PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Diego Sanchez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joe Gardinelli (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.

Sanchez
vs
Gardinelli

191 cm
18
272 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

195 cm
25
225 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Good chin

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Heavy handed

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 Los Angeles, Diego Sanchez!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Joe Gardinelli!
The judges for this bout are Frank Antenori, Jack Bonds and Don Winkell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sanchez with a poor takedown
and Gardinelli counters with a slapping leg kick.
Sanchez could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.

Gardinelli rushes Sanchez and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.
Gardinelli connects with a nasty looking knee right to Sanchez's face.

It looks like Diego Sanchez has been cut.
Gardinelli lands an elbow that stopped Sanchez in his tracks for a moment.
Sanchez drops down looking for an ankle pick but Gardinelli pulls his leg out and moves away.

Gardinelli closes the distance and clinches.

Gardinelli manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Gardinelli trying to keep a closed guard but Sanchez is proving a slippery customer.
Gardinelli keeping moving, preventing Sanchez from controlling successfully.
Gardinelli is pulling down on Sanchez's head to control his posture.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gardinelli is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.

Gardinelli kicks Sanchez off and gets to his feet.
Sanchez misses with a takedown attempt
letting Gardinelli counter with a right hand.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Diego Sanchez. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Sanchez tries to close the distance and clinch up but Gardinelli swats him away and circles back towards the center.

Gardinelli fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Sanchez, pushing him back against the cage.
Gardinelli stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
Gardinelli receives a warning from the referee for stalling.
Sanchez trying to control the position but instead, Gardinelli has worked for underhooks and has pushed Sanchez into the cage.
Sanchez blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gardinelli lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.
Gardinelli lands a damaging elbow.
Sanchez lands a right hand that snaps the head of Gardinelli backwards.
Gardinelli gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Gardinelli is trying to wear down his opponent with knees to the body.
Sanchez is breathing heavily.
Gardinelli is defending well against a takedown attempt.
Gardinelli gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.

Gardinelli breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Gardinelli stuffs the takedown attempt from Sanchez. Sanchez gets slowly back to his feet.

Gardinelli closes the distance and pushes Sanchez back into the cage.
Sanchez tries to circle away but Gardinelli has him pinned against the cage.
Gardinelli working Sanchez over with knees to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sanchez takes a knee right on the jaw!
Gardinelli landing knees to the body.
Gardinelli lands an elbow inside that Sanchez shrugs off.
Gardinelli scores with a nice hook to the head.
Sanchez takes an elbow to the forehead.
Gardinelli scores with a knee to the head.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Gardinelli.
Gardinelli connects with a knee to the head.

Gardinelli breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Sanchez gets off balance looking for a body kick
and Gardinelli counters with a straight right hand.
Diego Sanchez seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Gardinelli gets a clinch.
Gardinelli lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Gardinelli lands a knee to the head.
Sanchez takes a knee right on the jaw!

Gardinelli lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Gardinelli tries to stand and escape but Sanchez is controlling the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Sanchez manages to escape and get back to his feet!

Gardinelli forces Sanchez back against the cage and clinches.
A nice left hand lands by Gardinelli.
Gardinelli landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.
Gardinelli lands a nice elbow from the clinch.

Sanchez gets a trip takedown into half guard.
Sanchez tries to stand but his hand is stuck under Gardinelli.
Gardinelli is trying to stand.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Sanchez is trying to control the action in half guard but Gardinelli is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Gardinelli dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Diego Sanchez's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Gardinelli takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.

Gardinelli rushes Sanchez and presses him up against the cage.

Sanchez ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Sanchez no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Sanchez is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Gardinelli postures up and lands a big shot to Sanchez's brow.
Gardinelli has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Sanchez is proving hard to escape from.
Gardinelli throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Sanchez works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Gardinelli wanted to stand there but Sanchez had control of the position.

Sanchez throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Sanchez looking to try and escape his hips here, looking for a submission. It looks like he's going for a triangle but Gardinelli is defending well. Sanchez quickly switches to an armbar and extends the arm! Gardinelli has no choice but to tap, to a very quick submission! Wow, that was lightning fast! Sanchez celebrates on the cage, with the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:22 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Diego Sanchez!