PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Claudio Gadelha (ranked 1949 p4p, 90 weight class) and BJ Penn (ranked 644 p4p, 29 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Penn's choice of entrance music: Justin Bieber ft. Ariana Grande - Let Me Think Bout You. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Gadelha
vs
Penn

162 cm
22
142 lbs
7 - 1 - 0

170 cm
21
140 lbs
8 - 2 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Basic striking
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
Excellent boxer
Good gas tank

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 7 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Gadelha!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, BJ Penn!
The judges for this bout are Micheangelo Fripello, Paul Gruel and Ryoma Takatsuka.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Gadelha fails with a takedown attempt.

Gadelha closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Gadelha lands in his opponent's guard.
Gadelha is stalling in the full guard.
Penn has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Gadelha seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Penn looking for a sweep. Not yet Penn, not yet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Penn keeping moving, preventing Gadelha from controlling successfully.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Gadelha works a leg free and moves into half guard.
Penn is positioning himself well to prevent Gadelha advancing to mount.
Penn is looking for a sweep. Gadelha is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Penn felt the need to train up his defensive grappling in the buildup to the fight. Presumably he was expecting to be in a difficult position like this, so let's see if he can get out of it.

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.
Gadelha seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Penn for as long as he can get away with.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.
Penn is trying to get back to full guard.
Gadelha takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.
Gadelha fails with the takedown
and Penn counters with a nice body shot.
Gadelha fails with the takedown
and Penn counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Claudio Gadelha. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Horrible takedown attempt by Gadelha or perhaps it was just good defense by Penn, which made it look bad.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Penn stuffs the takedown attempt from Gadelha. Gadelha gets slowly back to his feet.
Gadelha shoots in but doesn't get the takedown
and Penn counters with a straight right hand.
Gadelha tries for a takedown but Penn circles away easily
and Penn counters with a nice uppercut.
Gadelha walks into a left hand.
Penn lands with a cross.
Gadelha gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Penn counters with a stiff right hand.
Penn goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Gadelha with a lazy takedown attempt
enabling Penn to counter with a crisp jab.

Gadelha is rocked!
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Gadelha shoots in but doesn't get the takedown
and Penn counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Oh Gadelha is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Gadelha misses with a takedown attempt
and Penn counters with a huge left! Gadelha is in big trouble! He's backing up but Penn isn't giving him chance to recover. Under a barage of punches the ref has to step in to save Gadelha from any more damage. A dominating finish by Penn!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:59 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). BJ Penn!
A very excited looking BJ Penn rambled incoherently for about 5 minutes post fight about how awesome he is. It was kinda funny for a while but then everyone got annoyed.