PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Shogan Aye (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mohamad Essam (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Essam has chosen Last man standing as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. The fight MMA fans around the world have waited their entire lives for!

Aye
vs
Essam

188 cm
35
203 lbs
24 - 15 - 0

175 cm
20
216 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Very confident

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 24 - 15 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Shogan Aye!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Mohamad Essam!
The judges for this bout are Luis Engracia, Emerson Jorge and Thiago Cunha.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Aye shoots in with a lovely double leg takedown. Essam manages to land in full guard to minimise the damage.

Essam is looking for a triangle but Aye pushes his legs off easily.

Essam has an active guard here but Aye has managed to pass into half guard.
Aye perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Aye is nestled in close to Essam, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.

Essam looking to force a kimura from the bottom here. He's concentrating on that move too much though and Aye pushes past his half guard into mount!
Aye controlling from mount.
Aye landing shots from mount.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Essam taking shots to the head.
Aye landing punches.

Essam is rocked!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Aye working for a submission here. He's tucked his head under his opponent's arm, looking for an arm triangle. He's hopped off into side control, looking to tighten the submission... is it going to work? He's given up a good position looking for it. Essam looks OK. Oh, I spoke too soon, he's out! That must have been tighter than I thought! Excellent work there by Aye! Submission of the night perhaps?

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:57 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Arm Triangle). Shogan Aye!
Shogan Aye seemed lost for words in his post fight interview but he remembered to thank his fans and directed everyone to his website.