PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Rafael Tran (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Tyril Valentine (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Tyril Valentine has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Tran
vs
Valentine

212 cm
21
193 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

190 cm
25
190 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

Good takedowns
Brawler
Intelligent

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 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Rafael Tran!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Tyril Valentine!
The judges for this bout are Don Winkell, Timothy Bukovac and Jack Bonds.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Tran gets caught napping as Valentine dives in and scores a takedown. Tran manages to retain guard.
Valentine stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Tran swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Valentine throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Tran works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Valentine throwing strikes from guard but Tran blocks nicely.

Valentine postures up as if he's going to throw some strikes but drops back for an ankle! Tran is in big trouble! He looks ready to tap! But no, he's escaped and dives on top of Valentine, into his guard.

Valentine looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Valentine utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Tran postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Tran scoring with some ground and pound.
Tran with a flurry of punches that miss.
Tran knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Valentine on the ground.
Tran being controlled here momentarily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Tran has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Tran's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Tran won't allow Valentine to sweep him here.
Tran loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Valentine has his hands on Tran's head, controlling the position.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.
Tran tries to close the distance and clinch but Valentine swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

Tran clinches up against the cage.
Valentine wants to get back to striking at distance but Tran won't allow it.

Valentine jumps into guard, dragging Tran to the mat.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Tran throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Tran stops Valentine from standing up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Valentine controls Tran momentarily but Tran frees himself.
Tran in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Valentine managing to control the position.

Valentine is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Tran has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Valentine is proving hard to escape from.
Tran stopping the sweep attempt from Valentine.
Valentine is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Valentine is trying to control the action in half guard but Tran is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.

Valentine is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
Valentine content to control rather than advance.

Valentine is looking for a kimura here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Tyril Valentine dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

The fight moves into the clinch position.

Tran breaks from the clinch.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Valentine.
Valentine content to control the pace. The referee will try and keep them active though.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tran gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Valentine throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Tran because Valentine loaded up on that one.
Valentine pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Valentine has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

Valentine is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Tran has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Tran wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Valentine.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Valentine tries to control but Tran wriggling away.
Valentine misses with some ground and pound and Tran recovers position to half guard.
Valentine controlling the pace.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Valentine wants to control but Tran is keeping him busy.

Valentine seems to be working for a kimura but Tran defends the submission attempt.
Valentine is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Valentine decides he's had enough of the ground and stands up.
Tran misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Valentine drops down looking to force a counter takedown but Tran defends it well.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.

Valentine closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Tran quickly recovers to half guard.
Valentine prevents Tran from improving his position.

Valentine postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Tran to stand up.

Valentine gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!

Tran pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Tran fails with an attempt to clinch.
Valentine tries to counter with a clinch but Tran shakes him off and moves away.

Tran takes the fight into the clinch.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Tyril Valentine showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Tran darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Tran will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Valentine trying to control but Tran postures up.
Tran missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Tyril Valentine has got the better of the ground game so far.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Tran missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Valentine works his way to full guard. Good work.
Tran working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Tran loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Valentine is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

Valentine content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
Valentine with the ground and pound but Tran uses the opportunity to regain guard.
Tran utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Tran working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Valentine.
Tran keeping moving, preventing Valentine from controlling successfully.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Valentine sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Tran's guard.
Valentine sitting and controlling from the half guard.

Valentine is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Valentine is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Tran!
Valentine controlling from the full mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Valentine sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Valentine looking to control but Tran is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Valentine looking to finish with strikes here!
Valentine wants to control but instead Tran manages to regain half guard.
Valentine moves nicely into side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Valentine looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Tran is avoiding damage well.
Valentine wants to control but Tran is keeping him busy.
Valentine moving around in side mount but really he's just happy to control for now.
Rafael Tran has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Tyril Valentine is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Valentine working the ground and pound but Tran is defending the strikes.

And that's the end of the fight!
Tyril Valentine comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Valentine winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Don Winkell scores the fight 27:30
Judge Timothy Bukovac scores the fight 27:30
Judge Jack Bonds scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Tyril Valentine!