PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Jasdeep Heir (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The fight MMA fans around the world have waited their entire lives for!

Nurmagomedov
vs
Heir

177 cm
25
156 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

188 cm
19
160 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

Good wrestling
Brawler
Very strong

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Khabib Nurmagomedov!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Jasdeep Heir!
The judges for this bout are Paul Aken, Nard Betker and Paulsen Ambrosius.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Nurmagomedov closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Nurmagomedov lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Heir struggling a bit here.
A control attempt from Heir but he's now mounted!
Nurmagomedov prevents Heir from getting the reversal.
Nurmagomedov lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Nurmagomedov landing punches.
Heir is in all sorts of trouble here.
Heir really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Nurmagomedov. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Heir is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Nurmagomedov working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Heir is in a horrible position here. Nurmagomedov smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nurmagomedov avoids the attempt from Heir to control.
Heir is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Nurmagomedov controlling from the full mount.
Nurmagomedov is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Heir regains half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Nurmagomedov prevents Heir from improving his position.
Nurmagomedov is thwarting Heir's attempts to control the position.
Heir is looking to improve his position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nurmagomedov is taking a breather. Heir 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.
Nice strikes from Nurmagomedov there.
Nurmagomedov is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Nurmagomedov is figuring out what he wants to do next.

Heir looking for submissions off his back.
Nurmagomedov is thwarting Heir's attempts to control the position.
Nurmagomedov 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.

Nurmagomedov seems to be looking for submissions.

Heir is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Nurmagomedov pulls his head out easily.
Nurmagomedov is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Heir trying to control here.
Nurmagomedov is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Heir taking some punishment here, with Nurmagomedov in his half guard.

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.
Heir has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Nurmagomedov is working away from the top position though.
Nurmagomedov is taking a breather. Heir 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.
Heir tries to kick Nurmagomedov off in order to stand up. Nurmagomedov Avoids the leg push though and dives into side control.
Nurmagomedov working the body and head with strikes.
Heir wants to control but Nurmagomedov postures up.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Heir striking from the bottom but nothing landed.
Heir is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Heir throws a right hand that Nurmagomedov ducks under and follows up with a left that Nurmagomedov also avoids with ease.
Heir leaves Nurmagomedov with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Nurmagomedov avoids the head kick by Heir.
Heir fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Nurmagomedov swung with a counter right hand that didn't connect.
Heir shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Nurmagomedov eats them both and turns towards Heir to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Heir tries to clinch there but Nurmagomedov circles away.
Nurmagomedov keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Nurmagomedov throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Heir's waist but Heir gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Nurmagomedov off to one side.
The fight stays on the outside here - Heir looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Nurmagomedov circles away from the clinch attempt.
Nurmagomedov feinted with a counter takedown.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nurmagomedov dives in for a single leg takedown but Heir sprawls and the fighters end up clinched against the cage.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Khabib Nurmagomedov. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Heir lands with a kick to the ribs.

Nurmagomedov shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in side control! That's better than Nurmagomedov was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Heir is looking to get back to his feet here but Nurmagomedov is keeping cool and he's managed to take Heir's back.
A bit of a pause in the action here. Nurmagomedov controlling the positon.
Nurmagomedov keeps control of the position as Heir tries to break free.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nurmagomedov punches Heir on the ear.
Heir trying to control the hands but Nurmagomedov breaks the grip.
Heir wants to escape the position.
Heir is trying to stand back up.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Nurmagomedov not allowing Heir to control his hands.
Heir is trying to break free.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Heir trying to control the position but Nurmagomedov manages to sink in the hooks.
Heir tries to break free.
Nurmagomedov has the hooks sunk in and you can see the will to fight slowly draining out of Heir's body.
The referee is taking a good look at Heir as he is on the wrong end of some big shots from Nurmagomedov!
Heir is covering up but some of the strikes from Nurmagomedov are getting through and doing damage.
Nurmagomedov is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Heir can do to turn this around?

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Heir is trying to get back to his feet but Nurmagomedov has full control of the position and if anything, Heir has just worked his way into a worse spot.
Nurmagomedov is trying to stick to Heir's back but Heir is turning into Nurmagomedov. He's managed to reverse the position - now he's in Nurmagomedov's guard. Polite applause from the crowd in appreciation of some nice Jiu Jitsu by Heir.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Nurmagomedov holds on and takes a little breather.
Nurmagomedov throws some sloppy strikes off his back.
Nurmagomedov trying to control the position here.

Heir avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Nurmagomedov keeping moving, preventing Heir from controlling successfully.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Jasdeep Heir will probably get the nod - 10:9.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

Heir shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Heir tries to clinch there but Nurmagomedov circles away.
Heir stuffs the takedown.
Heir misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Nurmagomedov appears to be looking for a big counter.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Heir.
Nurmagomedov appears to be looking for a counter takedown.
Khabib Nurmagomedov has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Jasdeep Heir.
Heir misses with the combination.
Heir tries to close the distance and clinch but Nurmagomedov swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Heir has his takedown stuffed

and Nurmagomedov moves into the clinch.
Heir looking to stall.
Heir wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Nurmagomedov turns his hips and lands a very nice judo throw into side control!
Nurmagomedov cracks Heir with an elbow. That is naaassty.
Heir is looking to regain half guard here but Nurmagomedov keeps moving and retains side control.
Nurmagomedov scoring with punches and elbows.
Nurmagomedov takes a little break here. Heir wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Heir wants to control but Nurmagomedov postures up.
Heir is positioning himself to get back to half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Heir struggling a bit here.
Nurmagomedov landing strikes.
Heir takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.
Heir tries to improve position but can't.
Nurmagomedov remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Heir is trying to control Nurmagomedov's posture but Nurmagomedov avoids it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Khabib Nurmagomedov overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Nurmagomedov remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Heir can't do much from the bottom here.
We may be looking at a referee standup if the pace doesn't pick up soon.
Heir takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.

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.
Heir tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Nurmagomedov wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.

Nurmagomedov looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Heir is looking to regain half guard here but Nurmagomedov keeps moving and retains side control.

The referee has stepped in and called for a break in the action. We'll restart on the feet.
Heir tries to clinch up but Nurmagomedov circles away and keeps his distance.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Heir.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Nurmagomedov takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.

And that's the end of the fight!
Khabib Nurmagomedov showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Nurmagomedov has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Paul Aken scores the fight 30:28
Judge Nard Betker scores the fight 29:28
Judge Paulsen Ambrosius scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Khabib Nurmagomedov!