PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Jim Maboose (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Sakuraba Gracie (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Gracie comes into a darkened arena with his song building. Gimme Shelter kicks in, the lights come on and the crowd goes wild! What a showman! Man, I cannot wait for this one!

Maboose
vs
Gracie

185 cm
22
189 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

180 cm
23
192 lbs
2 - 3 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Intelligent

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Jim Maboose!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Sakuraba Gracie!
The judges for this bout are Felipe Paraventi, Alexandre Firmino and Emerson Jorge.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Maboose shoots in and bounces Gracie off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.

Gracie looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Maboose passes into side control.
Gracie takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Maboose misses with the ground and pound.
The ground and pound from Maboose seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.
Maboose avoids the strikes from the bottom by Gracie.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Gracie parries the strikes from Maboose easily there. Maboose is wary of posturing up too much because it might enable Gracie to escape.
You can see the frustration on Gracie's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Gracie wants to get back to his feet but Maboose drags him back down.
Gracie is trying to improve his position.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

Maboose scores a takedown into full mount!
Maboose looking to ground and pound but Gracie is blocking nicely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Maboose prevents Gracie from getting the reversal.
Maboose punching from mount but Gracie doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Maboose looking to finish with strikes here!
Maboose throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Gracie is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
A nice elbow there by Maboose.
Gracie in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Gracie is trying desperately to improve position.
Maboose avoids the attempt from Gracie to control.
Gracie looks gassed!
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Maboose misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.

That's two 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.
Gracie is desperately trying to improve his position but Maboose has a good base and remains in mount.
Gracie is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Maboose raining down shots from the mount!
Maboose unloading with bombs!
Maboose fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Maboose lands a big shot there that rocks Gracie but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Maboose trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Gracie regains half guard.
Maboose wants to lay and pray for a moment but Gracie keeps working.

Gracie looking for submissions off his back.
Gracie blocking the ground and pound attempt from Maboose.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Gracie keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Gracie won't allow Maboose to pass to mount.
Gracie moves into full guard.

Gracie has his foot on Maboose's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Maboose works his way back into a safe position though.
Maboose lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Gracie 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.
Maboose throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Gracie manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Maboose manages to get himself to full guard.
Gracie passes into half guard.

Gracie is looking for a kimura but Maboose is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Gracie to get the leverage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Gracie seems to be looking for submissions.
Gracie trying to control the action but Maboose is working from the bottom.

Gracie is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

Gracie is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Maboose tries to strike from the bottom but it doesn't land.
Gracie moves into full mount! Maboose won't be happy about that!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Maboose is looking to improve his position but Gracie isn't that keen on the idea.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Maboose is working hard here to advance position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Sakuraba Gracie will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Maboose gets a takedown into half guard.
Gracie tries to get to full guard but Maboose has control of the leg.
Gracie keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Maboose missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Maboose not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Maboose lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Ground and pound from Maboose.
Maboose lands strikes from half guard.
Maboose missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Gracie is trying to get back to full guard.
Gracie is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gracie regains full guard. Nicely done.
Jim Maboose overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

Gracie is working for submissions here. He's thrown up his legs looking for a tringle but Maboose frees his head nicely. Oh but Gracie has switched to an armbar! Maboose is tapping furiously! Lovely submission there!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:26 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle Armbar). Sakuraba Gracie!