PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Paulo Guedes (ranked 4186 p4p, 508 weight class) and Josiah Waters (ranked 6870 p4p, 603 weight class). The fight MMA fans around the world have waited their entire lives for!

Guedes
vs
Waters

180 cm
25
213 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

195 cm
18
205 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

Decent wrestler
Solid Muay Thai
Intelligent

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Paulo Guedes!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Josiah Waters!
The judges for this bout are Bart Greer, Sandra Marshall and Peter Branson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Guedes clinches.
Guedes lands an uppercut.
Guedes scores with a nice hook to the head.
Waters is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
Guedes stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
Guedes lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Waters backwards.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Guedes.
Waters misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Come on Guedes - let's have some action - none of this stalling nonsense.

Waters drags the fight down to the ground.
Guedes has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Waters striking off his back, scoring a few points.
Guedes has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Waters is proving hard to escape from.
Guedes stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Waters swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Guedes could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Waters avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Waters can do anything to dispel that myth.

Waters is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Guedes tries to free his leg and advance position but Waters is retaining full guard.
Waters keeping moving, preventing Guedes from controlling successfully.

Guedes has gone for a leg lock! Waters slips out almost immediately though and dives into Guedes's guard.

Waters won't allow Guedes to sweep him here.
Waters postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Waters looking to control the position here, rather than advance.
Guedes is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Waters stops Guedes from standing up.

Guedes has his foot on Waters's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Waters works his way back into a safe position though.
Guedes looks to be in better condition than last time we saw him fight. Obviously he's been working hard on his cardio.
Guedes working a defensive guard here.
Guedes keeping moving, preventing Waters from controlling successfully.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Waters slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.
Guedes wants to hit a switch here but Waters passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Guedes there!
Guedes tries to lock up and control but Waters gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Guedes knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Waters on the ground.
Guedes is trying to escape the mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Waters controlling from mount.
Waters wants to control the pace but Guedes is squirming around nicely.

Guedes has left one of his arms exposed and Waters doesn't need a second invitation. He's isolated it and locked on a tight armbar. Guedes screams and taps out, obviously in a lot of pain. Hopefully there isn't permanent damage to that arm.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:47 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Josiah Waters!
A relieved looking Josiah Waters thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.