PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Asa Morales (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ivan Vladimir (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Ivan Vladimir has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Asa Morales's chin.

Morales
vs
Vladimir

207 cm
20
140 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

170 cm
23
145 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Cuts easily

Good takedowns
Basic striking
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Asa Morales!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Ivan Vladimir!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Franklin, Tiny Johnson and Frank Dennis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Morales has taken the fight to the clinch.

Morales pulls guard.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.

Vladimir drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and Morales dives on top into guard.
Morales controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Morales preventing the sweep.
Morales lands a couple of decent looking shots.

Vladimir is looking for a triangle but Morales pushes his legs off easily.
Morales loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

Vladimir is looking for a triangle but Morales pushes his legs off easily.

Vladimir isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Morales stacks Vladimir on his neck as he steps over and passes to the side. He's now in a much more dominant position where he can look to do some serious damage. Nice move by Morales!
Morales will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Vladimir looking for a sweep but Morales has passed into full mount! Oh no!
Morales sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Vladimir is desperately trying to improve his position but Morales has a good base and remains in mount.
Morales content just to control the position here.
Morales is landing with some decent strikes but Vladimir is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Morales scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Vladimir?
Morales controlling his opponent.
Vladimir really trying hard to get back to half guard here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Morales looking to finish Vladimir with some ground and pound. This is bad for Vladimir!
Morales looking to finish Vladimir with some ground and pound. This is bad for Vladimir!
Vladimir is trying to reverse the position but instead Morales has taken his back - oops!
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Morales keeps control of the position as Vladimir tries to break free.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Vladimir is still trying to improve position.

Morales looking for the RNC.
Vladimir manages to reverse the position and now he's in Morales's guard. Nice work there by Vladimir.

Vladimir drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Morales manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Vladimir has Morales in his guard.

Vladimir has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Morales can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Morales slips nicely into half guard.
Morales wants to get back to his feet.
Morales scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Vladimir slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.

Vladimir had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Morales defends it easily.

Vladimir working for submissions but it's allowed Morales to get to half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Vladimir is in trouble now - Morales has advanced to mount!
Vladimir slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.

Vladimir looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Morales is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.

Vladimir looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Morales takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!

Vladimir looking to force a kimura from the bottom here. He's concentrating on that move too much though and Morales pushes past his half guard into mount!
Vladimir is looking to get to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Asa Morales dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Vladimir has his takedown stuffed

and Morales counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
Vladimir is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Vladimir wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.

Morales has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Vladimir uses from the top position.

Vladimir drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Morales manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Vladimir has Morales in his guard.
Morales has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Morales controls from within his opponent's guard.
Vladimir wants to sweep but no luck.

Vladimir had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Morales defends it easily.

Vladimir working for submissions but it's allowed Morales to get to half guard.
Vladimir is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Vladimir looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Morales content to control rather than advance.

Morales is working for a submission of some sort.

Morales is trying for a guillotine from the top but the pressure isn't in the right place so Vladimir is just riding it out for now. Morales eventually gives up the hold.

Vladimir actively working from the bottom here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Vladimir is looking for a sweep. Morales is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.

Vladimir looking for submissions off his back.
Vladimir wants to get back to full guard but Morales has passed into side control.
Asa Morales overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Vladimir tries to buck Morales off but Morales is having none of it.
Vladimir looks to move to half guard but instead Morales has passed into mount! Damn!
Morales putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Morales looking to finish Vladimir with some ground and pound. This is bad for Vladimir!
Morales breaks from Vladimir's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Morales takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Morales has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Vladimir is wriggling around trying to escape.
Morales landing strikes, looking to finish!
Morales raining down hammerfists from mount.
Morales controlling from the full mount.
Vladimir is desperately trying to improve his position but Morales has a good base and remains in mount.

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

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Morales controlling from the full mount.
Vladimir sneaks a leg back under and regains half guard and is working straight away to try and get back to guard. He hasn't managed just yet though.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Morales tries to stand but his arm is trapped.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Morales connects with a nice short shot to Vladimir's temple.
Vladimir manages to get to full guard.

Vladimir throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Vladimir looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Asa Morales will probably get the nod.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Vladimir fails with a takedown attempt.
Morales misses with a hook.
Morales throws a head kick that misses.
Vladimir with a lazy takedown attempt
and Vladimir takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
Vladimir lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.

Morales gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.

Morales decides to pull guard.
Vladimir is fighting to break Morales's control of his arms but Morales is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.

Vladimir drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Morales manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Vladimir has Morales in his guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Vladimir has an active guard here but Morales has managed to pass into half guard.
Vladimir takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Morales in particular looking to stall.
Morales slips a nice elbow through Vladimir's hands, connecting with Vladimir's forehead.
Morales thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Vladimir tries to get to full guard but Morales has control of the leg.
Morales perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Morales trying to pass the guard but Vladimir defending well.

Morales is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Vladimir has managed to free his arm - good work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Vladimir is looking to improve his position.

Vladimir with the active half guard here but Morales passes nicely into side control.
Vladimir is looking for a sweep.

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

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Morales wants to stand but Vladimir is controlling his arm.
Vladimir tries to improve position but can't.
Vladimir is trying to work for a sweep but Morales has mounted him!
Morales really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
Vladimir is looking to improve his position but Morales isn't that keen on the idea.
Vladimir keeps trying to improve his position.
Morales manages to capitalize on a mistake by Vladimir to take his back!
Morales controls the position.
Vladimir tries to escape the position.
Morales is throwing strikes from the back here. Oh that last one was to the back of the head. Morales gets a warning from the referee. He throws another strike to the back of the head straight away though and the referee has seen enough. He breaks up the two fighters and stands them back up. Morales gets a real talking to here and is lucky not to get a point deducted. Morales apologises and we restart here on the feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Decent striking displayed by Vladimir there.

Morales drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Vladimir is not content to let Morales control the position.
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!
Vladimir tries to get back to half guard but can't.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Ivan Vladimir has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Asa Morales is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

And that's the end of the fight!
Asa Morales showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Morales has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Daniel Franklin scores the fight 30:27
Judge Tiny Johnson scores the fight 30:27
Judge Frank Dennis scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Asa Morales!