PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Dante Gael Roman (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Stacey Poole (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters look pumped up here. Let's hope this is a good fight!

Gael Roman
vs
Poole

183 cm
40
130 lbs
27 - 28 - 1

165 cm
26
141 lbs
3 - 9 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter fighter
Experienced

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Solid chin

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 27 - 28 - 1, fighting out of Los Angeles, Dante Gael Roman!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Stacey Poole!
The judges for this bout are , Timothy Bukovac and Jack Bonds.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Poole doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Roman takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
Poole swings and misses with a shot to the body
enabling Roman to counter with a crisp jab.

Poole scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.

Roman throws his opponent off and manages to get back to his feet! Nicely done!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

Roman feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Roman will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Roman is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Roman sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Roman passes Poole's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Roman lands strikes from half guard.
Poole tries to roll over but Roman keeps him under control.
Roman performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Poole wants to control but Roman is keeping busy.

Roman is working for a submission of some sort.
Poole is trying to stand.
Roman scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Roman perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Roman really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.
Roman is nestled in close to Poole, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Roman controlling the action here.
Roman working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Poole on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Poole won't allow Roman to pass to mount.
Roman stops Poole from getting back to his feet.
Roman controlling the pace.
Roman seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Poole for as long as he can get away with.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Poole is defending against the submission attempts here by Roman.
Roman is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Roman has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.

That's four 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.
Roman looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Poole is looking to escape.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Roman connects with a nice short shot to Poole's temple.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Poole punching from the bottom.
Roman takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Poole is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Roman scores with a couple of nice shots.
Roman is taking a breather. Poole 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.
Roman slips a nice elbow through Poole's hands, connecting with Poole's forehead.
Roman stalling.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dante Gael Roman 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.

Good leg kick by Roman there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
Roman is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Poole can do to turn this around?
Poole throws a sloppy head kick
and Roman connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.

Poole clinches up against the cage.
A nice left hand lands by Roman.
Roman tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Poole avoids it.
Poole has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Poole blocks an elbow strike from Roman.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Roman presses Poole against the cage and delivers a mid-strength body shot.
Poole with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Roman scores with an uppercut up the middle.
Stalling in the clinch from Roman.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A head punch on the inside from Roman fails to land.
Poole is looking to break free of the clinch but Roman has double underhooks.

Poole pulls Roman into guard.

Roman avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Roman trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Roman is stalling in the full guard.
Poole is trying to keep Roman in close.
Roman is working Poole over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Roman advances to half guard.
Roman performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Roman continues to stall.
Roman is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Ground and pound from Roman.
Roman looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Roman performing his best blanket impression for a moment.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Poole won't allow Roman to pass to mount.
Poole is trying to escape back to his feet but Roman uses the scramble to pass into side control.
Poole is breathing heavily.
Roman just content to control the position.
Roman grinds an elbow into Poole's temple.
Roman cracks Poole with a big right hand but Poole just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Roman takes a little break here. Poole wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.

Roman is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Poole knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Roman is working Poole over with some ground and pound from side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Poole on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Poole gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Poole working to try and regain half guard.
Roman lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Roman controlling from the full mount.
Roman raining down hammerfists from mount.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Poole is in a horrible position here. Roman smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Roman breaks from Poole's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Roman is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Poole can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dante Gael Roman dominated that second round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Roman scores with the left hand. Poole knows he should have avoided that one.

Poole fakes a strike and closes the distance, dragging Roman to the ground. Poole is now in Roman's guard.
Roman trying to control the position here.
Poole looking to control the position here, rather than advance.
Poole wants to control from the top but Roman keeps moving.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Roman has Poole pulled in close to control his posture.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Poole wanted to stand there but Roman had control of the position.
Poole preventing the sweep.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.

Roman is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Roman lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Roman cracks Poole with a solid left hand.
Roman stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Poole swivels though and keeps the full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Roman sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Poole not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Roman is stalling in the full guard.
Roman sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Poole's guard.
Poole takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Roman landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Roman moves into full mount! Poole won't be happy about that!
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Roman cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Roman landing shots from mount.
Roman landing punches.
Roman pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Roman controlling the position easily from mount.
Roman in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Roman lands with some strikes.
Roman scores with a couple of good head shots there.
BOOM! Roman connects with a massive shot to the dome!

Poole is rocked!
Roman with a couple of short strikes.
Poole is still in real trouble! Can Roman finish him?
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

Roman is working for a guillotine from mount but Poole frees his head quite easily.
Roman cracks Poole with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
BOOM! Roman connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Roman controlling his opponent.
Poole seems to have recovered his senses.
Roman has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Poole's face.
Roman scoring with strikes but Poole is staying in there.
Poole really wants to buck Roman off and get back to his feet.
Dante Gael Roman is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Roman controlling from the full mount.
Stacey Poole has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

And that's the end of the fight!
Dante Gael Roman showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Roman has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Percy O'Donnell scores the fight 30:27
Judge Timothy Bukovac scores the fight 30:27
Judge Jack Bonds scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Dante Gael Roman!
During a confident post fight interview, Dante Gael Roman thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.