PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Bobby Henderson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Johnny Ezekiel (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Johnny Ezekiel has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Henderson
vs
Ezekiel

186 cm
19
190 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

179 cm
25
186 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Good kicks
Very quick

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Granite 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 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Bobby Henderson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Johnny Ezekiel!
The judges for this bout are Gwen Towbar, Chris Downing and Cecil Peabody.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Ezekiel has Henderson up against the cage in a clinch.
Ezekiel crunches a lovely knee into Henderson's ribcage.

Ezekiel is trying to trip Henderson. He has hold of a leg but Henderson is hopping around, keeping his balance for the moment. Ezekiel persists though and gets the takedown into guard.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.
Ezekiel content to stall in guard here.

Henderson is looking for a triangle but Ezekiel pushes his legs off easily.
Ezekiel is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Ezekiel wants to pass the guard but Henderson is keeping the position.
Ezekiel would like to get this fight back to the feet but can't get free from the closed guard.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Henderson is active off his back here, looking for submissions.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ezekiel stays in close to Henderson's body and controls the position.

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

Henderson looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Ezekiel passes into side control.
Henderson is trying to get back to half guard.
Ezekiel taking a breather here.
Henderson is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Ezekiel controls the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Ezekiel decides to stand back up.
Ezekiel sizes up Henderson with a pawing jab and scores with a straight right down the middle.
Ezekiel tries to close the distance and clinch up but Henderson swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Ezekiel tries to clinch but Henderson moves out of range.
Henderson avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Ezekiel fails with an attempt to clinch.
The fight stays on the outside here - Ezekiel looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Ezekiel scores with a hook to the body. Henderson takes a step back and tries to catch his breath.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Ezekiel moves his head to the side to avoid a jab but walks straight into a cross.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A chopping leg kick lands by Ezekiel.
Henderson swings for the body but Ezekiel moves out of range.
Henderson circles away from the clinch attempt.

Ezekiel clinches with his opponent.

Ezekiel gets double underhooks and manages to take the fight to the ground.
Ezekiel is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.

Henderson looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Ezekiel must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Ezekiel slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.

Henderson isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Ezekiel stacks Henderson on his neck as he steps over and passes to the side. He's now in a much more dominant position where he can look to do some serious damage. Nice move by Ezekiel!

That's four minutes gone in the round.

The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Ezekiel decides to stand back up.
Johnny Ezekiel seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Ezekiel 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.

Henderson looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Ezekiel passes into side control.
Ezekiel controls the position.

Ezekiel has had enough of the ground for now and decides to stand.

Ezekiel gets in close and instigates a clinch.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Ezekiel lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!

Ezekiel has double underhooks and is working for a body lock takedown. He's got it. The fighters land in half guard but Henderson regains guard immediately.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Johnny Ezekiel dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Henderson swats away the attempt to clinch by Ezekiel.
Ezekiel tries to clinch up.
Ezekiel tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Henderson manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Henderson tries to sprawl but Ezekiel drives through with a takedown into half guard.
Ezekiel wants to pass to mount but Henderson is defending the position.
Ezekiel with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
Henderson wants to get back to full guard.

Henderson looking for submissions off his back.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henderson is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.

Ezekiel postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Henderson to stand up.
Ezekiel fails with an attempt to clinch.
Ezekiel fails with an attempt to clinch.
Ezekiel fails with an attempt to clinch.
Henderson showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Ezekiel.
Bobby Henderson is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Henderson throws a nice looking combination but Ezekiel bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
The fight stays on the outside here - Ezekiel looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Bobby Henderson is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ezekiel wants to clinch up but Henderson keeps it at a distance.
Ezekiel moves in looking to clinch but Henderson pushes him off.
Ezekiel doesn't manage to clinch there - Henderson circles away.

Ezekiel has Henderson up against the cage in a clinch.
Ezekiel pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Ezekiel stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Henderson is trying to maintain a safe position but Ezekiel gets an underhook and turns Henderson into the cage.
Ezekiel holding his opponent close, against the cage.

Ezekiel jumps guard and drags Henderson to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
Ezekiel pulls Henderson in close to prevent any damage.
Johnny Ezekiel has got the better of the ground game so far.

Henderson drops back, looking for a kneebar! Ezekiel looks panicked! The fighters roll across the mat, one looking to finish, one looking to escape. Ezekiel looks to have wriggled free... Yes, he's got his leg free and he's dived into side control! Good work there from Ezekiel!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Henderson is positioning himself to get back to half guard.

Ezekiel has had enough of the ground for now and decides to stand.

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

Henderson actively working from the bottom here.

Ezekiel postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Henderson to stand up.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Ezekiel fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Ezekiel tries to clinch up but Henderson circles away and keeps his distance.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Johnny Ezekiel showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. This is the final round!

Ezekiel tries to close the distance and clinch up but Henderson swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Ezekiel tries to clinch there but Henderson circles away.
The fight stays on the outside here - Ezekiel looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Ezekiel tries to close the distance and clinch up but Henderson swats him away and circles back towards the center.

Ezekiel gets a clinch.
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as Ezekiel takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.

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

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ezekiel doesn't manage to clinch there - Henderson circles away.
Ezekiel avoids the body shot from Henderson.
Ezekiel avoids the head kick by Henderson.
A head kick misses from Ezekiel.
Ezekiel has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Henderson misses with a head kick.
Ezekiel looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Ezekiel tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Ezekiel tries to close the distance and clinch but Henderson swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Henderson pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Henderson misses with a head kick.

Ezekiel has Henderson up against the cage in a clinch.
The referee is keeping an eye on Ezekiel - much more stalling and he will separate the fighters.
A short right from Ezekiel.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Ezekiel.

It looks like Bobby Henderson has been cut.
Henderson missing with knees to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ezekiel misses with a knee strike.
The referee calls for Ezekiel to work.

Ezekiel ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Ezekiel no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Henderson trying to pass the guard. He's being very persistent here but Ezekiel manages to land a sweep and now he's on top!
Ezekiel tries to free his leg and advance position but Henderson is retaining full guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Henderson working for a triangle but Ezekiel defends it easily.

Ezekiel gets to his feet - Henderson follows without any prompting.

Ezekiel closes the distance and clinches.

Ezekiel manages to pull guard.

Ezekiel pushes Henderson off and scrambles back to his feet.
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!
Ezekiel tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Henderson manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Bobby Henderson has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Johnny Ezekiel is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Henderson keeps the fight on the outside.

And that's the end of the fight!
Johnny Ezekiel comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Ezekiel 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 Gwen Towbar scores the fight 27:30
Judge Chris Downing scores the fight 27:30
Judge Cecil Peabody scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Johnny Ezekiel!