PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Taiga Jim (ranked 1099 p4p, 148 weight class) and Jorge Morueco (ranked 2253 p4p, 295 weight class). Morueco is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: The Pretender. Well, the cameraman is lingering on a pretty young lady for a bit too long there. Keep your eyes on the prize buddy or you'll miss the fighter intros!

Jim
vs
Morueco

189 cm
32
189 lbs
16 - 12 - 1

187 cm
31
188 lbs
16 - 16 - 0

Great wrestler
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Olympic wrestler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 16 - 12 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Taiga Jim!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 16 - 16 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Jorge Morueco!
The judges for this bout are William Gold, Colin Fotheringham and James Ackerman.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Morueco looks to land a combination but Jim avoids it well.
Morueco tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Jim was well out of range. Poor timing from Morueco.
Jim scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Morueco throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Morueco slips under a jab.

Morueco closes the distance and clinches.
Morueco swings away with an uppercut that misses.

Morueco gets a trip takedown into half guard.

Morueco seems to be looking for submissions.

Morueco is looking for a kimura here.
Morueco is looking to advance position but Jim won't allow it.

Morueco is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Jim sees it coming and defends easily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Jim wants to get back to full guard.
Jim is controlling Morueco's trapped leg to prevent Morueco from advancing to side control.
Jim gets full guard.
Morueco trying to pass the guard. He's being very persistent here but Jim manages to land a sweep and now he's on top!

Morueco working for a triangle but Jim defends it easily.
Morueco looking to hit a scissor sweep but Jim is one step ahead there.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Morueco wants to improve his position but instead Jim has moved into half guard.
Jim content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
We've been hearing that Jim has been drilling a lot of ground and pound in training, so let's see if he get the finish.
Morueco is looking to improve his position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Jim wants to free his trapped foot but Morueco is holding on for dear life with his legs.
Jim drops an elbow to the side of Morueco's head.
Jim drops an elbow to the side of Morueco's head.
Morueco trying to control here.
Jim wants to free his trapped foot but Morueco is holding on for dear life with his legs.
Jim stalling away here and it's allowed Morueco to slip out his trapped foot and regain full guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Jim trying to control but Morueco is working from the bottom.
Jim tries to free his leg and advance position but Morueco is retaining full guard.
Jim stopping the sweep attempt from Morueco.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Jim controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

Morueco has his foot on Jim's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Jim works his way back into a safe position though.
Jim trying to control but Morueco is working from the bottom.

Morueco escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Jim gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.

Morueco had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Jim defends it easily.
Morueco bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Jim's guard.

The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Jim keeping full guard, as Morueco tries to pass.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jorge Morueco 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.

Jim scores with a nice strike.
Jim connects nicely with a jab. Noted by the judges no doubt.
Morueco connects with a right hand. Jim shakes it off.
Jim throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Morueco tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Jim manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Jim steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Morueco.

Jim closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Jim lands in his opponent's guard.
Morueco wants to sweep but no luck.
Jim has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Jim trying to control the position from guard on top but Morueco is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Jim is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Taiga Jim overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Morueco wants to sweep but no luck.
Jim looking to sit in guard and control but Morueco gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Morueco wants to pass the guard but Jim is keeping the position.
Jim is trying to keep Morueco in close.
Morueco trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Jim seems keen to control Morueco's posture.
Morueco stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Jim swivels though and keeps the full guard.
My spies in Training Center inform me that Morueco has been getting involved in the gym's BJJ sparring sessions. Let's see whether that pays dividends!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Morueco passes Jim's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Jim trying to hold on to Morueco's head to control him but Morueco postures up.

Morueco is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.

Morueco looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.

Morueco is looking for a kimura here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Morueco wants to work for an arm triangle but Jim is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.

Morueco is working for a kimura but Jim is defending it quite comfortably.
Jim keeping control of the leg, stopping his opponent passing to mount.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.

That's four 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.
Jim gets full guard.
Jim pulls Morueco in close to prevent any damage.
Jim is trying to keep Morueco in close.
Jim looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Jim throws a good cross that connects.
Morueco bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Nice takedown defense from Jim. No joy for Morueco on that attempt.
Jim drops down looking for a counter takedown but Morueco sprawls and moves away.
Morueco takes one to the chin there.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Taiga Jim dominated that second round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! This is the final round!

Morueco on the wrong end of an overhand right that came out of nowhere.
Jim scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Morueco doesn't seem bothered though.
Jim takes one on the button.
Morueco takes a jab on the nose. He smiles like he loves it and keeps coming.
Jim cracks a nice hook into Morueco's ribs.
Jim ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Morueco throws a body punch but Jim moves out of range.
Jim lands a nice looking body shot.
Jim fakes and then throws a beautiful body shot. Morueco looks a bit winded and takes a step backwards to take a breath.
Jim jabs Morueco to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Morueco keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Morueco connects with a hook to the side of his opponent's head.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Jim waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Morueco.
Jim swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Morueco.
Jim misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Morueco.
A big right from Morueco misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Jim lands an overhand right.
Morueco shoots and misses
and Jim connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Jim ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Morueco moves away.
Morueco lands with a good body shot.
Nice defenses there by Jim.

Jim drives through with a takedown into Morueco's guard. Let's see what he can do from the top position.

Morueco working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Jim doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Jim manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Jim postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Jim lands a couple of digs.
Jim connects with a couple of short punches.
Jim preventing the sweep.
Jim is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Jim trying to control but Morueco is working from the bottom.
Jim showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
Jim wants to control from the top but Morueco keeps moving.
Jim preventing the sweep.
Jim is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Morueco can do to turn this around?

Morueco looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Jim is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.

Morueco is looking for a triangle but Jim pushes his legs off easily.
Jim preventing the sweep.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Morueco is still trying to improve position.
Jim cracks Morueco with a solid left hand.
Jim postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Jim with a nice head shot there.
Jim trying to control but Morueco is working from the bottom.
Jim with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.

Morueco escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Jim gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Jim wants to control from the top but Morueco keeps moving.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Jim not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
Jim lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Morueco is looking to sweep but instead, Jim has passed into half guard.
Morueco gets full guard.
Jim postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Jim is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Jim lands a couple of digs.
Jim distracts Morueco with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Jim wants to control from the top but Morueco keeps moving.
Jim is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.

And that's the end of the fight!
Taiga Jim showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Jim 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 William Gold scores the fight 29:28
Judge Colin Fotheringham scores the fight 29:28
Judge James Ackerman scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Taiga Jim!
Taiga Jim decided to go for the less than humble approach in his post fight interview, telling everyone how he is going to conquer the world. The crowd seemed to like it when really that sort of approach could have gone either way.