PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Koron Maafi (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Johnny Blaze (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Blaze has chosen The Dropkick Murphys-The Warriors Code as his entrance music. Both fighters look pumped up here. Let's hope this is a good fight!

Maafi
vs
Blaze

190 cm
24
179 lbs
7 - 4 - 0

175 cm
23
177 lbs
7 - 5 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Granite chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Basic striking
Knockout power

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 7 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Koron Maafi!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Johnny Blaze!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Franklin, Gwen Towbar and Chris Downing.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Blaze scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Maafi manages to get to full guard.
Maafi avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Maafi keeping moving, preventing Blaze from controlling successfully.
Maafi is looking to stand up but Blaze isn't so interested in that idea.
Maafi looking for a sweep. Not yet Maafi, not yet.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Blaze pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Maafi is keeping the position for now.
Blaze postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Blaze's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Maafi looking to hit a scissor sweep but Blaze is one step ahead there.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Maafi tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Blaze paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Blaze shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Maafi but Maafi pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Maafi misses with a takedown

and Blaze decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Maafi's guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Maafi had isolated an arm as going for an omaplata. Blaze is defending the submission well but is in a very vulnerable position. Maafi Is leaning forward trying to finish the omaplata but decides to abandon it, and take Blaze's back instead.
Blaze trying to control but not successfully.
Blaze is in bad spot here.
Maafi gets his hands free as Blaze looks to control.
Maafi doesn't have the hooks in and Blaze manages to turn into his guard.

Blaze avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Blaze wants to control from the top but Maafi keeps moving.

Maafi has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Blaze can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Maafi is breathing heavily.
Blaze postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.

That's two 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.
Blaze is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.

Blaze decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Maafi, up you get!
Blaze circles away from the clinch attempt

and Blaze counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.

Blaze is working for a submission of some sort.
Blaze trying to mount his opponent but Maafi defends it.
Maafi tries to get to full guard but Blaze has control of the leg.
Blaze is taking a breather. Maafi says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Blaze is keen to just control but Maafi is a slippery customer.
Blaze seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Maafi avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Blaze.
Blaze takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.

Blaze is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Maafi sees it coming and defends easily.
Blaze has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Maafi won't allow Blaze to pass to mount.

Blaze is working for a submission of some sort.

Maafi looking for submissions off his back.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

Maafi feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Blaze trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!

Blaze working for a triangle but Maafi defends it easily.
Maafi cracks Blaze with a solid left hand.
Blaze utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.

Blaze has his foot on Maafi's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Maafi works his way back into a safe position though.

Blaze looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Maafi controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Maafi wants to control from the top but Blaze keeps moving.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Johnny Blaze dominated that 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.

Maafi tries to clinch

and Blaze counters with a nice double leg into side control. Maafi won't be happy with that.
Maafi wants to escape from the position here - easier said than done!
Johnny Blaze has got the better of the ground game so far.
Maafi is trying to control Blaze's posture but Blaze avoids it.
Maafi on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Maafi wants to control but Blaze postures up.
Maafi is looking to reverse the position.
Blaze creates a bit of distance and throws down some hard shots.

Blaze decides to stand back up. Blaze steps back and let's Maafi get back to his feet.

Blaze shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Blaze was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Maafi is looking to get to half guard.

Blaze jumps to side control looking for an arm triangle but Maafi manages to avoid the submission attempt.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Maafi is looking to reverse the position.
Blaze just content to control the position.
Maafi is looking to regain half guard here but Blaze keeps moving and retains side control.
Blaze trying to control the position but Maafi is working away.
Maafi tries to get back to half guard but can't.

Blaze decides to stand back up.
Blaze throws a series of punches but Maafi avoids them all with ease.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Blaze looks for a takedown but Maafi sprawls well.
Maafi fails to land the takedown.

Blaze closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Maafi to the mat! Maafi manages to get full guard.
Maafi trying to keep a closed guard but Blaze is proving a slippery customer.
Maafi wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Blaze is now in half guard.
Blaze working the head and body with strikes.
Blaze tries to pass to full mount but Maafi defends it.

Maafi looking for submissions from an awkward position here.

Blaze is looking for a kimura here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Blaze wants to take a breather but Maafi is having none of it.
Maafi trying to control here.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.

Maafi clinches with his opponent.
Maafi works on Blaze's body with a couple of short punches.
Maafi wants to get back to striking at distance but Blaze won't allow it.

Blaze manages to break the clinch.
Maafi staying out of range there.
Maafi is looking to clinch but Blaze is avoiding it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Blaze has a takedown stuffed.
Blaze takes a head kick and shrugs it off.
Blaze shoots in for a double leg but Maafi sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Koron Maafi has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Johnny Blaze.
Maafi tries to clinch but Blaze moves away

and Blaze counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Maafi punching from the bottom.
Blaze stalling.
Maafi misses with some strikes from the bottom.
Blaze is pressing down on Maafi's thigh, looking to free his foot. Maafi is holding on for now.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Maafi manages to get to full guard.
Maafi working a defensive guard here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Johnny Blaze showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. And we move into the final round!

Blaze gets the takedown into side control.

Blaze tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Blaze misses with an attempted head punch from side control.
Maafi is sneaking out the side here. He's bucked Blaze off and has taken his back!
Maafi somehow managing to miss with a strike from the back.

Maafi looking for the choke from the back.
Blaze turns into Maafi and is now in his guard.

Blaze thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Maafi looking for a sweep. Not yet Maafi, not yet.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Maafi looking to control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Blaze lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Maafi is trying to keep Blaze in close.
Maafi manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Blaze is looking to improve his position but Maafi isn't that keen on the idea.
Blaze wants to hold on but Maafi pushes him away.
Blaze can't escape the position.
Maafi avoids the attempt from Blaze to control.
Blaze keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.

That's two 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.
A nice elbow there by Maafi.
Blaze is trying desperately to improve position.
Maafi trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Blaze wants to hold on but Maafi pushes him away.
Blaze is trying to escape the mount.
Blaze throwing hammer fists to the chest of Maafi. What's that going to do exactly?
Blaze tries to hold on but Maafi pushes him away.
Blaze is squirming around, avoiding Maafi's attempts to control the action.
The referee warns Blaze that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Blaze sneaks a leg back under and regains half guard and is working straight away to try and get back to guard. He hasn't managed just yet though.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Blaze actively working from the bottom here.
Blaze makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Blaze.

Maafi is sitting in close to Blaze's body. Blaze has gone for a guillotine from the bottom. Oh damn, that looks pretty tight! Maafi is panicking - it looks like this one could be all over! Yes, Maafi is tapping! That was a very nice submission by Blaze.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:34 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Guillotine). Johnny Blaze!