PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between James Powell (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Royse Gracy (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Gracy has a pretty significant injury - he really shouldn't be fighting right now but he's a warrior and he's here none the less! Royse Gracy will no doubt be looking to use his reach advantage to good effect.

Powell
vs
Gracy

180 cm
18
289 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

225 cm
23
300 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Big heart

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight 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, James Powell!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Royse Gracy!
The judges for this bout are Anthony Taglia, Reed Andrews and Bruno Lombardi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Powell lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Gracy circles away quickly and effectively.
Gracy looks gassed!

Powell changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Gracy looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.
Powell has knee on belly and moves into mount.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Powell controlling his opponent.
Powell can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Gracy is looking to escape.
Powell takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Gracy taking shots to the head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Powell controlling the pace for now.

Powell is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Gracy can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.
Powell trying to control but he's not successful this time.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Powell sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Gracy taking shots to the head.
Powell lands a nice shot to the head.
Powell controlling from the full mount.
Powell could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Powell lands a heavy elbow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Powell is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Powell sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Powell looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Powell is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Powell controlling his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Powell's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Powell cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Powell takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Powell seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Gracy for as long as he can get away with.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

James Powell 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.

Gracy uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Powell.

Powell closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Powell drops an elbow to the side of Gracy's head.
Powell 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.
Powell is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Gracy can do to turn this around?
Gracy flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.
Powell throwing shots but Gracy is blocking nicely.
Powell is nestled in close to Gracy, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Gracy is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gracy is not content to let Powell control the position.
Powell is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Powell tries to stand but his arm is trapped.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Powell in particular looking to stall.
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.

The ref stands the fighters back up. James Powell wasn't doing enough on the ground.

Powell scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Powell 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.
Powell throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Powell takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

Powell is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Gracy has managed to free his arm - good work.
Powell is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Powell knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Gracy on the ground.
Powell moves nicely into side control.
Gracy is positioning himself to get back to half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Powell tries to move to mount but Gracy blocks the move with his legs.
Powell grinds an elbow into Gracy's temple.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
The referee tells the fighters to keep busy.

Powell decides to stand back up. Powell steps back and let's Gracy get back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

James Powell dominated that second round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Powell misses with a body kick.
Powell misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.

Powell gets the takedown into side control.
Powell works to advance to full mount. Gracy defends for a few seconds but eventually he succumbs.
Powell working Gracy over with strikes here.
Powell can't control as he wanted to and Gracy manages to get the fight back to his half guard.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Powell landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Powell seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Gracy does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Powell seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.
Powell controlling the pace.
Gracy regains full guard, whilst avoiding punches from Powell.
Gracy keeping moving, preventing Powell from controlling successfully.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.
Gracy trying to control the position.
Powell might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Powell looking to pass the guard.

James Powell has forced the referee to step in and bring the fight back to the feet.
A head kick misses from Powell.

Powell dives in and scores a takedown into Gracy's guard.
Gracy thows some rabbit punches from the bottom but they don't do any damage.

Powell stands and steps away. Gracy gets to his feet too and we're back to the striking game.
Powell is looking to chop away at Gracy's legs.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Powell ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Gracy moves away.

Powell forces Gracy back against the cage and clinches.
Powell tries to work over Gracy's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.

Powell breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
James Powell seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Powell clinches up with Gracy and pushes him back against the cage.

Powell pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

Powell takes the fight into the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Powell escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

Powell gets in close and instigates a clinch.

Powell gets the body lock takedown. After a quick scramble, Gracy regains guard.

Gracy has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Powell can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

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

And that's the end of the fight!
James Powell showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Powell 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 Anthony Taglia scores the fight 30:26
Judge Reed Andrews scores the fight 30:26
Judge Bruno Lombardi scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... James Powell!