PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Ross Thompson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mark Watten (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters really staring each other down here, as Mark Watten enters the cage!

Thompson
vs
Watten

167 cm
24
279 lbs
1 - 0 - 1

200 cm
25
234 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Intelligent

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 1, fighting out of Sydney, Ross Thompson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Mark Watten !
The judges for this bout are Ron Honeybunn, Topper Green and Donatello Bradman.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Watten scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Thompson really is a fat lump.
Watten wants to pass the guard but Thompson is defending well.
Watten is stalling here. Thompson is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Watten seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Thompson has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Thompson blocks the strikes from Watten .
Thompson trying to control the position but Watten is working away.
Watten is being controlled here.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Watten is trying to get back to half guard. He's pushing on Thompson's leg. He's managed it. Nice work.
Thompson thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Watten 's head.
Watten has hold of Thompson's hands but Thompson slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thompson trying to control the action but Watten is working from the bottom.
Thompson throwing shots but Watten is blocking nicely.
Thompson 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.
Thompson thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Ground and pound from Thompson.
Watten on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Watten controlling the leg, holding on to half guard.
Watten makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Watten .
Watten utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Thompson accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Watten keeping moving, preventing Thompson from controlling successfully.
Thompson landing with the ground and pound.
Thompson postures up in Watten 's guard and throws a big left but Watten blocks it.
Thompson wants to control from the top but Watten keeps moving.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.

Thompson tries to keep at a distance but Watten has taken the fight into the clinch.
Thompson wants to get back to striking at distance but Watten won't allow it.
Watten is trying to pull guard but Thompson turns him against the cage and we stay in the clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Watten drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Thompson gets the underhooks and prevents it.

Watten breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Thompson shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Watten but Watten pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Watten misses with a hook to the body
and Thompson counters with a nice uppercut.
Watten fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Ross Thompson has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Mark Watten .
Thompson stuffs the takedown.
Thompson shoots and misses

and Watten counters with a nice double leg into side control. Thompson won't be happy with that.
Watten looks winded!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Watten scoring with punches and elbows.

Watten is trying to get an arm triangle but Thompson is defending well.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Thompson wants to control but Watten postures up.

Watten is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Thompson has escaped the position, nice work there.
Thompson wants to control but Watten postures up.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Ross Thompson will probably get the nod.
That's time! Back to the action!

Thompson defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Watten .

Watten has closed the distance and engaged Thompson in a clinch.

Watten successfully pulls guard.
Thompson connects with a couple of short punches.
Thompson scoring with some ground and pound.
Thompson is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Watten managing to control the position.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Thompson loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Thompson connects with a couple of short punches.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thompson trying to control the position from guard on top but Watten is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Ross Thompson overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Thompson not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Thompson accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Thompson sitting in guard here, content to control.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Thompson is working Watten over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Thompson controls from within his opponent's guard.
Thompson is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.

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.
Watten tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Thompson with a nice head shot there.
Thompson trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.

Watten working away from the bottom but not quite defensive enough there because Thompson has passed into half guard!
Thompson takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Thompson throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Thompson missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Watten is looking to clinch.
Watten throws a poor cross that misses
letting Thompson counter with a right hand.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Thompson tries to close the distance and clinch but Watten swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

Watten closes the distance and pushes Thompson back into the cage.
Knees in the clinch landing for Thompson.
Thompson is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Watten can do to turn this around?
Watten jumps guard but Thompson stands there with Watten around his waist. Watten gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Watten throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.

Watten manages to break the clinch.
Mark Watten is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Thompson avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Watten throws a head kick that misses

and Thompson counters with a takedown into side control! That could mean trouble for Watten !
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Watten can do anything to dispel that myth.
Watten is breathing heavily.
Watten defending against the ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Watten is looking for a sweep.
Thompson wants to control but Watten is keeping him busy.
The ground and pound from Thompson seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.
Watten is trying to escape the position but Thompson is controlling the position.
Thompson throws a strike aimed at the side of Watten 's head but Watten avoids it well.

Thompson goes for an armbar here - this could be all over! But no, Watten has escaped beautifully and is now on top in side control! Oh, that's unlucky for Thompson but great work by Watten .
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Thompson managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Watten .
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Watten happy to just control the position for now.

Watten is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Thompson has escaped the position, nice work there.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Ross Thompson will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

The fight stays on the outside here - Watten looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Watten fails with the takedown.
Thompson looks for a takedown but Watten sprawls well.
Thompson shoots in looking for a takedown. Watten tries to sprawl out of it but Thompson keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Watten manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Watten tries to clinch but Thompson moves away

and Thompson counters with a shoot takedown. Watten fights it but they end up in guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Watten is trying to control the position but Thompson postures up.
Thompson connects with a couple of short punches.
Thompson distracts Watten with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Thompson wants to control from the top but Watten keeps moving.
Thompson is stalling in the full guard.
Watten keeping moving, preventing Thompson from controlling successfully.
Thompson might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.

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.
Thompson throwing strikes from guard but Watten blocks nicely.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.

Watten closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Watten lands in his opponent's guard.

Thompson working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Watten doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Watten manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Watten stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Thompson swivels though and keeps the full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Thompson tries to strike from the bottom.
Watten trying to control but Thompson is working from the bottom.
Watten sitting in guard here, content to control.
Thompson is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Thompson tries to land a sweep but no joy.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Thompson is trying hard to land a takedown here. Watten sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
And Watten responds with a good body kick, but Thompson manages to step out the way in time.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Ross Thompson. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Watten gets a clinch.
Watten stalling against the cage.
Thompson gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Watten .
Watten takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Thompson gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Watten .
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Thompson working hard to break the clinch.

And that's the end of the fight!
That was a close round. You could make an argument for either fighter but I would give it to Ross Thompson.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Thompson, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Ron Honeybunn scores the fight 30:27
Judge Topper Green scores the fight 30:27
Judge Donatello Bradman scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Ross Thompson!