Faggiani keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Santos landing shots from mount.
Faggiani is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Santos tries to control but Faggiani wriggling away.
Santos working the ground and pound effectively.
Santos with shots to the head and body - Faggiani looks very uncomfortable down there.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
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!
Santos with a couple of short strikes.
Santos looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Santos controlling from the full mount.
Faggiani taking shots to the head.
Santos with the ground and pound from mount.
Santos controlling the pace for now.
Santos working away from the top, dropping strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santos working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Santos unloading with bombs!
Santos punishing his opponent with strikes.
Santos landing shots from mount.
Santos lands a big shot there that rocks Faggiani but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Santos connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Santos has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Faggiani's face.
Santos breaks from Faggiani's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Santos controlling the pace for now.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Jeronimo Santos overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A nice elbow there by Santos.
Faggiani takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Santos takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Santos looking to finish Faggiani with some ground and pound. This is bad for Faggiani!
The referee warns Faggiani that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
The referee warns Faggiani that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Santos with the ground and pound from mount.
Santos looking to control and managing it successfully.
Stefano Faggiani has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
The referee warns Faggiani that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.

And that's the end of the fight!
Jeronimo Santos showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Santos 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 Russell Pearce scores the fight 30:26
Judge John Kavanagh scores the fight 30:25
Judge John Roberts scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Jeronimo Santos!