PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Khasim Shaqir (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Shogun Soldier (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.

Shaqir
vs
Soldier

174 cm
23
162 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

170 cm
23
160 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Good wrestling
Brawler
Good chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Khasim Shaqir!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Shogun Soldier!
The judges for this bout are John Kavanagh, Reed Andrews and Chad Campbell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
No luck for Shaqir with that takedown attempt.
Soldier rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Shaqir moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Shaqir shoots for a double leg takedown but Soldier sprawls well. He's pushed Shaqir's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Soldier swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Soldier misses with a few strikes there.
Shaqir will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Khasim Shaqir. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Shaqir fails with the takedown.

Soldier closes the distance and clinches.
Come on Shaqir - let's have some action - none of this stalling nonsense.
Soldier tries to land a knee to the head but Shaqir blocks with his arms.
Shaqir tries to score a body lock takedown but Soldier shows good agility there to stay on his feet.
Shaqir is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
Both guys are working to get underhooks.
Shaqir blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Soldier tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Soldier pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Soldier just misses with a elbow thrown towards Shaqir's brow.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Shaqir has dropped down and is working for a takedown. Soldier is trying to keep an underhook but Shaqir manages to get the takedown into half guard.
We may be looking at a referee standup if the pace doesn't pick up soon.

Soldier manages to create a bit of space in order to work his way back to his feet. Shaqir keeps hold of his opponent and drives him back against the cage.
Shaqir has Soldier pressed up against the cage and is working for takedown. Soldier manages to improve position though and keeps the fight standing.
Soldier looking to throw knees to the head but Shaqir is blocking nicely.
Soldier missing with knees to the body.
Soldier tries to land knees in the clinch but Shaqir avoids the damage to the body.

Shaqir has double underhooks and is working for a body lock takedown. He's got it. The fighters land in half guard but Soldier regains guard immediately.

Soldier pushes Shaqir off and gets back to his feet.

Soldier has closed the distance and engaged Shaqir in a clinch.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Soldier with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Shaqir avoiding damage.
Soldier throws a knee to the head but misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Soldier avoids a wild elbow strike from Shaqir.
Shaqir avoiding damage as Soldier throws knees to the body.
Shaqir dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Soldier is defending well against a takedown attempt.
Shaqir changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Soldier fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Soldier lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Shaqir circles away quickly and effectively.

Shaqir has Soldier up against the cage in a clinch.
With the fighters up against the cage, Soldier throws an elbow but misses.
Soldier throws an elbow that misses.
Soldier throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Soldier throws a knee to the head but misses.
Shaqir avoids the elbow strike from Soldier, against the cage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Shaqir works for the underhooks and manages to get a trip takedown into guard.
Shaqir engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
Shaqir has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Soldier pulls Shaqir in close to prevent any damage.
Soldier wants to stand up but Shaqir is controlling him.
Shaqir controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Shaqir has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Khasim Shaqir just wasn't active enough.
Soldier throws a series of punches but Shaqir moves out of range.

Soldier closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Soldier tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Soldier throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Shaqir blocks it with crossed arms.
Soldier looks winded!
Shaqir goes for a takedown attempt but Soldier pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.

Soldier closes the distance and clinches.
Soldier looking to throw knees to the head but Shaqir is blocking nicely.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Soldier looking to throw knees to the head but Shaqir is blocking nicely.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
A bit of stalling here from Shaqir.
Shaqir throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Soldier blocks it with crossed arms.

Shaqir gets a trip takedown into half guard.
Shaqir wants to stand up but Soldier is controlling the position.
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 Khasim Shaqir will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Shaqir closes the distance and clinches.
Shaqir wants a takedown.
Shaqir leaning his opponent against the cage.
Shaqir is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
Shaqir misses with a hook to the ribs.
Soldier throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Shaqir tries for a takedown but Soldier manages to get underhooks.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Khasim Shaqir. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Soldier tries a knee to the head but Shaqir blocks it.

Shaqir lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Soldier is looking to escape.

Soldier kicks Shaqir off and gets back to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Soldier throws a nice looking combination but Shaqir bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Shaqir tries for a takedown but Soldier sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.

Shaqir drives through with a takedown into Soldier's guard. Let's see what he can do from the top position.
Shaqir trying to control but Soldier is working from the bottom.

Soldier is edging up against the cage. He's using the cage to get back to his feet. Nice work there - the fighters are clinched.
Soldier tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Shaqir avoids it.
Shaqir taking a break, stalling in the clinch.
Soldier creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Shaqir's defenses.
Shaqir on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Soldier is breathing heavily.
Shaqir has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Soldier is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
Soldier is defending well against a takedown attempt.
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as Shaqir takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.
Soldier lands an elbow inside that Shaqir shrugs off.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Soldier lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Shaqir stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
Soldier prevents the takedown attempt.
Soldier blocks a body shot from Shaqir.
Shaqir is working on a leg, looking for a takedown but Soldier is defending well.

Shaqir has picked Soldier up - he's going for a ride! Shaqir dumps his opponent to the mat with a thud and settles into half guard.
Soldier is refusing to be controlled, as Shaqir sits in half guard.
Soldier wants to get back to his feet.
Shaqir trying to control from half guard but Soldier is working away.
Soldier is trying to stand back up but Shaqir is controlling him

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Soldier makes some distance and scrambles quickly back to his feet. Nice work!
Shaqir goes for a double leg but Soldier avoids the attempt and the two fighters end up clinched against the cage as Soldier continues to drive forward.

Shaqir tightens his grip and picks Soldier up, before dumping him to the ground. Soldier manages to land in guard.

Soldier is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Shaqir is aware though and is defending well.
Khasim Shaqir overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Soldier being controlled here, momentarily.
Shaqir trying to control the position from guard on top but Soldier is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Soldier looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Shaqir looking to sit in guard and control but Soldier gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Soldier being controlled here momentarily.
Soldier is looking to stand up but Shaqir won't let him.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Soldier preventing the sweep.
Shaqir is working hard here to advance position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Khasim Shaqir dominated that second round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Soldier closes the distance and pushes Shaqir back into the cage.
Soldier tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Shaqir blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Soldier tries a knee to the head but Shaqir blocks it.

Shaqir turns his hips and lands a very nice judo throw into side control!
Soldier is being controlled here.
Soldier is not content to let Shaqir control the position.
Shaqir taking a break here but Soldier is having none of it and regains half guard.
Soldier is looking to escape.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Shaqir perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Shaqir tries to stand and escape but Soldier actually recovers to full guard.
Shaqir is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Khasim Shaqir wasn't doing enough on the ground.

Soldier gets a clinch.

Shaqir successfully pulls guard.
Soldier won't allow Shaqir to sweep him here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Soldier prevents Shaqir from getting back to his feet.

Soldier gets to his feet and steps away from his opponent.
Soldier displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Shaqir.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Soldier throws a combination that misses

and Shaqir counters with a takedown into side control.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Shaqir tries to score with some ground and pound. Soldier controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Shaqir is chipping away with strikes.
Shaqir wants to lay and pray for a moment but Soldier keeps working.
Shaqir controlling the position.
Shaqir lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Soldier down.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Shaqir trying to control the action but Soldier is working from the bottom.
Soldier is trying to buck Shaqir off.
Soldier takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.
Shaqir throwing strikes but missing, from side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Soldier is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Shaqir is controlling him well.
Shaqir content to control the pace. The referee will try and keep them active though.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Shaqir is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Soldier knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Shaqir throwing shots but missing, from side control.

And that's the end of the fight!
Khasim Shaqir showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Shaqir, 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 John Kavanagh scores the fight for Khasim Shaqir!
Judge Reed Andrews scores the fight for Khasim Shaqir!
Judge Chad Campbell scores the fight for Khasim Shaqir!

Khasim Shaqir wins by unanimous decision!