PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between William Dale (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ali Baba (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Dale
vs
Baba

173 cm
23
215 lbs
1 - 4 - 0

185 cm
25
201 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Experienced

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Inexperienced

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, William Dale!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Ali Baba!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Cesar, Edson Gomes and Thiago Cunha.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Baba fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Dale, pushing him back against the cage.
A knee to the head by Dale.
Baba wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Dale has him pressed against the cage.
Baba tries to pull guard but Dale forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Dale slowing the pace effectively.
Baba has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Dale avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.

Baba's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Dale dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Baba. That did some damage!
Baba shoots in but no luck this time.
William Dale has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Ali Baba.
Dale lands a head kick!

Dale drives through with a takedown into guard.
Dale throwing strikes but missing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Baba tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Baba is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Baba looking for a sweep. Not yet Baba, not yet.
Dale is looking to work some ground and pound but Baba has wrist control.
Dale 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.
Dale postures up in Baba's guard and throws a big left but Baba blocks it.
Baba avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Baba pulls Dale in close to prevent any damage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Dale trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Baba wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Dale is now in half guard.
Dale trying to control from half guard but Baba is working away.
Baba is trying to get back to full guard.
Baba looks winded!
Dale throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Baba avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Dale.
Baba keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Baba has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Dale is working away from the top position though.
Dale slips a nice elbow through Baba's hands, connecting with Baba's forehead.
Baba wants to improve his position but Dale is controlling well.
Baba wants to control the action here but instead Dale manages to pass to full mount!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Baba is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Dale unloads with some shots from mount but Baba bucks and avoids them well.
Dale landing strikes from the mount and Baba is in trouble!
Dale throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Dale has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Baba's face.
Dale breaks from Baba's wrist control and lands an elbow.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Dale wants to control the pace but Baba is squirming around nicely.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Dale is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Baba is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

William Dale dominated that 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.

No luck for Baba with that takedown attempt.
Baba on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Dale throws a sloppy head kick and Baba moves out of range easily.
Dale misses with a body shot.
Dale fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Baba uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Dale.
Baba stuffs the takedown.
Baba lands a jab to Dale's midsection.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Dale.
William Dale is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Baba tries for a takedown but Dale circles away easily
and Dale counters with a leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Baba takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
Baba is breathing heavily.
Dale throws a sloppy head kick and Baba moves out of range easily.
Ali Baba seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Baba dodges the punch combination from Dale.
Baba stuffs the takedown attempt from Dale. Dale gets slowly back to his feet.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for William Dale. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Baba shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Dale sprawls well. Dale wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Baba gets slowly back to his feet.
Dale misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Dale scores with a head kick. Baba tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A chopping leg kick lands by Dale.
A slow jab from Baba misses its intended target.
Dale connects with a high kick.
Baba blocks a head kick by Dale.
Baba scores with a head kick.

Dale dives in and scores a takedown into Baba's guard.
Dale could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.

Baba throws his legs up looking for a submission but Dale uses it to pass to side control.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Dale is chipping away with strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Baba tries to slip a leg under to move to half guard but Dale presses down on the leg and jumps into full mount!
Dale looking to control but Baba is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Baba tries to hold on but Dale postures up.
The referee warns Baba that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Dale lands a heavy elbow.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Dale working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Dale scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Baba?
Dale putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Baba taking shots to the head.
Dale wants to control the pace but Baba is squirming around nicely.
Baba is wriggling around trying to escape.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

William Dale dominated that second round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action! This is the final round!

Dale fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Dale misses with the combination.
Dale swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Dale misses with a two punch combination.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Baba leaning against his opponent.
Baba is defending well against a takedown attempt.
Baba is trying to pull guard but being pressed up against the cage enables Dale to keep the fight standing.
Baba takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Baba misses with a body punch.
Dale landing knees to the body.
Dale missing with knees to the body.
Dale's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Dale avoiding damage as Baba throws knees to the body.
Dale struggles to land a body shot inside as Baba controls his hands.
Both guys are working to get underhooks.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Baba is trying to push Dale away but Dale has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.
Dale stalling in the clinch but Baba improves position.
Baba tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Dale tries to pull guard but Baba forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Dale gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Baba.
William Dale has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Ali Baba.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Dale obliges.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Dale taking a break, stalling in the clinch.
Baba wants to stall.
Baba is trying to pull guard but being pressed up against the cage enables Dale to keep the fight standing.
Baba letting Dale take a breather here.

Baba turns his back and goes for a hip toss. It's a bit messy but it gets the job done and Baba manages to end up in side control.
Dale is looking for a sweep.
Dale is moving his hips around well on the bottom and has managed to get back to half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Dale moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Baba really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Dale. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

Dale is active off his back here, looking for submissions.

Dale is looking for a triangle but Baba pushes his legs off easily.

Dale working for a triangle but Baba defends it easily.
Ali Baba has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
William Dale is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Baba gets to his feet - Dale follows without any prompting.

And that's the end of the fight!
William Dale showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Dale, 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 Daniel Cesar scores the fight 30:27
Judge Edson Gomes scores the fight 30:27
Judge Thiago Cunha scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... William Dale!