PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Erick Silvinho (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and John Haigh (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Silvinho's entrance music is Act Right - Gotti ft, jeezy. A fine choice. These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Silvinho
vs
Haigh

180 cm
23
177 lbs
5 - 1 - 0

170 cm
22
175 lbs
10 - 5 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Dangerous knees
Granite chin

Good wrestler
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

Perkele!

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Erick Silvinho!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 10 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, John Haigh!
The judges for this bout are Aleksei Zolotukhin, Ivan Kurochkin and Dmitry Maklakov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Silvinho looks to clinch
and Haigh cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Silvinho fails with an attempt to clinch.
Silvinho throws a leg kick but Haigh sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Haigh avoids a kick to the body.

Haigh tries to keep at a distance but Silvinho has taken the fight into the clinch.

Haigh pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Silvinho fails in his attempt to clinch.
Silvinho darts in trying to clinch

and Haigh counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
Silvinho trying to control but Haigh postures up.
Silvinho makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Silvinho.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Silvinho keeping moving, preventing Haigh from controlling successfully.
Haigh is looking to work some ground and pound but Silvinho has wrist control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silvinho trying to keep a closed guard but Haigh is proving a slippery customer.
Haigh postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Haigh trying to control but Silvinho is working from the bottom.
Silvinho looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Haigh controlling from the top position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Silvinho looking for a guillotine here but Haigh defends easily.
Silvinho keeping moving, preventing Haigh from controlling successfully.

The ref calls for a clean break and stands the fighters back up. John Haigh wasn't active enough on the ground.
Haigh misses the jab.
Silvinho tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Haigh counters with a straight right hand.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Silvinho ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Haigh moves away.
Erick Silvinho seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Haigh throws a right hand that Silvinho ducks under and follows up with a left that Silvinho also avoids with ease.
Left hook, right uppercut from Haigh.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Silvinho ducks under a wild hook from Haigh.
Haigh swats away the attempt to clinch by Silvinho.
Silvinho tries to clinch there but Haigh circles away.

Haigh looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Silvinho wants to get back to full guard but Haigh has passed into side control.
Silvinho is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Haigh working the ground and pound but Silvinho is defending the strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silvinho tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Haigh wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Silvinho is working hard here to advance position.

Haigh thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.
Haigh looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Silvinho is avoiding damage well.
Silvinho defending against the ground and pound.

Haigh thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.

Haigh tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Haigh has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!

Haigh tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Haigh has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Haigh tries to move into full mount but can't pass Silvinho's legs.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Haigh trying to control the action but Silvinho is working from the bottom.

Haigh wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Silvinho, who protects the arm well.

Haigh is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Silvinho knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Silvinho sneaks back into half guard.
Silvinho moves into full guard.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Silvinho tries to land a sweep but no joy.

Haigh has gone for a leg lock! Silvinho slips out almost immediately though and dives into Haigh's guard.
Silvinho is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Haigh dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Silvinho throws a nice looking combination but Haigh bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Silvinho displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Haigh.
Silvinho finds nothing but air with that leg kick attempt.
Silvinho ducks under a wild hook from Haigh.
Haigh throws an off balance right hand

and Silvinho counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by Silvinho.
Silvinho with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Haigh jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Silvinho walks away with a smile on his face. Haigh gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Haigh circles away from the clinch attempt
and Haigh counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Silvinho tries to clinch
and Haigh counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Silvinho throws a low kick but it's checked well by Haigh.
Silvinho tries to clinch but fails miserably

and Haigh counters with a single leg into guard. Silvinho didn't expect that.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Haigh drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Haigh jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.
Silvinho wants to sweep but no luck.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!

Silvinho working for a triangle but Haigh defends it easily.
Silvinho manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Haigh manages to get himself to full guard.
Silvinho trying to control the position from guard on top but Haigh is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
John Haigh has got the better of the ground game so far.
Silvinho wants to get up but he can't break Haigh's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
Haigh is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Silvinho is pressing down on Haigh's left leg trying to get back to full guard. He's managed it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Haigh wants to control from the top but Silvinho keeps moving.
Haigh postures up.
Haigh advances position into side control!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

Haigh tries for a kimura but Silvinho is defending well.

Haigh wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Silvinho, who protects the arm well.
Haigh working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.

Haigh looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Silvinho is looking to reverse the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Haigh working away.

Haigh is trying to get an arm triangle but Silvinho is defending well.
Silvinho can't do much from the bottom here.

Haigh is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Silvinho is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.

Haigh looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Silvinho is looking for a sweep.

Haigh is trying to get an arm triangle but Silvinho is defending well.

Haigh looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Silvinho is not content to let Haigh control the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Silvinho is trying to get back to half guard.
Silvinho can't do much from the bottom here.
Silvinho is trying to improve his position.

Haigh goes for an armbar here - this could be all over! But no, Silvinho has escaped beautifully and is now on top in side control! Oh, that's unlucky for Haigh but great work by Silvinho.
Haigh gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Silvinho is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Haigh is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Haigh showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's time! Back to the action! So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Silvinho tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Haigh manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Haigh scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
Silvinho feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Haigh's calf.
Silvinho is looking to clinch but Haigh is avoiding it.
Silvinho tries to clinch but Haigh is having none of it.
Silvinho tries to close the distance and clinch but Haigh swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Silvinho closes the distance but Haigh moves to the side
and Silvinho takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
Haigh keeps the fight on the outside.
Silvinho throws a looping overhand right but Haigh ducks down to avoid it.
Silvinho fails in his attempt to clinch.
Silvinho closes the distance looking to clinch
and Haigh counters with a straight punch to the midsection.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Haigh closes the distance and takes a jab right on the nose as he does so.
Silvinho wants to clinch but Haigh slips to the side
and Haigh counters with a straight right hand.
Silvinho swings for the body but Haigh moves out of range.
Silvinho looks to clinch
and Haigh counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Silvinho thinking.
Silvinho on the wrong end of a nice hook.
Haigh ducks under a wild hook from Silvinho.
Haigh circles away from the clinch attempt
and Haigh counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Silvinho tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Haigh misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Haigh with a hook.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Haigh circles away from the clinch attempt
and Haigh counters with a nice uppercut.
John Haigh is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Haigh misses with a jab, cross combination.
Silvinho is looking to clinch.
Silvinho tries to clinch there but Haigh circles away.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Silvinho moves to clinch but Haigh breaks away

and Haigh counters with a takedown into side control! That could mean trouble for Silvinho!
Silvinho tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Haigh wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.

Haigh is trying to get an arm triangle but Silvinho is defending well.

Haigh tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Haigh has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Haigh tries to get to his feet but he's trapped momentarily.
Silvinho is looking to regain half guard here but Haigh keeps moving and retains side control.
Silvinho struggling a bit here.
Silvinho regains half guard.
Silvinho is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Silvinho moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Haigh 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.
Silvinho bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Haigh's guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Haigh looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Silvinho stops Haigh from standing up.
Silvinho tries to stand but Haigh is controlling from the bottom.
Silvinho wants to control from the top but Haigh keeps moving.

Haigh had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Silvinho defends it easily.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Silvinho wants to control from the top but Haigh keeps moving.

Haigh is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Silvinho wants to control from the top but Haigh keeps moving.

And that's the end of the fight!
John Haigh comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Haigh winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 27:30
Judge Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 27:30
Judge Dmitry Maklakov scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... John Haigh!
John Haigh made sure to mention his sponsor, Black Belt Nutrition #=========||=========# in his post fight interview.