PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Alex Wright (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Giovanni Bernard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). I don't know about you partner, but I'm pumped for this one!

Wright
vs
Bernard

175 cm
25
170 lbs
3 - 3 - 0

183 cm
22
181 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Alex Wright!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Giovanni Bernard!
The judges for this bout are Nard Betker, Paulsen Ambrosius and Wagner Zegers.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Wright darts in and clinches Bernard up against the ropes.

Wright manages to break the clinch.
Wright fails with a takedown attempt.
Giovanni Bernard seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Wright misses with a double jab.
Wright scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
Wright throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.

Bernard moves into the clinch.
Bernard lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Bernard tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Bernard tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Bernard tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Bernard lands a good knee to the midsection. Wright won't want to take too many of those.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Bernard misses with a knee strike.
We've been hearing reports that Wright has been drilling takedowns in recent sessions so let's see if that has an impact on the result of this fight.
Bernard looking to throw knees to the head but Wright is blocking nicely.
Bernard looking to throw knees to the head but Wright is blocking nicely.

Wright manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.

Wright has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes Bernard off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bernard wants to clinch.

Bernard fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Wright, pushing him back against the ropes.
Wright on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Wright takes a knee right on the jaw!

It looks like Alex Wright has been cut.
Wright has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Bernard is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
Bernard tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Bernard tries a knee to the head but Wright blocks it.
Bernard prevents a takedown attempt there.
Bernard has been looking to improve his clinch game in recent weeks. So far he's outscoring his opponent in the clinch so it seems to have been worthwhile.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Alex Wright. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Bernard tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Bernard looks winded!
A nice glancing elbow lands by Bernard.
A knee to the head by Bernard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Bernard tries to land knees in the clinch but Wright avoids the damage to the body.
Wright avoids the elbow strike from Bernard, against the ropes.
Bernard missing with knees to the body.
Bernard misses with a knee to the head.
Bernard with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Wright tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Wright blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Wright blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Bernard misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Wright.
Bernard throws a knee to the head but misses.

Wright breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Bernard tries to clinch up.
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!
Bernard fails with an attempt to clinch.
Bernard has his hands up protecting his head but a hook from Wright finds it's way round the side to connect with Bernard's head.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!
Bernard uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Wright.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bernard slips a jab and a cross from Wright.

Wright shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Bernard's guard.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.

Wright drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Wright jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.
Bernard is trying to control the position but Wright postures up.
Wright wants to control from the top but Bernard keeps moving.

Wright thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Bernard wants to get back to his feet but Wright is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Bernard keeping moving, preventing Wright from controlling successfully.

Wright is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Wright's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Wright trying to control but Bernard is working from the bottom.

Alex Wright has forced the referee to step in and bring the fight back to the feet.

Wright looking to score a takedown here. Bernard is defending well but Wright drives through and ends up in Bernard's guard.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Wright working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Wright postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Wright postures up and lands a big shot to Bernard's brow.
Wright 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.

Wright thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Bernard is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Wright is controlling him.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Wright trying to control but Bernard is working from the bottom.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!

Wright thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Alex Wright dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Alex Wright's cut.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Bernard tries to close the distance and clinch up against the ropes but Wright paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Alex Wright is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Bernard fails with an attempt to clinch.
The fight stays on the outside here - Bernard looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

Wright scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Wright works his foot free and advances to mount.
Bernard is squirming around, avoiding Wright's attempts to control the action.
Wright fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
You get the feeling that Bernard really doesn't like being in this position too much.
Bernard is controlling an arm, preventing Wright from taking his back. Although keeping him in mount is no better to be honest.

Wright working for a guillotine from mount but Bernard is in no mood to give up.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Wright is in the full mount, landing strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bernard is bucking up trying to escape but Wright cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Wright scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Wright lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Bernard really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Wright. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Bernard is desperately trying to get back to half guard.

Wright is going oldschool here, as he tries to force Bernard to tap using a forearm choke. This isn't 1993 though, so Bernard shrugs it off.
Wright won't let Bernard get back to his feet... He wants to keep the fight where it is for now.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Bernard can do anything to dispel that myth.
Bernard is breathing heavily.

Wright looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Wright putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Bernard is in all sorts of trouble here.
Bernard is trying to get back to his feet but can't.

Wright working for a guillotine from mount but Bernard is in no mood to give up.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Wright looking to isolate an arm here. Bernard doesn't see it coming and as Wright extends the arm, he's forced to tap out! Nice submission by Wright!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:22 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Alex Wright!
During a confident post fight interview, Alex Wright thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.