PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Tony Bison (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Agustin Benitez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Bison
vs
Benitez

181 cm
26
154 lbs
4 - 1 - 0

173 cm
20
153 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Big heart

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Tony Bison!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Agustin Benitez!
The judges for this bout are Paulsen Ambrosius, Wagner Zegers and Patrick Alders.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Benitez forces Bison back against the cage and clinches.
Benitez lands a shot to the body.

Benitez gets control of Bison's arms and successfully pulls guard. Benitez will no doubt be looking for submissions off his back.
Bison trying to control but Benitez is working from the bottom.

Benitez is looking for a triangle but Bison pushes his legs off easily.
Benitez has his hands on Bison's head, controlling the position.
Benitez bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Bison's guard.

Benitez is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Benitez wants to pass the guard but Bison is keeping the position.
Benitez controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Bison trying to keep a closed guard but Benitez is proving a slippery customer.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Benitez passes Bison's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Benitez stops Bison from getting back to his feet.
Benitez perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
It looks like Benitez might be adopting somewhat of a lay and pray gameplan here, which I'm sure won't go down too well with the paying fans in attendance... Or the ring announcers come to think of it.
Bison is trying to maintain the position but Benitez is very close to passing his half guard.
Benitez looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Benitez missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Well, if Benitez is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Bison wants to control but Benitez is keeping busy.
Benitez works his way into side control.
Bison wants to control but Benitez postures up.
The referee asks Benitez politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Benitez prefers to stall for the moment though.
You can see the frustration on Bison's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.

Benitez is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Bison is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Bison is letting Benitez control him for a moment.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Benitez grinds an elbow into Bison's temple.
Benitez content to control the pace. The referee will try and keep them active though.
Bison is looking for a sweep.
Bison tries to escape but Benitez is in control.
Bison knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Benitez on the ground.
Bison tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Benitez wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Bison gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Bison can't escape the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Benitez takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
In the pre-fight buildup videos we saw Benitez working his ground and pound in the gym.
Benitez landing strikes from the mount.
Benitez controlling from the full mount.
Benitez is continuing to stall.
Benitez with the ground and pound from mount.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Bison can't escape the position.
Benitez controlling the position easily from mount.
The adventures of Benitez the control monster continue. Boring.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Agustin Benitez dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Benitez darts in looking for a takedown but Bison gets double underhooks and turns Benitez into the cage.
Bison fires out a quick counter leg kick but Benitez just manages to avoid it.
Bison lands with a thumping leg kick.
Benitez avoids the head kick by Bison.
Bison displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Benitez.
Bison is looking to clinch but Benitez is avoiding it.

Bison gets tackled into the cage by Benitez. Benitez maintains the clinch.
Bison putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Benitez in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Benitez scores with a shot to the side of Bison's head.
Bison missing with knees to the body.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Benitez drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Bison gets the underhooks and prevents it.
Tony Bison has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Agustin Benitez.
Bison with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Benitez is breathing heavily.
Benitez on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Bison lands a damaging elbow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Benitez wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Benitez blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Bison stalling in the clinch but Benitez improves position.
Bison prevents a body shot from Benitez.

Benitez jumps guard and drags Bison to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
Bison in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Bison trying to control but Benitez is working from the bottom.
Bison is looking to stand up but Benitez won't let him.
Benitez controlling the position.
Bison won't allow Benitez to sweep him here.
Benitez has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Benitez pulls Bison in close to prevent any damage.
Benitez's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Benitez keeping moving, preventing Bison from controlling successfully.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Benitez misses with a wild body shot.
Bison wants to clinch.

Benitez feints and as Bison raises his hands in defense, Benitez changes levels and drives through with a takedown into guard.
Bison being controlled here, momentarily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bison not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Bison wants to sweep here but Benitez controlling him for the moment.
Benitez seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Bison utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Benitez advances to half guard.
Bison trying to control but Benitez postures up.
Benitez lands strikes from 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.
Benitez is taking a breather. Bison 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.
Benitez passes to full mount!
Bison tries to lock up and control but Benitez gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Benitez controlling from mount.
Bison is trying to escape the mount.
Benitez controlling his opponent.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Bison tries to reverse the position but Benitez maintains control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Agustin Benitez showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Bison moves in looking to clinch but Benitez pushes him off.
Bison looks to be in better condition than last time we saw him fight. Obviously he's been working hard on his cardio.
Tony Bison seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Horrible takedown attempt by Benitez or perhaps it was just good defense by Bison, which made it look bad.
Benitez takes a really solid shot there but just smiles back and shrugs his shoulders.

Benitez looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Benitez looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Bison pushes Benitez off looking to stand but Benitez dives back in and keeps control.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
The fighters are battling for position here. Bison manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Benitez stands and throws Bison's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Benitez lands some shots froms side control.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Bison trying to remain calm as Benitez controls from the top position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Benitez has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Benitez content just to control the position here.
Agustin Benitez has got the better of the ground game so far.
Bison is trying to get back to his feet but can't.
Benitez sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Benitez connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Benitez content just to control the position here.
Bison is looking to get to half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Benitez looking to control and managing it successfully.
More stalling from Benitez.
Bison is looking to get to half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Benitez controlling the position easily from mount.
Benitez landing strikes from the mount.
Benitez controlling the position easily from mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Let's hope that Benitez has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.
Agustin Benitez is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.
Bison is wriggling around trying to escape.
Benitez looking to control and managing it successfully.
We're seeing a lot of stalling here from Benitez.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Tony Bison has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Benitez lands with some strikes.

And that's the end of the fight!
Agustin Benitez comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Benitez winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Paulsen Ambrosius scores the fight 26:30
Judge Wagner Zegers scores the fight 26:30
Judge Patrick Alders scores the fight 26:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Agustin Benitez!