PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Salman Shamkhalaev (ranked 4801 p4p, 0 weight class) and Clemence Nassibu (ranked 4669 p4p, 0 weight class). Shamkhalaev comes to the cage accompanied by Alter Bridge - Ties That Bind. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Shamkhalaev
vs
Nassibu

180 cm
25
165 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

177 cm
25
156 lbs
4 - 6 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter fighter
Very quick

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Knockout power

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Salman Shamkhalaev!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 6 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Clemence Nassibu!
The judges for this bout are Konstantin Menshow, Ivan Kurochkin and Fedor Mirinova.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Nassibu with a lazy takedown attempt

and Shamkhalaev counters into the clinch. Nicely done.

Shamkhalaev pulls Nassibu into guard.
Nassibu is fighting to break Shamkhalaev's control of his arms but Shamkhalaev is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Shamkhalaev is on top in guard.

Shamkhalaev stands and throws Nassibu's legs to the side, diving into side control.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Nassibu is trying to escape the position but Shamkhalaev is controlling the position.
Nassibu takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.

Shamkhalaev working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Shamkhalaev landing strikes.
Shamkhalaev controlling the position.
Shamkhalaev lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Nassibu down.
Nassibu wants to get back to his feet but Shamkhalaev drags him back down.
Shamkhalaev controls the position.
Shamkhalaev lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Nassibu down.
Shamkhalaev has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Shamkhalaev 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.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Shamkhalaev controlling from mount.
Nassibu is bucking up trying to escape but Shamkhalaev cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Nassibu tries to lock up and control but Shamkhalaev gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Shamkhalaev landing punches.
Shamkhalaev tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Shamkhalaev with good strikes from the mount here!
Shamkhalaev is landing with some decent strikes but Nassibu is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Shamkhalaev takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Nassibu is trying to escape the mount.
Shamkhalaev controlling the position easily from mount.
Shamkhalaev avoids the attempt from Nassibu to control.
Shamkhalaev putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Shamkhalaev connects with a couple of good shots from mount.

Shamkhalaev is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Nassibu can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nassibu tries to lock up and control but Shamkhalaev gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Nassibu really wants to buck Shamkhalaev off and get back to his feet.
Shamkhalaev is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Shamkhalaev breaks from Nassibu's wrist control and lands an elbow.

Shamkhalaev jumps to side control looking for an arm triangle but Nassibu manages to avoid the submission attempt.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Shamkhalaev remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Nassibu gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Salman Shamkhalaev dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Nassibu has a takedown stuffed.
Nassibu shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Shamkhalaev pinned against the cage. Shamkhalaev gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.

Shamkhalaev dives in and scores a takedown into Nassibu's guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Shamkhalaev slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.

Shamkhalaev tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Shamkhalaev has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Salman Shamkhalaev overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

Shamkhalaev working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Shamkhalaev just content to control the position.
Shamkhalaev scores with punches from side control.
Shamkhalaev working the ground and pound.
Shamkhalaev cracks Nassibu with a big elbow.
Nassibu is looking for a sweep.
Shamkhalaev advances nicely into full mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Shamkhalaev lands a nice shot to the head.
Shamkhalaev takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Shamkhalaev postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Nassibu looks a forlorn figure.

Nassibu is rocked!
Shamkhalaev landing shots from mount.
Nassibu is still in real trouble! Can Shamkhalaev finish him?
Shamkhalaev postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Nassibu looks a forlorn figure.
Shamkhalaev unloading with bombs!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Shamkhalaev landing strikes, looking to finish!
Shamkhalaev is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Nassibu can do to turn this around?
Shamkhalaev takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Shamkhalaev lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Shamkhalaev connects with a couple of good shots from mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Shamkhalaev postures up and throws a couple of big shots that have Nassibu in real trouble here! The ref calls for Nassibu to improve his position which he doesn't do, so the referee has no choice but to end the fight due to the strikes!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:20 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Salman Shamkhalaev!
A relieved looking Salman Shamkhalaev thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.