PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Layonel Marshall (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Miguel Gonzalez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Gonzalez is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: toe 2 toe. We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Marshall
vs
Gonzalez

178 cm
25
155 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

170 cm
23
155 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Decent wrestler
Counter fighter
Intelligent

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Layonel Marshall!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Miguel Gonzalez!
The judges for this bout are Winston Alpacca, Daniel Franklin and Peter Branson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Gonzalez tries to clinch there but Marshall circles away.
Gonzalez moves in looking to clinch but Marshall pushes him off.
Marshall fails with a takedown attempt.
Gonzalez moves in looking to clinch but Marshall pushes him off.
Gonzalez tries to clinch up.

Gonzalez forces Marshall back against the cage and clinches.
Gonzalez keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Marshall's efforts to push away.

Gonzalez pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Gonzalez shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Gonzalez wants to clinch.
Gonzalez fails with a takedown attempt.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gonzalez tries to close the distance and clinch but Marshall swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Marshall takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Nice sprawl there from Gonzalez as Marshall shoots in.
Gonzalez misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Gonzalez fails in his attempt to clinch.

Marshall closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Gonzalez wants to get back to his feet.
Marshall is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Marshall throwing shots but Gonzalez is blocking nicely.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Marshall decides he's had enough of the ground and stands up.
Gonzalez shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Marshall pinned against the cage. Marshall gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.
Layonel Marshall has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Miguel Gonzalez.
The fight stays on the outside here - Gonzalez looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Gonzalez throws a sloppy head kick and Marshall moves out of range easily.

Marshall shoots in looking for a single leg takedown. Gonzalez is trying to defend but Marshall finishes it well and ends up in half guard. Let's see if he can advance position further.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Marshall is figuring out what he wants to do next.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marshall thows a huge punch but Gonzalez dodges it nicely.
Marshall prevents Gonzalez from standing back up.
Marshall throwing shots but Gonzalez is blocking nicely.
Marshall wants to stand up but Gonzalez has a hold of him and won't allow it.
Marshall wants to stand up but Gonzalez manages to regain full guard.
Marshall trying to control but Gonzalez is working from the bottom.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Marshall connects with a couple of short punches.

The fighters are working up against the cage. Gonzalez manages to wriggle his way back to his feet, so the fighters are now clinched against the cage.
Marshall takes an elbow to the forehead.
Marshall tries to break the clinch but Gonzalez is controlling the position.
Gonzalez is trying to break the clinch but Marshall has him pressed against the cage.
Gonzalez pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Marshall breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Gonzalez wants to clinch.

Marshall closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Layonel Marshall dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Marshall keeps the fight on the outside.
No joy there for Gonzalez, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Marshall avoids a punch combination nicely.

Marshall throws the overhand right but ducks down into a quick takedown attempt. Gonzalez was covering up waiting for the punch and Marshall finishes the takedown easily into guard.
Marshall working some strikes from top position.
Marshall trying to control but Gonzalez is working from the bottom.
Marshall stops Gonzalez from standing up.
Gonzalez is trying to control the position but Marshall postures up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marshall is in close to Gonzalez's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Marshall tries to free his leg and advance position but Gonzalez is retaining full guard.
Marshall chips away with some ground and pound.
Marshall cracks Gonzalez with a solid left hand.
Gonzalez working a defensive guard here.
Marshall 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.
Marshall tries to stand but Gonzalez is controlling from the bottom.
Gonzalez is breathing heavily.
Marshall makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Marshall postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gonzalez looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Marshall wanted to stand there but Gonzalez had control of the position.
Gonzalez can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Marshall controls the pace.
Marshall trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Marshall won't allow Gonzalez to get back to his feet.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Marshall 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.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Layonel Marshall.

Marshall closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Gonzalez to the mat! Gonzalez manages to get full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Marshall avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Marshall distracts Gonzalez with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Marshall would like to get this fight back to the feet but can't get free from the closed guard.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Marshall's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Marshall chips away with some ground and pound.
Marshall throwing strikes from guard but Gonzalez blocks nicely.
Marshall keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Gonzalez's head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Gonzalez looking to hit a scissor sweep but Marshall is one step ahead there.
Marshall lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Marshall is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Marshall lands a couple of digs.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Marshall forces his way into half guard.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Marshall trying to control the action but Gonzalez is working from the bottom.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Layonel Marshall dominated that second round.
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!

Marshall fails with a takedown attempt.
Marshall avoids a punch combination nicely.
Marshall closes the distance and clinches up with Gonzalez, looking for a takedown. Marshall pushes Gonzalez against the cage but Gonzalez circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.

Gonzalez clinches up against the cage.
Gonzalez prevents Marshall from breaking the clinch.
Gonzalez wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.

Gonzalez breaks the clinch.
Marshall circles away from the clinch attempt.
Marshall avoids the clinch attempt nicely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gonzalez looks to clinch

and Marshall counters with a shoot takedown. Gonzalez fights it but they end up in guard.
Marshall pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Gonzalez is keeping the position for now.
Gonzalez looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Gonzalez takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Marshall trying to control the position from guard on top but Gonzalez is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Marshall trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Marshall working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Gonzalez's head.
Gonzalez controls Marshall momentarily but Marshall frees himself.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Marshall with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Marshall is looking to work some ground and pound but Gonzalez has wrist control.

Marshall is holding a leg here, probably looking for an ankle lock - he drops back and goes for it! Gonzalez is in trouble! Is it all over??? No! Gonzalez has escaped and now he's on top!

Marshall is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Marshall is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marshall bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Gonzalez's guard.
Gonzalez keeping moving, preventing Marshall from controlling successfully.
Marshall postures up.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Marshall's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Gonzalez utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Marshall stopping the sweep attempt from Gonzalez.
Layonel Marshall overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Marshall distracts Gonzalez with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Marshall content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Marshall landing some decent shots from guard.
Marshall landing with the ground and pound.
Gonzalez working a defensive guard here.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Gonzalez has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Marshall can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Miguel Gonzalez has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Layonel Marshall is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Marshall sitting in guard here, content to control.

And that's the end of the fight!
Layonel Marshall showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Marshall, 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 Winston Alpacca scores the fight 30:27
Judge Daniel Franklin scores the fight 30:27
Judge Peter Branson scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Layonel Marshall!
Miguel Gonzalez spoke after the fight, saying 'I'll be back stronger'.