PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Abdul Hakim Bafawuse (ranked 24817 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lashawn Davis (ranked 3437 p4p, 0 weight class). Lashawn Davis acknowledges the crowd's support as he enters the cage.

Hakim Bafawuse
vs
Davis

182 cm
25
158 lbs
2 - 12 - 0

178 cm
25
158 lbs
1 - 2 - 1

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Very strong

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
Solid chin

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 2 - 12 - 0, fighting out of New York, Abdul Hakim Bafawuse!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 1, fighting out of New York, Lashawn Davis!
The judges for this bout are Jonathan Paton, Franklyn Lucas and Columbo Gatti.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Excellent takedown into side control there by Davis.
The referee asks Davis politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Davis prefers to stall for the moment though.
Bafawuse tries to bench press Davis off him but Davis keeps the position.
Davis advances nicely into full mount.
Bafawuse is looking to improve his position but Davis isn't that keen on the idea.
Davis scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Bafawuse knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Davis on the ground.
Bafawuse is desperately trying to improve his position but Davis has a good base and remains in mount.
Davis lands a big elbow.
Davis controlling from the full mount.
Davis can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Bafawuse is looking to escape.
Bafawuse wants to get back to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Davis has hold of Bafawuse's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Bafawuse manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
Bafawuse is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.
Bafawuse flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse is flailing around like a fish out of water, trying to land strikes.
Bafawuse is flailing around like a fish out of water, trying to land strikes.
Davis throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Davis wants to control the pace but Bafawuse is squirming around nicely.
Bafawuse can't escape the position.
Davis throwing strikes here but Bafawuse is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Poor strikes thrown by Davis there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Davis tries to control but Bafawuse wriggling away.
Poor strikes thrown by Davis there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Bafawuse blocking the ground and pound.
Bafawuse throwing hammer fists to the chest of Davis. What's that going to do exactly?
You get the feeling that Bafawuse really doesn't like being in this position too much.

Davis is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Bafawuse can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Bafawuse is trying to escape the mount.
Davis scoring with strikes but Bafawuse is staying in there.
Bafawuse flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Davis tries to control but Bafawuse wriggling away.
Davis with the ground and pound from mount.
Davis blocks Bafawuse's feeble attempts to strike from the bottom.
Bafawuse can't escape the position.

Davis is going oldschool here, as he tries to force Bafawuse to tap using a forearm choke. This isn't 1993 though, so Bafawuse shrugs it off.
Bafawuse is really trying hard to get back to his feet.
Bafawuse throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse is trying to stand.
Bafawuse flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse is squirming around, avoiding Davis's attempts to control the action.
Bafawuse can't escape the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Bafawuse throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Bafawuse tries to get out of the position.
Davis trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Bafawuse flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse wants to try and get back to his feet.
Davis with good strikes from the mount here!
Bafawuse is desperately trying to improve his position but Davis has a good base and remains in mount.

Davis looking for a guillotine from mount but Bafawuse is having none of it.
Davis controlling the position easily from mount.
Bafawuse is trying to stand but he's not in a good position to be doing that! Davis has taken his back!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lashawn Davis dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Davis closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Bafawuse quickly recovers to half guard.
Davis wants to lay and pray for a moment but Bafawuse keeps working.
Bafawuse is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Bafawuse pushes Davis off looking to stand but Davis dives back in and keeps control.
Davis stalling.
Bafawuse tries to strike from the bottom but it doesn't land.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Bafawuse tries to roll over but Davis keeps him under control.
Davis looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Bafawuse is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Davis scores with a couple of nice shots.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bafawuse throws a strike from the bottom that misses.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Davis working the head and body with strikes.
Bafawuse tries to kick Davis off in order to stand up. Davis Avoids the leg push though and dives into side control.
Davis trying to control the position but Bafawuse is working away.
Bafawuse is trying to escape and get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Davis gets to mount! Bafawuse was on the offensive and wasn't defending properly.

Davis working for a guillotine from mount but Bafawuse is in no mood to give up.

Davis is working for a guillotine from mount but Bafawuse frees his head quite easily.
Bafawuse throwing hammer fists to the chest of Davis. What's that going to do exactly?

Bafawuse defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Davis.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Davis controlling from mount.
Davis is breathing heavily.
Davis trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Davis throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Bafawuse throwing hammer fists to the chest of Davis. What's that going to do exactly?
Davis blocks Bafawuse's feeble attempts to strike from the bottom.
Bafawuse throwing hammer fists to the chest of Davis. What's that going to do exactly?
Davis wants to control the pace but Bafawuse is squirming around nicely.
Bafawuse is trying to stand but he's just given Davis his back.
Bafawuse is trying to get back to his feet but he's not managed it yet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Davis is staying calm and holding on to the back position, whilst working on a rear naked choke. Bafawuse is defending well though. Davis let's go of the attempt for now.
Davis is looking to control Bafawuse but Bafawuse is wriggling around and keeping busy.
Bafawuse is in bad spot here.
Bafawuse wants to get back to his feet.

Davis looking to break Bafawuse's wrist control so he can sink in the choke. Bafawuse remaining controlled and patient though - he really has to keep calm otherwise Davis will wrap this one up with the rear naked choke!
Davis tries to get the hooks in deep but Bafawuse pushed the leg off.
Davis has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Bafawuse is being controlled on the ground here - he must escape this position otherwise surely the end is near.
Bafawuse prevents Davis from getting a body triangle.
Davis is in a good position here but he's just trying to control... And he's not even managing to do that successfully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Bafawuse rolls, trying to escape but Davis keeps control of the position.
Bafawuse staying busy and making it hard for Davis to control.
Bafawuse can't escape the position.
Davis softening up his opponent with strikes here.
Davis missing with strikes from the back.
Bafawuse is trying to get back to his feet but Davis has full control of the position and if anything, Bafawuse has just worked his way into a worse spot.
Davis has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Bafawuse is defending well here and trying to improve his position.
Bafawuse is trying to stand back up.
Davis keeps control of the position as Bafawuse tries to break free.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Bafawuse prevents Davis from getting a body triangle.

Davis is looking to finish the fight by rear naked choke. Bafawuse knows exactly what he's got planned though, so he's defending well. Maybe a few strikes would soften Bafawuse for a finish.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lashawn Davis showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Bafawuse shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Davis eats them both and turns towards Bafawuse to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Bafawuse lands a right hook to the body.
Davis gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Davis tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Bafawuse manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Davis shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Bafawuse manages to get to full guard.
Davis trying to control but Bafawuse is working from the bottom.
Lashawn Davis has got the better of the ground game so far.
Davis takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Bafawuse throws a couple of weedy looking strikes off his back.
Davis advances to half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bafawuse flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.

Davis is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Bafawuse has managed to free his arm - good work.

Davis stands up and beckons Bafawuse to join him on the feet.
Davis blocks a head kick by Bafawuse.
Bafawuse throws a right and a left that Davis avoids nicely.

Davis looking to score a takedown here. Bafawuse is defending well but Davis drives through and ends up in Bafawuse's guard.
Bafawuse is wriggling around but Davis manages to pass to half guard.

Bafawuse avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Davis.
Bafawuse is refusing to be controlled, as Davis sits in half guard.
Bafawuse missing with punches from the bottom.
Bafawuse wants to get back to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Davis is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.
Bafawuse missing with punches from the bottom.
Davis thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Bafawuse's head.
Bafawuse tries to kick Davis off in order to stand up. Davis Avoids the leg push though and dives into side control.
Davis working the head and body with strikes.
Bafawuse throwing some weak shots from the bottom that do no damage.

Davis is trying to get an arm triangle but Bafawuse is defending well.
Bafawuse tries to buck Davis off but Davis is having none of it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bafawuse misses with an elbow from the bottom.
Bafawuse trying to remain calm as Davis controls from the top position.
Davis wants to control but Bafawuse is keeping him busy.
Bafawuse is looking to regain half guard here but Davis keeps moving and retains side control.
Davis misses with the ground and pound.
Bafawuse is looking to regain half guard here but Davis keeps moving and retains side control.
Bafawuse manages to get back to half guard.
Davis wants to lay and pray for a moment but Bafawuse keeps working.
Bafawuse is striking from the bottom but he's now found himself mounted! Oh dear - not enough focus on defense there.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Davis prevents Bafawuse from getting the reversal.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Bafawuse throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.

Davis is working for a guillotine from mount but Bafawuse frees his head quite easily.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Bafawuse is trying to stand up.
Bafawuse is in all sorts of trouble here.
Bafawuse swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Bafawuse working to try and regain half guard.
The referee warns Bafawuse that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.

And that's the end of the fight!
Lashawn Davis comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Davis winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Jonathan Paton scores the fight 27:30
Judge Franklyn Lucas scores the fight 27:30
Judge Columbo Gatti scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Lashawn Davis!