PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Van Wallace (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Phil Johnston (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Phil Johnston will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Wallace
vs
Johnston

185 cm
25
140 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

180 cm
21
130 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Intelligent

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight 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, Van Wallace!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Phil Johnston!
The judges for this bout are Vladimir Khabensky, Viktor Lagutenko and Ivan Kurochkin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Wallace moves into range and clinches up with Johnston.

Johnston ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Johnston no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Johnston looking to control.
Wallace is looking to stand up but Johnston won't let him.
Johnston is looking to sweep but instead, Wallace has passed into half guard.
Johnston wants to get back to his feet.
Nice strikes from Wallace there.
Wallace scoring with strikes to the body and head.

Wallace postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Johnston to stand up.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Wallace gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Wallace wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.

Wallace breaks from the clinch.

Johnston shoots in looking for a single leg takedown. Wallace is trying to defend but Johnston finishes it well and ends up in half guard. Let's see if he can advance position further.
Wallace wants to improve his position but Johnston is controlling well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Wallace is controlling Johnston's trapped leg to prevent Johnston from advancing to side control.
Wallace gets back to full guard.
Johnston wants to pass the guard but Wallace is keeping the position.
Johnston is looking to work some ground and pound but Wallace has wrist control.

Johnston gets to his feet - Wallace follows without any prompting.
Johnston throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Wallace throws a counter high kick but Johnston was just alert enough to avoid it.

Wallace closes the distance and clinches.

Johnston tightens his grip and picks Wallace up, before dumping him to the ground. Wallace manages to land in guard.
Wallace is adopting a defensive guard.
Johnston must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johnston trying to control but Wallace is working from the bottom.
Wallace pulls Johnston in close to his closed guard and prevents Johnston from doing any damage or advancing position.
Wallace is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Wallace is pulling down on Johnston's head to control his posture.
Wallace wants to stand and escape but Johnston is having none of it.
Johnston preventing the sweep.
Wallace seems keen to control Johnston's posture.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Wallace has managed to clinch.

Wallace pulls guard effortlessly.
Wallace tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Wallace is pulling down on Johnston's head. It's preventing any offense from Johnston, at least for the moment.
Wallace really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
Wallace is looking to stand up but Johnston isn't so interested in that idea.
Johnston slips nicely into half guard.
Wallace is trying to stand back up but Johnston is controlling him

Wallace makes some distance and scrambles quickly back to his feet. Nice work!

Johnston scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Wallace wants to control but Johnston is keeping busy.
Johnston tries to pass to full mount but Wallace defends it.
Wallace is trying to maintain the position but Johnston is very close to passing his half guard.
Wallace tries to get to full guard but Johnston has control of the leg.
Wallace looks like he's trying to stand up.
Wallace manages to get to full guard.
Wallace keeping moving, preventing Johnston from controlling successfully.
Wallace wants to get back to his feet but Johnston is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Van Wallace dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Johnston tries to keep at a distance but Wallace has taken the fight into the clinch.

Johnston has Wallace pressed up against the cage. He's trying to work for a single leg takedown. Johnston pulls back from the cage and twists to the side, sending Wallace tumbling to the mat - Johnston dives into Wallace's guard.

Johnston avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Wallace seems keen to control Johnston's posture.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Johnston's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Johnston stopping the sweep attempt from Wallace.
Wallace is working hard here to advance position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Wallace pulls Johnston in close to his closed guard and prevents Johnston from doing any damage or advancing position.
Wallace is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Wallace has his hands on Johnston's head, controlling the position.
Johnston trying to control but Wallace is working from the bottom.
Wallace is adopting a defensive guard.
Johnston pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Wallace is keeping the position for now.
Wallace not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Johnston with a flurry of punches that miss.
Johnston trying to control the position from guard on top but Wallace is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

The referee has stepped in and called for a break in the action. We'll restart on the feet.
Johnston misses with a jab, cross combination.
Wallace moves in looking to clinch but Johnston pushes him off.

Johnston closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.

Wallace ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Wallace no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Wallace is pulling down on Johnston's head to control his posture.
Wallace working a defensive guard here.
Wallace has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.

Wallace is scooting his butt against the cage and has managed to get back to his feet. Johnston presses him back against the cage, presumably looking to take the fight back to the mat.

Wallace's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Johnston keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Johnston.
Johnston ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Wallace moves away.
Johnston tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Wallace tried to score with a low kick but Johnston checks it.

Wallace moves into the clinch successfully.
Johnston digs a right hand into Wallace's ribs. Those have got to be taking their toll on Wallace's gas tank.
Wallace wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Johnston has him pressed against the cage.

Wallace's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Nice body kick there by Johnston.
Johnston tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.

Johnston shoots in and bounces Wallace off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Johnston is breathing heavily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Wallace holds on and takes a little breather.
Wallace continues to stall.
Johnston tries to free his leg and advance position but Wallace is retaining full guard.
Wallace has his hands on Johnston's head, controlling the position.
Wallace looking to hit a scissor sweep but Johnston is one step ahead there.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Johnston is fighting to break Wallace's control of his arms but Wallace is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Phil Johnston will probably get the nod - 10:9.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Wallace fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Johnston.
Wallace has a nice red mark on his side after a thudding body kick by Johnston.
Wallace tries to land a leg kick but Johnston saw it coming and moves away.

Johnston shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in side control! That's better than Johnston was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Wallace is trying to get back to half guard. He's pushing on Johnston's leg. He's managed it. Nice work.
Wallace moves into full guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Wallace keeping moving, preventing Johnston from controlling successfully.
Wallace wants to get back to his feet but Johnston is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Wallace is on top in guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Johnston wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Wallace is now in half guard.
Wallace working Johnston over with strikes.
Van Wallace overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Wallace is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Wallace looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Johnston with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Johnston is trying to get back to full guard.

Wallace is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.

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.
Wallace lands with a punch from half guard.

Wallace wants to work for an arm triangle but Johnston is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.
Johnston has hold of Wallace's hands but Wallace slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Johnston keeps control of the position for the meantime.
Johnston is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Wallace stands up from half guard.
Wallace tries to close the distance and clinch up but Johnston swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Wallace tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Johnston lands with a kick to the temple. Wallace shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
Wallace tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Johnston manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
A head kick from Johnston lands but Wallace takes it in his stride.
Johnston takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Johnston throws a two punch combo that lands nicely.
Van Wallace is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

Wallace clinches up against the cage.

Wallace breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Johnston darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.

Wallace kicks off Johnston and gets to his feet.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Wallace has taken the fight to the clinch.
Wallace is trying to pull guard but being pressed up against the cage enables Johnston to keep the fight standing.
Wallace looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.

Wallace pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

Johnston gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Wallace misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Johnston.
Johnston landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Johnston blocks a body shot from Wallace.

Wallace pulls guard effortlessly.
Wallace is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.

And that's the end of the fight!
Van Wallace showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Wallace 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 Vladimir Khabensky scores the fight 29:28
Judge Viktor Lagutenko scores the fight 30:28
Judge Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 30:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Van Wallace!