PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Jason Matthews (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joe Whitney (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Matthews has a slight injury, which hopefully won't affect the fight too much. Both these guys have really solid chins. Will we see a standup war or will they both decide that a knockout is unlikely and try to win the fight elsewhere?

Matthews
vs
Whitney

225 cm
25
210 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

185 cm
25
215 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Solid boxing
Big right hand

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Jason Matthews!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Joe Whitney!
The judges for this bout are David Schapiro, Lou da Vinci and Anthony Taglia.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Whitney has Matthews up against the cage in a clinch.
Whitney is trying to break the clinch but Matthews has him pressed against the cage.
Whitney is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
The pace really dropping off here, momentarily.
Whitney scores with a shoulder strike.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Whitney taking a break, stalling in the clinch.
Whitney prevents a body shot from Matthews.
Matthews tries to throw a body punch but Whitney avoids it by throwing Matthews back against the cage.

Whitney pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Whitney is looking to clinch but Matthews is avoiding it.
Matthews swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Matthews ducks under a wild hook from Whitney.
Whitney tries to close the distance and clinch up but Matthews swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Matthews lands a nice leg kick that just misses Whitney's sensitive parts.

Whitney clinches up with Matthews and pushes him back against the cage.
Whitney working hard to break the clinch.
A frustrated look appears on Whitney's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Matthews wants to break the clinch but can't.
Matthews is breathing heavily.

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

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Whitney has taken the fight to the clinch.
Matthews really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
Matthews looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Matthews wants to break the clinch but can't.
Whitney wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
The referee calls for Whitney to work.
A frustrated look appears on Whitney's face as he tries to break the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Matthews can't break the clinch.
Matthews tries to throw a body punch but Whitney avoids it by throwing Matthews back against the cage.
A right handed body shot lands from Whitney.
Whitney is pushing Matthews up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
Whitney blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Whitney dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Whitney tries to clinch but Matthews moves out of range.
Whitney tries to close the distance and clinch but Matthews swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Whitney wants to clinch up but Matthews keeps it at a distance.
Whitney takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.
A combination from Whitney does no damage.
Whitney throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Matthews throws a nice looking combination but Whitney bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Whitney lands with a good body shot.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Whitney is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Matthews takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Matthews slips a jab and a cross from Whitney.
Whitney misses with a jab, cross combination.
Whitney is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Jason Matthews seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Matthews avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Matthews throws a big shot that misses.

Whitney moves into the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Whitney escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Whitney lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Matthews circles away quickly and effectively.
Whitney tries to clinch up.
Matthews missing with a left hand there. Whitney was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Whitney misses with a wild combination.
A swing and a miss from Matthews.
Whitney moves in looking to clinch but Matthews pushes him off.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Matthews circles away from the clinch attempt.
Whitney throws a right and a left that Matthews avoids nicely.

Whitney clinches up with Matthews and pushes him back against the cage.
Whitney looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Whitney is trying to break the clinch but Matthews is controlling him.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Matthews wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Whitney has him pressed against the cage.

Whitney breaks from the clinch.
Whitney cracks a nice hook into Matthews's ribs.
Whitney throws a right hand that Matthews ducks under and follows up with a left that Matthews also avoids with ease.
Whitney moves in looking to clinch but Matthews pushes him off.
Whitney tries to clinch up.
Matthews ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Whitney showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Whitney moves into the clinch.
Whitney stalls.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Whitney's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Whitney wants to clinch up but Matthews keeps it at a distance.
Whitney moves away from the strike by Matthews.
Whitney uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Matthews.
Matthews slips a jab and a cross from Whitney.
Whitney misses with a wild combination.
Matthews moves his head to the side to avoid a jab but walks straight into a cross.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Whitney keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Matthews.
Whitney fails in his attempt to clinch.
The fight stays on the outside here - Whitney looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Matthews fails to land with a series of punches.
Matthews misses the jab.
Whitney looks to throw the jab but Matthews is out of range.

Whitney instigates a clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Whitney's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Matthews is trying to push Whitney away but Whitney has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.
Matthews prevents Whitney from breaking the clinch.
Whitney can't break the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Whitney looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
The referee is keeping an eye on Whitney - much more stalling and he will separate the fighters.
Jason Matthews has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Matthews wants to break free but Whitney has control.
Whitney is looking to break free of the clinch but Matthews has double underhooks.

And that's the end of the fight!
Joe Whitney comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Whitney 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 David Schapiro scores the fight 27:30
Judge Lou da Vinci scores the fight 27:30
Judge Anthony Taglia scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Joe Whitney!