PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Chris River (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Cedric Steele (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). River comes to the cage accompanied by A Country Boy Can Survive. Steele has chosen Ironman as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

River
vs
Steele

172 cm
27
155 lbs
12 - 10 - 0

170 cm
25
157 lbs
14 - 7 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Great elbows
Cardio machine

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 12 - 10 - 0, fighting out of New York, Chris River!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 7 - 0, fighting out of New York, Cedric Steele!
The judges for this bout are Bruno Lombardi, Dean Styles and John Kavanagh.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Steele misses with a hook. River ducked under it nicely.
River tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Steele manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Chris River seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Steele lands with a nice body punch.
Steele attempts a low kick but it misses it's target.
River fails with an attempt to clinch.
Steele swats away the attempt to clinch by River.
River moves in looking to clinch but Steele pushes him off.
River staying out of range there.
River scoring well with a low kick there.

River clinches with his opponent.
Steele tries to work over River's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
River with a knee to the head.

It looks like Cedric Steele has been cut.
Steele avoiding damage as River throws knees to the body.
River blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
River lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

River tightens his grip and picks Steele up, before dumping him to the ground. Steele manages to land in guard.
Steele tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Steele working a defensive guard here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
River chips away with some ground and pound.
River stands and throws Steele's legs to the side, diving into side control.

River stands up and we're back to a striking position.
Steele throws a body punch but River moves out of range.
River tries to close the distance and clinch but Steele swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
River is looking to clinch.
The fight stays on the outside here - River looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
River is looking to take this fight into the clinch.

River clinches with his opponent.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
River lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
River lands an elbow that stopped Steele in his tracks for a moment.
River putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Steele in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Steele working aggressively here.
A shot in the inside from River.
This has been an exciting period of action!

River tightens his grip and picks Steele up, before dumping him to the ground. Steele manages to land in guard.
Steele working a defensive guard here.
Steele keeping full guard, as River tries to pass.
River passes Steele's right leg, so he's now in half guard.

River is working for a kimura but Steele is defending it quite comfortably.
River thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Steele's head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Steele wants to improve his position but River is controlling well.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
River thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Steele's head.
River is looking to take a break and control but Steele is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
River passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Steele!
River can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Steele is looking to escape.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
River throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
River postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Steele looks a forlorn figure.

Steele is rocked!

River working to secure an arm triangle but it's not happening for him just yet.
River controlling his opponent.

River jumps to the side looking to secure the arm triangle…. Ooooh, that looks tight… Steele is gargling but he's managed to escape! Nice work there by Steele and River has given up the dominant position trying to land that submission.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
River wants to lay and pray for a moment but Steele keeps working.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!

River decides to take the fight back to the feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chris River dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Cedric Steele's cut.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

River has Steele up against the cage in a clinch.
River unloads a knee to the mid-section. Steele lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Steele swings wildly with an uppercut but River uses good head movement to avoid it.
River scores with a nice hook to the head.
Steele throws a punch but it's blocked by River.
River working Steele over with knees to the body.
Steele takes an elbow to the forehead.
River comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
River crunches a lovely knee into Steele's ribcage.
River lands a nice knee to the body.
This has been an exciting period of action!
River with the Thai clinch, lands a knee to the head.
Steele is still on wobbly legs! Can River finish him?
River lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
River lands a left hand that snaps the head of Steele backwards.
Steele is breathing heavily.
Steele takes an elbow to the forehead.
A nice right hand lands inside from River.

River is trying to trip Steele. He has hold of a leg but Steele is hopping around, keeping his balance for the moment. River persists though and gets the takedown into guard.
River works over Steele with some ground and pound from guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Steele working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from River.
River 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.
River content to stall in guard here.
River passes Steele's left leg - he's now in half guard.

River looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
River frees up his trapped foot and advances to mount.

River looking to isolate an arm here. Steele doesn't see it coming and as River extends the arm, he's forced to tap out! Nice submission by River!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:03 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Chris River!