PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between David Byrne (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Matt Rodrigo (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Rodrigo comes into a darkened arena with his song building. Da Rockwilder kicks in, the lights come on and the crowd goes wild! What a showman! Matt Rodrigo has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Byrne
vs
Rodrigo

163 cm
19
174 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

185 cm
21
176 lbs
1 - 5 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Intelligent

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, David Byrne!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Matt Rodrigo!
The judges for this bout are Luis Engracia, Seu Braga and Edson Gomes.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Byrne shoots in but no luck this time.

Byrne scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Byrne lands with a punch from half guard.
Rodrigo taking some punishment here, with Byrne in his half guard.
Byrne looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
Byrne wants to stand up but Rodrigo is controlling the position.
Rodrigo wants to control but Byrne is keeping busy and won't allow it.
Byrne sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Byrne is looking to take a break and control but Rodrigo is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Byrne prevents Rodrigo from improving his position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Byrne lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Rodrigo misses with some strikes from the bottom.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Rodrigo shoots in but Byrne avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Byrne tries for a takedown but Rodrigo circles away easily

and Rodrigo counters with a shoot takedown. Byrne fights it but they end up in guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Byrne wants to hit a switch here but Rodrigo passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Byrne there!
Byrne is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Byrne is working hard here to advance position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rodrigo trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Rodrigo avoids the attempt from Byrne to control.
Byrne is trying to escape the mount.
Rodrigo lands a nice shot to the head.
Byrne is wriggling around trying to escape.
Byrne really is a fat lump.
Rodrigo tries to stand up but he's trapped just for the moment.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Byrne flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Byrne is trying desperately to improve position.
Byrne is trying to get back to his feet but can't.
Byrne looking to escape from mount but he's given up his back!
Byrne tries to break free.
Rodrigo looks gassed!
Byrne trying to control but he's just got himself in more trouble.
Byrne is defending well here and trying to improve his position.
Byrne trying to control the hands but Rodrigo won't let him.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Byrne manages to reverse the position and now he's in Rodrigo's guard. Nice work there by Byrne.
Byrne is working Rodrigo over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Rodrigo looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Byrne controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Byrne wants to control from the top but Rodrigo keeps moving.
Byrne cracks Rodrigo with a solid left hand.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that David Byrne will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Byrne shoots in and bounces Rodrigo off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Rodrigo pulls Byrne in close to prevent any damage.
Byrne in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Byrne 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.
Byrne trying to control but Rodrigo is working from the bottom.

Byrne is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Byrne lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Rodrigo is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Byrne is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Byrne wants to control from the top but Rodrigo keeps moving.
Byrne passes Rodrigo's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Byrne working Rodrigo over with strikes.
Byrne is tying to control. Rodrigo wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Byrne drops an elbow to the side of Rodrigo's head.

Byrne is looking for a kimura but Rodrigo is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Byrne to get the leverage.
Rodrigo moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rodrigo keeping full guard, as Byrne tries to pass.

Byrne gets to his feet - Rodrigo follows without any prompting.
Byrne closes the distance looking to clinch
and Rodrigo counters with a nice leg kick.

Byrne shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Byrne was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Byrne working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Byrne landing shots from mount.
Byrne looking to control and managing it successfully.
Byrne's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Byrne with a couple of short strikes.
Byrne lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Byrne working the ground and pound effectively.
Byrne connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Rodrigo is in a horrible position here. Byrne smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Byrne landing strikes from the mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Byrne controlling the pace for now.
Byrne looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Byrne breaks from Rodrigo's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Byrne is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Rodrigo takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Byrne pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Byrne trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Byrne controlling the position easily from mount.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

David Byrne dominated that second round.
That's time! Byrne's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight. This is the final round!

Rodrigo gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.
Byrne is stalling in the full guard.

Byrne gets to his feet. Rodrigo looking to butt scoot but the ref puts an end to that. On your feet son!

Byrne closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Rodrigo takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.

Byrne tries for a kimura but Rodrigo is defending well.
Rodrigo takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
The referee asks Byrne politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Byrne prefers to stall for the moment though.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Byrne wants to control but Rodrigo is keeping him busy.
Byrne advances nicely into full mount.
Rodrigo is trying to get back to his feet but can't.
Byrne dominating with strikes here.
Byrne fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Rodrigo working to try and regain half guard.
Byrne landing strikes, looking to finish!
Byrne scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Rodrigo?
Byrne breaks from Rodrigo's wrist control and lands an elbow.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Byrne has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Rodrigo's face.
Byrne pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Byrne lands a heavy elbow.
The referee warns Rodrigo that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Byrne punishing his opponent with strikes.
Rodrigo is squirming around, avoiding Byrne's attempts to control the action.
Byrne is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Rodrigo is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
Byrne cracks Rodrigo with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

Byrne working to secure an arm triangle but it's not happening for him just yet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Byrne lands with some strikes.
Rodrigo is in a horrible position here. Byrne smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Byrne sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Byrne postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Rodrigo looks a forlorn figure.
Byrne landing shots from mount.
David Byrne is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Byrne sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Byrne has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Byrne unloading with bombs!
David Byrne overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Rodrigo takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Byrne sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Byrne landing strikes from the mount.

And that's the end of the fight!
David Byrne showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Byrne, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Luis Engracia scores the fight 29:27
Judge Seu Braga scores the fight 30:26
Judge Edson Gomes scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... David Byrne!