PBP Commentary

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

Brooks
vs
Shelby

184 cm
24
190 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

180 cm
24
190 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
KO power

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Solid chin

Voodoo Nutrition

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 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, James Brooks!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, John Shelby!
The judges for this bout are Eliza Hachem, Summer Carpenter and Hugh Johnson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Brooks clinches up with Shelby and pushes him back against the cage.
Shelby lands a nice shot to the body.
Shelby lands a damaging elbow.
Shelby is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Brooks is defending well for now.

Brooks gets control of Shelby's arms and successfully pulls guard. Brooks will no doubt be looking for submissions off his back.
Shelby trying to control the position from guard on top but Brooks is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Shelby lands a couple of elbows.
Shelby controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Shelby trying to control the position from guard on top but Brooks is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Shelby throws a big elbow that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Shelby stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Brooks swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Shelby distracts Brooks with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.

Shelby 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.
Brooks avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Shelby throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Brooks works some decent striking defense from the bottom.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Brooks doesn't manage to clinch there - Shelby circles away.
Brooks looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Shelby lands a nice looking body kick.
Brooks is breathing heavily.
Brooks shoots in looking for a takedown. Shelby tries to sprawl out of it but Brooks keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Shelby manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A right-left combo lands from Shelby.

It looks like James Brooks has been cut.
Shelby lands with a good body shot.
Shelby throws a quick inside leg kick.
Shelby connects with a solid leg kick.
Shelby fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Brooks has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Good leg kick by Shelby there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Shelby lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.
Shelby scores with a push kick.
Shelby jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.

Brooks is rocked!
Shelby fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Oh Brooks is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Shelby, right into the meat.
Brooks shoots in for a takedown but Shelby shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
And Shelby responds with a good body kick, but Brooks manages to step out the way in time.
Shelby connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
A chopping leg kick lands by Shelby.
Shelby thuds his shin into the meat of Brooks's side.
Crack! Shelby connects with the perfect overhand right and Brooks falls face first to the canvas. Timbeeeeeeeer! Beautiful knockout for Shelby!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:59 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Punch). John Shelby!
John Shelby was full of energy after the big win and talked about how he thinks he can do big things in this sport. The crowd were appreciative of his determination to succeed.