PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Joey West (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Chad Mendes (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chad Mendes will no doubt be looking to use his reach advantage to good effect.

West
vs
Mendes

155 cm
26
135 lbs
0 - 4 - 0

170 cm
22
130 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Very quick

Decent wrestler
Brawler
Very confident

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 0 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Joey West!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Chad Mendes!
The judges for this bout are Chris Downing, Daniel Franklin and Robert Twigg.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
West tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Mendes manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Mendes fakes a strike and closes the distance, dragging West to the ground. Mendes is now in West's guard.
West controls Mendes momentarily but Mendes frees himself.

Mendes avoids a guillotine attempt easily.

Mendes stands up from guard. Let's bang!

Mendes has West up against the cage in a clinch.

Mendes pulls guard effortlessly.
Mendes wants to sweep here but West controlling him for the moment.
West could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Mendes is pulling down on West's head to control his posture.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Mendes can do anything to dispel that myth.

That's one minute gone in the round.
West looking to pass the guard.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Mendes holds on and takes a little breather.

Mendes has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes West off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.
Mendes takes a head kick and shrugs it off.

Mendes forces West back against the cage and clinches.

Mendes breaks from the clinch.
Mendes leaves West with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
West shoots and misses

and Mendes decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in West's guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Mendes not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
Mendes passes West's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Still in half guard, Mendes seems content to control.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
West is trying to get back to full guard.
Mendes tries to pass the half guard into mount. West knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Mendes is taking a breather. West says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.
Mendes seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but West does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
West wants to improve his position but Mendes is controlling well.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Chad Mendes.

Mendes bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
West wants to escape from the position here - easier said than done!
West is breathing heavily.
West tries to improve position but can't.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Mendes has knee on belly and now moves to full mount! Trouble for West!
Mendes controlling from the full mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
West is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
West is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Mendes is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
Mendes scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Mendes lands with some vicious ground and pound - can West hang on?
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
West is bucking up trying to escape but Mendes cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Mendes content just to control the position here.
Mendes's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chad Mendes 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.

Mendes looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.

Mendes has West up against the cage in a clinch.
West looking to stall.
Mendes lands a nice uppercut.
Mendes stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
West is trying to break the clinch but Mendes has him pressed against the cage.
West working hard to break the clinch.

Mendes breaks the clinch.
The fight stays on the outside here - Mendes looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Mendes feints a jab promting West to slip. Mendes then demonstrates his capabilities by jabbing again. West slips again and ducks right into an uppercut.

Mendes closes the distance and after a bit of a stuggle, scores a takedown into West's guard.

West working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Mendes doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Mendes manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.

Mendes stands up and waves to West to follow him.

Mendes closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.

West looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Mendes stands up from half guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Mendes shoots in and gets a takedown into West's guard.
Mendes seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Mendes wants to control from the top but West keeps moving.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Mendes sitting in guard here, content to control.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Chad Mendes was stalling too much, according to the referee.
No luck for West with that takedown attempt.

Mendes closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. West did well to prevent Mendes getting side control.

West looking for submissions from an awkward position here.

Mendes is working for a submission of some sort.
Mendes is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
West is looking to improve his position but Mendes isn't that keen on the idea.
Mendes lands a big shot there that rocks West but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Mendes is working for a guillotine from mount but West frees his head quite easily.

Mendes is standing up out of mount! Strange tactic there - he must really want this one on the feet!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chad Mendes showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

West fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
West is looking to clinch.
West shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Mendes but Mendes pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Mendes swings for the body but West moves out of range.

Mendes feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Mendes sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed West's guard.
Mendes controlling the action here.
West is trying to maintain the position but Mendes is very close to passing his half guard.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Mendes is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Let's hope that Mendes has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.

OK we're going to have a standup here. Chad Mendes hasn't been effective enough on the ground and the referee wants a restart.

Mendes clinches up with West and pushes him back against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Mendes breaks the clinch.
West throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.

Mendes feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Mendes sitting in guard here, content to control.
Mendes trying to control but West is working from the bottom.
Mendes is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
West looking to control.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Chad Mendes.
West lands with a shot to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Mendes shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in West's guard.
Mendes passes West's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Mendes is taking a breather. West says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.
Mendes has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
West has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Mendes is working away from the top position though.
Mendes looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

West is defending against the submission attempts here by Mendes.
Mendes is looking to take a break and control but West is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
West wants to get back to full guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Chad Mendes comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Mendes has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Chris Downing scores the fight 27:30
Judge Daniel Franklin scores the fight 27:30
Judge Robert Twigg scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Chad Mendes!