PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Mikel Douglas (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and George Thomas (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Douglas
vs
Thomas

212 cm
24
178 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

170 cm
25
170 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Good elbows
Determined

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Mikel Douglas!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, George Thomas!
The judges for this bout are Colin Fray, Ryoma Takatsuka and Jeff Smith.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thomas shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Douglas sprawls well. Douglas wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Thomas gets slowly back to his feet.
Thomas gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Douglas counters with a three punch combination, finished off with a leg kick. Nice work.

Douglas gets a takedown into half guard.
Douglas missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Thomas is looking for a sweep. Douglas is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Thomas has hold of Douglas's hands but Douglas slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Douglas not landing any meaningful shots this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Douglas prevents Thomas from improving his position.
Douglas really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
Thomas keeping control of the position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Thomas is looking to improve his position.
Douglas 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.
Douglas performing his best blanket impression for a moment.

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.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.
Douglas missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Thomas is defended easily by Douglas.
Douglas wants to take advantage of his opponent's missed offense by moving into the clinch.
Mikel Douglas has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of George Thomas.

Douglas darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Douglas in particular looking to stall.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Douglas scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Thomas strikes from the bottom but Douglas uses the opportunity to move to side control.
Douglas slows the pace down.
Douglas in side control, throwing shots but Thomas defends.
Thomas on the wrong end of some ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Thomas takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Thomas looking for a sweep but Douglas has passed into full mount! Oh no!
Douglas with good strikes from the mount here!
Douglas landing punches.
Thomas avoids a series of strikes thrown by Douglas.
Thomas is looking to improve his position but Douglas isn't that keen on the idea.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Thomas is still trying to improve position.
Thomas tries to hold on but Douglas postures up.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mikel Douglas dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Thomas.
Thomas changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Douglas tries to avoid it but Thomas manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Douglas to the ground. Douglas escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
George Thomas seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Thomas misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Douglas shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Thomas moves into the clinch.
Douglas tries to pull guard but Thomas forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Douglas fails to pull the fight into his guard.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Mikel Douglas. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Douglas jumps guard but Thomas turns him against the cage and keeps the fight standing.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Thomas tries to jump guard but he falls flat on his backside. Douglas smiles and moves away.
Thomas wants to clinch.
Douglas is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Thomas can do to turn this around?

That's one minute gone in the round.

Douglas fakes an overhand right and shoots for a takedown. Thomas sprawls well initially but Douglas persists and gets the takedown into half guard.
Douglas missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Douglas looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Thomas is looking to improve his position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Douglas looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Thomas with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Thomas avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Douglas.
Thomas blocking the ground and pound attempt from Douglas.
Thomas tries to kick Douglas off but Douglas keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Thomas wants to get back to full guard.
Douglas takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Thomas throws an overhand right that lands on Douglas's shoulder, as Douglas tries to avoid the shot.

Douglas closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Thomas quickly recovers to half guard.

Thomas pushes Douglas off and gets back to his feet.
Thomas is breathing heavily.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Douglas has a takedown stuffed.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Douglas drops down and drives through with a powerful takedown into guard.
Douglas is standing up over Thomas. Thomas looks to escape but Douglas dives into side control.

Douglas tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Thomas tries to control but end up mounted... ooooh, that's bad.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Douglas looking to control but Thomas is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Douglas won't let Thomas get back to his feet... He wants to keep the fight where it is for now.
Thomas can't escape the position.
Thomas wants to use the cage to get back to his feet here.
Douglas raining down hammerfists from mount.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Thomas tries to lock up and control but Douglas gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
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 Mikel Douglas will probably get the nod.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Douglas keeps the fight on the outside.
Douglas fails with the takedown.
Thomas dives in and grabs Douglas's left leg, looking for a takedown. Douglas pushes down on Thomas's head and hops out.
Thomas closes this distance looking for a takedown but Douglas circles away.

Douglas changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Thomas looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
Douglas working the ground and pound.
Thomas is looking to reverse the position.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Douglas connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Thomas some visible discomfort.
Douglas is moving around in side control but his primary objective seems to be to maintain the position.
Douglas throwing strikes but missing, from side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thomas pushes Douglas away and creates a bit of space to escape. He's almost out here... but no, Douglas gets a good hold of his legs and remains firmly in side control.
Douglas tries to score with some ground and pound. Thomas controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Thomas taking punishment in the form of punches.
Douglas prevents Thomas from escaping the position.
Thomas takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Thomas is looking for a sweep.
Thomas tries to control but end up mounted... ooooh, that's bad.
Thomas is controlling an arm, preventing Douglas from taking his back. Although keeping him in mount is no better to be honest.

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.
Douglas lands with some strikes.
Thomas is desperately trying to improve his position but Douglas has a good base and remains in mount.
Douglas looking to control and managing it successfully.
Thomas keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Douglas cracks Thomas with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Mikel Douglas overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Douglas tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Douglas with good strikes from the mount here!
Thomas is looking to get to half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Douglas lands a nice shot to the head.
Douglas dominating with strikes here.
Douglas lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Douglas lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Thomas hang on?
Douglas scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Thomas?

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Douglas with shots to the head and body - Thomas looks very uncomfortable down there.
Douglas content just to control the position here.
Douglas seems to be looking to move to his opponent's back but Thomas is holding on tight.
Thomas is trying to escape the mount.
Douglas lands a big shot there that rocks Thomas but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Thomas is looking to get back to his feet - it's going to be hard from this position.
Douglas connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
George Thomas has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Mikel Douglas is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Douglas unloading with bombs!

And that's the end of the fight!
Mikel Douglas showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Douglas, 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 Colin Fray scores the fight 30:28
Judge Ryoma Takatsuka scores the fight 29:28
Judge Jeff Smith scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Mikel Douglas!