PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Steve Alves (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mister Gloves (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Mister Gloves has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Alves
vs
Gloves

184 cm
22
174 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

190 cm
18
170 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Big heart

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Solid chin

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 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Steve Alves!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Mister Gloves!
The judges for this bout are Shirou Masuda, Yuuki Gou and Shigeki Sano.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Alves has his head slapped from side to side by a 3 punch combination. That must have hurt him.
Gloves is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.

Alves drives through with a takedown into guard.
Alves controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Gloves keeping moving, preventing Alves from controlling successfully.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gloves wants to stand up but Alves is controlling him.
Alves tries to free his leg and advance position but Gloves is retaining full guard.

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.
Gloves wants to get back to his feet but Alves is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Gloves really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Alves. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Alves wants to control from the top but Gloves keeps moving.
Alves passes easily into side control. Nice work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Alves throwing ground and pound but whilst doing so, he forgets to control position and Gloves works his way back to half guard. Good composure under pressure.
Alves is looking to take a break and control but Gloves is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Alves wants to pass the guard but Gloves is defending well.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Gloves tries to close the distance and clinch but Alves swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Alves closes this distance looking for a takedown but Gloves circles away.
Gloves rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Alves moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Gloves is looking to clinch.
Nice shot lands for Gloves.
Gloves is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Gloves tries to close the distance and clinch but Alves swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Gloves misses with a jab, cross combination.
Gloves throws a series of punches but Alves avoids them all with ease.
Danga de danga de dang - Gloves scores with a four punch combination!
Alves avoids a punch combination nicely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gloves tries to close the distance and clinch up against the ropes but Alves paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Some wild striking there from Gloves.
Gloves is looking to clinch but Alves is avoiding it.
Alves closes this distance looking for a takedown but Gloves circles away.
Mister Gloves is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Gloves displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
Gloves tries to clinch up.
Alves tries to clinch but Gloves is having none of it.
Gloves moves into range and throws a combination. A nice jab followed by a hook to the body.
Alves fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Steve Alves. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Gloves throws a series of punches but Alves moves out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Alves misses with a takedown attempt - Gloves sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Gloves tries to grapple but his opponent circles

and Alves counters with a takedown into side control.
Alves prevents Gloves from escaping the position.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
Alves in side control lands a nice looking series of punches and elbows.
Gloves is not content to let Alves control the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Gloves tries to escape but Alves is in control.

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.
Alves tries to advance to mount but can't.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Check out the look on Alves's face as he threw that strike - that's one determined fighter!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Steve Alves dominated that second round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the ring so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

A punch lands to the side of Alves 's head but he takes it in his stride.

Gloves closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the ropes.
Gloves is working hard here but doesn't seem to be able to control effectively, up against the ropes.

Alves drags the fight down to the ground.

Alves had isolated an arm as going for an omaplata. Gloves is defending the submission well but is in a very vulnerable position. Alves Is leaning forward trying to finish the omaplata but decides to abandon it, and take Gloves's back instead.
Gloves looking to stop the rear naked choke attempt by controlling the hands.

That's one minute gone in the round.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Gloves is displaying good submission defense - not really looking in danger of submitting to the rear naked choke at the moment. That could change in an instant of course if Alves gets his way!
Gloves is trying to get back to his feet but Alves has full control of the position and if anything, Gloves has just worked his way into a worse spot.
Gloves takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's two 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.
Alves somehow managing to miss with a strike from the back.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Alves has his hand under the chin of his opponent looking for the choke. He's nearly got it! This one could be all over! But no, Gloves has freed his hand and lives to survive another… well, another couple of seconds at least!

Alves looking for the choke from the back.
Mister Gloves has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Gloves trying to get back to his feet but Alves is in full control for now.
Alves wants to control but Gloves is keeping busy.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Alves wants to control the position but Gloves frees himself and scrambles - Alves manages to regain control in side control.

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 Steve Alves.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Alves, 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 Shirou Masuda scores the fight 30:27
Judge Yuuki Gou scores the fight 30:27
Judge Shigeki Sano scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Steve Alves!