PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Royal Strickland (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joe Castillo (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Joe Castillo has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Strickland
vs
Castillo

199 cm
24
215 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

196 cm
25
212 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Granite chin

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Royal Strickland!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Joe Castillo!
The judges for this bout are Robert Twigg, Alan Glass and George Francis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
We've got one fighter who appears to only be looking to counter and the other not looking particularly aggressive either, so we could be in for a dull fight.
Strickland shoots for a takedown but Castillo saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Castillo drops down looking to force a counter takedown but Strickland defends it well.
Strickland shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Castillo as he avoids it easily.
Strickland tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Castillo drops down looking to force a counter takedown but Strickland defends it well.
Strickland misses with a head kick.
And Castillo tries to counter it with a takedown but Strickland pushes his down on his head and steps out.

Castillo dives in and scores a takedown into Strickland's guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Strickland pulls Castillo in close to prevent any damage.
Castillo slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Strickland is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Strickland is avoiding any damage by keeping wrist control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.

Strickland is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Strickland wants to control here, rather than go for any submissions from the bottom. At least for now.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Castillo must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Castillo wants to control from the top but Strickland keeps moving.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Castillo avoids the head kick by Strickland.
Castillo drops down looking to force a counter takedown but Strickland defends it well.
Strickland throws a body kick that misses.
Castillo with the counter takedown but Strickland avoids it easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Strickland clinches with his opponent.

Castillo has picked Strickland up - he's going for a ride! Castillo dumps his opponent to the mat with a thud and settles into half guard.
Strickland pushes Castillo off but Castillo dives into side control.
Strickland misses with a strike from the bottom.
Strickland struggling a bit here.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Castillo prevents Strickland from escaping the position.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Strickland tries a low kick but Castillo avoids it.
Castillo tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.

Strickland darts in and clinches Castillo up against the cage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Castillo dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Strickland has taken the fight to the clinch.

Strickland escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

Strickland closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Castillo did well to prevent Strickland getting side control.
Castillo avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Strickland.
Castillo on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Strickland looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Castillo with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Strickland throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Strickland with the ground and pound but Castillo uses the opportunity to regain guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Strickland throws a big right hand that misses.
Strickland postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Strickland postures up in Castillo's guard and throws a big left but Castillo blocks it.
Strickland postures up in Castillo's guard and throws a big left but Castillo blocks it.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Strickland accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.

Strickland scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.

Strickland tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Strickland has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Castillo managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Strickland.
The strikes coming from Strickland are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Strickland misses with the ground and pound.
Strickland misses with an attempted head punch from side control.

Strickland is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Castillo has escaped the position, nice work there.
Castillo taking a bit of punishment here - Strickland scoring with strikes.
Strickland 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.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Strickland tries to score with some ground and pound. Castillo controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Castillo takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Strickland working the ground and pound.
Strickland in side control, throwing shots but Castillo defends.
Castillo defending against the ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Strickland creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Castillo sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
Strickland postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
Strickland creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Castillo sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.
Strickland fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
No luck for Strickland with that takedown attempt.
Castillo tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Royal Strickland dominated that second round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Strickland throws a sloppy head kick

and Castillo counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Castillo trying to control from half guard but Strickland is working away.
Castillo is figuring out what he wants to do next.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Strickland is doing well to avoid being mounted. He's controlling the position at the moment.
We could do with one of the fighters taking the initiative a bit more on the ground - they're both waiting to capitalize on a mistake.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Castillo stops Strickland from getting back to his feet.
Strickland is trying to get back to full guard.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.

Strickland looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.

The referee has stepped in and called for a break in the action. We'll restart on the feet.
Strickland tries to work over Castillo's front leg with a kick but Castillo checks it.

Castillo closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Strickland is doing well to control the position and prevent Castillo from advancing to side control.
Castillo wants to control but Strickland is keeping him busy.
Strickland keeping control of the position.
Castillo controlling the action here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Castillo wants to pass the guard but Strickland is defending well.
Strickland is controlling Castillo's position as best he can from this difficult position.
Strickland is looking to control Castillo's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Strickland avoid being mounted?

The referee has stepped in and called for a break in the action. We'll restart on the feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
A combination from Strickland does no damage.
Strickland misses with a jab, cross combination.

Strickland gets the takedown into side control.
Strickland scores with punches from side control.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Castillo wants to get back to his feet but Strickland drags him back down.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Joe Castillo.
I think Castillo 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 Robert Twigg scores the fight 28:29
Judge Alan Glass scores the fight 28:29
Judge George Francis scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Joe Castillo!