PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Charles Benedict (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Simon Antonise (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). On his way into the cage it seems that Charles Benedict has been attacked by a crazed fan! It looks like it might have been the just bleed guy! Luckily Charles Benedict seems to be OK! I thought that lunatic was in prison!?

Benedict
vs
Antonise

170 cm
27
163 lbs
11 - 0 - 0

173 cm
27
160 lbs
8 - 3 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Very strong

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Powerful

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 11 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Charles Benedict!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 3 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Simon Antonise!
The judges for this bout are Sandra Marshall, Dirk Anderson and Santiago Holmes.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Benedict tries a head kick but it misses.
Antonise misses the jab.
Antonise 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.
Antonise doesn't manage to clinch there - Benedict circles away.
Antonise jabs away that one connects to the head of his opponent.
Benedict lands a head shot.
Benedict throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.
Benedict throws a head kick that half lands.
Antonise throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Benedict sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Antonise moves away from the strike by Benedict.
Antonise throws a right hand that Benedict ducks under and follows up with a left that Benedict also avoids with ease.
Benedict fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Antonise has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Benedict misses with a body kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Antonise slips under a jab.
Benedict looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.
Benedict misses with a lunging right hand
and Antonise counters with a left to the body.
Benedict motions for Antonise to come forward. Benedict throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Antonise misses with a two punch combination.
Benedict throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Antonise slips in close and lands a nice hook before moving back out of range.
Benedict attempts a leg kick but it's missed by a good margin.
Benedict misses with an uppercut.
Benedict turns his hip over beautifully as he lands a nice leg kick.

Benedict throws a loose over hand right and dives in with a double leg takedown. Antonise tries to sprawl but it's too late and the fighters hit the mat. Benedict is in Antonise's guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Benedict won't allow Antonise to sweep him here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Benedict seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Benedict is pushing down on Antonise's leg trying to pass to half guard. Antonise is fighting to maintain full guard but Benedict has managed to sneak the leg through.
Benedict is figuring out what he wants to do next.
Antonise trying to control here.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Benedict is trying to work for a kimura but Antonise is defending well.

Benedict is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Antonise sees it coming and defends easily.
Benedict looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Antonise is trying to control but can't.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Benedict is pressing down on Antonise's thigh, looking to free his foot. Antonise is holding on for now.
Antonise gets full guard.
Antonise wants to sweep but no luck.
Benedict stops Antonise from standing up.
Antonise pulls Benedict in close to prevent any damage.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Benedict is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Charles Benedict dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Benedict throws a body kick that sends a sickening thudding noise reverberating around the arena.
Benedict looking to land some kicks to the body here.
Benedict takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.

It looks like Charles Benedict has been cut.
Benedict swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Antonise scores with a nice right hand.
The fight stays on the outside here - Antonise looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Antonise has done a lot of speed work in the buildup to this fight.
Antonise throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Benedict throws a push kick but Antonise slaps the foot to one side.
Nice body kick from Benedict.
Antonise connects with a body shot.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Antonise tries to work over Benedict's front leg with a kick but Benedict checks it.
Benedict throws a half hearted mid kick.
Charles Benedict is winning the standup battle so far.
Benedict pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Antonise cracks Benedict with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Antonise cracks Benedict with a good jab.
Benedict misses with a head kick.
Simon Antonise is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Antonise throws a series of strikes that have Benedict backpedaling.
Antonise throws a right and a left that Benedict avoids nicely.
A nice inside leg kick there by Benedict. That's going to slow Antonise down.
Antonise wants to clinch up but Benedict keeps it at a distance.
Antonise swings and misses with a hook to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Benedict throws a head kick but Antonise moves out of range.
Benedict avoids a punch combination nicely.
Benedict looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Antonise on the wrong end of a decent looking cross there.
Antonise throws a nice looking combination but Benedict bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Antonise blocks a head kick by Benedict.
Antonise blocks the body kick.
Simon Antonise is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Antonise fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Benedict connects with an inside leg kick.
Benedict throws a leg kick that misses.
Antonise scores with a one two! Benedict had his feet all tangled up there and couldn't avoid the strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Benedict feints and then cracks Antonise's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Antonise down.
Antonise darts in trying to clinch
and Benedict connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Antonise fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Benedict manages to avoid it.
Benedict blocks a jab.
Antonise tries to close the distance and clinch but Benedict swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Benedict lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.
Benedict dives in and grabs Antonise's left leg, looking for a takedown. Antonise pushes down on Benedict's head and hops out.
Benedict misses with a body kick.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Benedict.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nice uppercut there from Antonise.
Antonise throws a series of punches but Benedict moves out of range.
Antonise misses with a series of wild punches.
Antonise throws a hook but Benedict blocks it.
Antonise cracks a nice hook into Benedict's ribs.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Antonise lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Benedict circles away quickly and effectively.
Antonise keeps his opponent at a distance with a nice jab.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
A good leg kick by Benedict.
Antonise dodges the punch combination from Benedict.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Simon Antonise showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The cut man is working on Charles Benedict's cut.
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. So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Antonise scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Antonise throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
The fighters circling - Antonise throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Benedict misses with a low kick as Antonise jumps back.
Benedict misses with an uppercut.
Antonise connects nicely with a jab. Noted by the judges no doubt.
Antonise misses with a series of wild punches.

Antonise has Benedict up against the cage in a clinch.
Antonise has Benedict pressed up against the cage and is working for takedown. Benedict manages to improve position though and keeps the fight standing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Antonise working hard to break the clinch.
Benedict taking a breather.
Benedict lands a nice uppercut.
Antonise looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Antonise stalling in the clinch but Benedict improves position.
A bit of stalling here from Benedict.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Benedict.
Antonise lands with a right to the head.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Benedict.

Benedict successfully pulls guard.
Antonise slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
Benedict sneaks a leg under to get back to half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Antonise is figuring out what he wants to do next.
Benedict is controlling Antonise's trapped leg to prevent Antonise from advancing to side control.
Benedict is looking to improve his position.
Antonise wants to free his trapped foot but Benedict is holding on for dear life with his legs.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Antonise trying to control from half guard but Benedict is working away.

OK we're going to have a standup here. Simon Antonise hasn't been effective enough on the ground and the referee wants a restart.
Benedict throws a quick inside leg kick.
Antonise lands a jab followed by a nice looking cross.
Benedict lands a jab.
Benedict tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Benedict looks to land a combination but Antonise avoids it well.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Antonise throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Benedict swats away the attempt to clinch by Antonise.
Benedict is looking to slow Antonise down with leg kicks.
Benedict slips under a jab.
Benedict throws a leg kick but Antonise moved away.
Benedict fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
Antonise throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
A big left from Antonise misses.
A nice inside leg kick there by Benedict. That's going to slow Antonise down.
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!
Antonise throws a leg kick but Benedict sees it coming and checks it nicely.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Simon Antonise.
I think Antonise 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 Sandra Marshall scores the fight for Simon Antonise!
Judge Dirk Anderson scores the fight for Charles Benedict!
Judge Santiago Holmes scores the fight for Charles Benedict!

Charles Benedict wins by split decision!
A determined Charles Benedict didn't want to dwell on this fight in his post fight interview. Instead he was more keen to state he wants a title shot. Let's see if he gets it!