PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Jack Cage (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mike Taylor (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Cage
vs
Taylor

182 cm
25
265 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

190 cm
24
265 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Good takedowns
Basic striking
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Tends to cut

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Jack Cage!
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, Mike Taylor!
The judges for this bout are Frank Dennis, Wesley Smith and George Francis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Cage closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Cage misses with the ground and pound.
Taylor is trying to control Cage's posture but Cage avoids it.
Cage throwing ground and pound but whilst doing so, he forgets to control position and Taylor works his way back to half guard. Good composure under pressure.
Taylor trying to control from the bottom.
Taylor is trying to stand back up but Cage is controlling him
Cage not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Cage is pressing down on Taylor's thigh, looking to free his foot. Taylor is holding on for now.
Cage looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Taylor with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Taylor has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Cage is working away from the top position though.
Cage missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cage missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Cage looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Cage scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Taylor has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Cage is working away from the top position though.
Cage thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Cage lands strikes from half guard.
Taylor tries to kick Cage off but Cage keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Cage trying to control from half guard but Taylor is working away.
Cage tries to stand but his arm is trapped.
Taylor has hold of Cage's hands but Cage slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Cage thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Taylor tries to kick Cage off but Cage keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Cage wants to pass to mount but Taylor is defending the position.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Cage lands a nice short elbow.
Cage seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.
Taylor looks like he's trying to stand up.
Cage 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.
Cage lands with a punch from half guard.
Cage throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Cage landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Taylor makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Taylor.
Cage tries to free his leg and advance position but Taylor is retaining full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Taylor has momentary wrist control but Cage slips an elbow through the middle.
Cage is working Taylor over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Cage in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Taylor preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Cage lands a couple of digs.
Cage with a flurry of punches that miss.
Taylor utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Cage trying to control but Taylor is working from the bottom.
Cage postures up in Taylor's guard and throws a big left but Taylor blocks it.
Taylor is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Cage is controlling him.
Cage tries to free his leg and advance position but Taylor is retaining full guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Cage works over Taylor with some ground and pound from guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Cage wants to stand and escape but instead Taylor has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.
Cage looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.
Taylor tries to stand but Cage is controlling from the bottom.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jack Cage dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Cage avoids the body shot from Taylor.
Taylor leaves Cage with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.

Taylor dives in and scores a takedown into Cage's guard.

Cage uses the cage to get back to his feet.
Taylor stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Taylor wants it to stay on the feet.
Taylor tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Taylor throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Cage.
Taylor throws a right high kick that is partially blocked by Cage.
Decent striking displayed by Taylor there.
Taylor tries to clinch up but Cage circles away and keeps his distance.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cage throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.

Cage 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.
Taylor is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Cage trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Cage wants to control from the top but Taylor keeps moving.
Taylor wants to stand up but Cage is controlling him.
Taylor is pulling down on Cage's head. It's preventing any offense from Cage, at least for the moment.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Cage throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Cage postures up in Taylor's guard and throws a big left but Taylor blocks it.

Taylor is edging up against the cage. He's using the cage to get back to his feet. Nice work there - the fighters are clinched.
Taylor is breathing heavily.
Taylor is pressed up against the cage. Cage has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Taylor down to the mat. Taylor avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jack Cage. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Sloppy strikes from Taylor. Those never looked like landing.

Taylor scores a takedown into full mount!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Cage wants to control but Taylor is having none of it.
Taylor wants to control the pace but Cage is squirming around nicely.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Cage gets back to half guard.
Taylor prevents Cage from improving his position.
Cage preventing any damage for now, controlling his opponent's head.
Taylor is trying to control. Cage wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

OK we're going to have a standup here. Mike Taylor hasn't been effective enough on the ground and the referee wants a restart.
Taylor looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Taylor tries to clinch there but Cage circles away.
Cage fails with a takedown attempt.
Taylor throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Cage lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Cage fails with an attempt to clinch.
Taylor tries to clinch but Cage is having none of it.
Cage misses with a low kick.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mike Taylor showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. This is the final round!

Cage closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Cage is looking to take a break and control but Taylor is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Cage tries to score with some ground and pound. Taylor controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Cage works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
Cage cracks Taylor with a big elbow.
Cage is trying to ground and pound but Taylor uses the momentary lack of control by Cage to regain half guard.
Taylor throws a strike from the bottom that misses.
Cage thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Taylor's head.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Taylor is trying to stand up here but Cage is controlling him well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cage not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Taylor is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Cage scores with a couple of nice shots.
Taylor avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Cage.
Cage throwing shots but Taylor is blocking nicely.
Cage missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Taylor keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Taylor on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.

Taylor pushes Cage off and gets back to his feet.
Taylor takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Taylor throws a sloppy head kick and Cage moves out of range easily.
Cage lands a jab to the head.

Cage bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Cage is working Taylor over with some ground and pound from side control.
Cage tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Taylor can't do much from the bottom here.
Taylor is moving his hips around well on the bottom and has managed to get back to half guard.
Cage wants to free his trapped foot but Taylor is holding on for dear life with his legs.
Taylor on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Cage scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Cage is nestled in close to Taylor, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Taylor blocking the ground and pound attempt from Cage.
Cage throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Cage missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Taylor tries to get to full guard but Cage has control of the leg.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Cage lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Cage lands strikes from half guard.
Cage is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.

Taylor is rocked!
Cage lands a big elbow from half guard. That looks like it's hurt Taylor quite badly. Taylor pulls Cage in close trying to recover. Cage postures up and lands two really hard shots that put Taylor on queer street! The ref takes a look and decides to call an end to the fight! Possibly an early stoppage but Taylor doesn't seem to be complaining too much.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:42 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Jack Cage!