PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Rafael Almeida (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Carl Draiman (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters will be looking to make this an exciting fight for the fans, I'm sure!

Almeida
vs
Draiman

191 cm
29
195 lbs
10 - 7 - 0

178 cm
28
184 lbs
11 - 9 - 1

Good takedowns
Solid Muay Thai
Experienced

BJJ Purple Belt
Basic striking
Knockout power

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 10 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Rafael Almeida!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 9 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Carl Draiman!
The judges for this bout are Konstantin Menshow, Igor Prikhodko and Valeri Chadov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A big right from Draiman misses.
Draiman defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Almeida.

Draiman closes the distance and clinches.
Almeida goes for a takedown attempt but Draiman pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.
Draiman leaves Almeida with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Rafael Almeida. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Draiman misses with a straight left.
Almeida blocks a low kick nicely.
Draiman is looking to clinch but Almeida is avoiding it.

Draiman darts in and clinches Almeida up against the cage.

Draiman turns his back and goes for a hip toss. It's a bit messy but it gets the job done and Draiman manages to end up in side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Draiman tries to get to his feet but he's trapped momentarily.
Almeida tries to escape but Draiman is in control.
Draiman tries to get to his feet but Almeida is in the middle of advancing position himself and ends up with Draiman in his guard.
Draiman wants to stand but Almeida is controlling his posture from full guard.

Almeida throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Draiman would like to get this fight back to the feet but can't get free from the closed guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Almeida is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Draiman wants to stand but Almeida is controlling his posture from full guard.
Draiman must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Almeida is controlling Draiman's posture.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Draiman rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Almeida moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Draiman wants to clinch up but Almeida keeps it at a distance.
Almeida circles away from the clinch attempt.
Almeida on the wrong end of a kick to the body.

Draiman clinches with his opponent.
Draiman is defending well against a takedown attempt.
Almeida tries to break free but Draiman pushes him back against the cage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Almeida has dropped down and is working for a takedown. Draiman is trying to keep an underhook but Almeida manages to get the takedown into half guard.

Almeida is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Draiman sees it coming and defends easily.
Draiman has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Almeida is working away from the top position though.
Almeida wants to control but Draiman is keeping him busy.
Almeida uses his free foot to push down on Draiman's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Draiman.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Almeida tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Almeida trying to control but Draiman is having none of it.
Draiman slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Carl Draiman dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Almeida takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Draiman tries to clinch up.
Carl Draiman seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Draiman takes the fight into the clinch.

Draiman pulls guard.
Draiman keeping moving, preventing Almeida from controlling successfully.
Carl Draiman has got the better of the ground game so far.
Draiman trying to keep a closed guard but Almeida is proving a slippery customer.
Draiman thows some rabbit punches from the bottom but they don't do any damage.
Draiman is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Draiman keeping moving, preventing Almeida from controlling successfully.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Rafael Almeida has forced the referee to step in and bring the fight back to the feet.

Draiman gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Draiman jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Almeida walks away with a smile on his face. Draiman gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Horrible takedown by Almeida or perhaps it was just good defense by Draiman which made him look bad.

Draiman moves into the clinch.
Almeida tries for a takedown. No joy.
Draiman gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Almeida.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Rafael Almeida. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Almeida has moved round to his opponent's back and is looking for a suplex! Oh snap! He's tossed Draiman clear over his head and slammed him to the mat!

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Almeida is persistently looking for the submission but Draiman is defending it well.
Draiman just trying to survive but Almeida is wriggling into a better position, looking to finish.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Draiman might have to switch it up a bit here because his efforts to control Almeida haven't been going to plan, at least at the current moment in time.

Almeida is working really hard to secure the rear naked choke. Draiman defends successfully for a significant amount of time. Both fighters are looking very determined.
I really don't envy Draiman right now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Almeida working for a choke but Draiman is defending well.

Almeida goes for a risky armbar from back mount and it's not paid off. Draiman escapes and is now in half guard on top.
Draiman tries to stand but his hand is stuck under Almeida.
Draiman moves into side control, avoiding the strikes from Almeida.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Draiman tries to stand but Almeida controls the position and pulls Draiman into his guard.
Draiman wants to get up but he can't break Almeida's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
Almeida will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Draiman wants to stand and escape but instead Almeida has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.
Almeida slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
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 Rafael Almeida will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

Draiman forces Almeida back against the cage and clinches.
Almeida is looking for a takedown up against the cage. Draiman gets underhooks though and prevents the takedown attempt.

Almeida's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Draiman throws a sloppy head kick
and Almeida counters with a nice uppercut.
Draiman tries to close the distance and clinch but Almeida swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Draiman throws a half hearted mid kick.
Draiman tries to clinch but Almeida is having none of it.
Draiman misses with a hook to the body
and Almeida cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.

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

Draiman pulls guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Almeida tries to free his leg and advance position but Draiman is retaining full guard.
Draiman wants to sweep here but Almeida controlling him for the moment.
Almeida wants to control from the top but Draiman keeps moving.
Draiman tries to strike from the bottom.
Almeida trying to control but Draiman is working from the bottom.
Draiman trying to keep a closed guard but Almeida is proving a slippery customer.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Rafael Almeida wasn't doing enough on the ground.
Draiman throws out a loose jab but Almeida uses good head movement to avoid it.
Draiman goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Draiman moves into the clinch.
Almeida is working on a leg, looking for a takedown but Draiman is defending well.
Draiman jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Almeida walks away with a smile on his face. Draiman gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Draiman stuffs the takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Rafael Almeida. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Almeida tries for a takedown but Draiman circles away easily

and Draiman counters by moving into the clinch.

Draiman jumps guard.
Draiman trying to keep a closed guard but Almeida is proving a slippery customer.
Draiman throws some sloppy strikes off his back.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Draiman holds on and takes a little breather.
Almeida is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Draiman tries to strike from the bottom.
Almeida trying to control the position from guard on top but Draiman is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
The referee claps his hands together and tells the fighters to work.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Rafael Almeida just wasn't active enough.
Draiman moves out of range of the body kick from Almeida.
Draiman swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Draiman misses the shot to the body.
Draiman throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Draiman throws a head kick but Almeida moves out of range.
Draiman looks for the body kick but Almeida saw that one coming.

Draiman has closed the distance and engaged Almeida in a clinch.
Almeida tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Draiman jumps guard but Almeida turns him against the cage and keeps the fight standing.
Almeida wants to take the fight to the mat but Draiman manages to get underhooks and keep the fight in the clinch.
Almeida is looking for a takedown up against the cage. Draiman gets underhooks though and prevents the takedown attempt.

Draiman ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Draiman no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Almeida sitting in guard here, content to control.
Draiman throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.

And that's the end of the fight!
Carl Draiman comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Draiman has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Konstantin Menshow scores the fight 28:29
Judge Igor Prikhodko scores the fight 28:29
Judge Valeri Chadov scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Carl Draiman!
Carl Draiman seemed lost for words in his post fight interview but he remembered to thank his fans and directed everyone to his website.