PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Ville Marakatti (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Alex Graves (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Marakatti comes to the cage accompanied by Beyoncé - Halo. Graves is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: London Calling. The crowd giving both fighters a great reception on their way into the arena. That's good to see.

Marakatti
vs
Graves

180 cm
25
195 lbs
6 - 6 - 0

190 cm
31
198 lbs
10 - 10 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Counter fighter
Granite chin

Powerful takedowns
Counter fighter
Powerful

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 6 - 6 - 0, fighting out of New York, Ville Marakatti!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 10 - 10 - 0, fighting out of London, Alex Graves!
The judges for this bout are Eddie Farnsworth, Steve Montenegro and Dean Styles.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Graves shoots in and drives through. Marakatti sprawls well.
Ville Marakatti seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Marakatti shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Graves napping and manages to drive through into side control!
Graves tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Marakatti wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Marakatti tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Marakatti has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Marakatti working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
Graves tries to improve position but can't.
Graves manages to work his way to half guard, despite Marakatti's best efforts.

Marakatti is looking for a kimura but Graves is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Marakatti to get the leverage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Graves looking for submissions off his back.
Graves avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Marakatti.

Graves looking for submissions from an awkward position here.

Graves looking for submissions off his back.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Marakatti is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Graves sees it coming and defends easily.

Graves looking for submissions off his back.

Graves is defending against the submission attempts here by Marakatti.
Marakatti thows a huge punch but Graves dodges it nicely.

Graves looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.

Marakatti is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Graves sees it coming and defends easily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Graves works his way to full guard. Good work.

Graves escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Marakatti gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.

Graves looking to try and escape his hips here, looking for a submission. It looks like he's going for a triangle but Marakatti is defending well. Graves quickly switches to an armbar and extends the arm! Marakatti has no choice but to tap, to a very quick submission! Wow, that was lightning fast! Graves celebrates on the cage, with the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:31 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Alex Graves!
Alex Graves made sure to mention his sponsor, V-Mask Clothing (10%) in his post fight interview.