PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Manus Murphy (ranked 1876 p4p, 24625 weight class) and Roy Read (ranked 244 p4p, 711 weight class). Roy Read will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Murphy
vs
Read

195 cm
19
207
4 - 1 - 0

192 cm
19
205
0 - 4 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter fighter
Very quick

BJJ White Belt
Counter fighter
Granite chin

Aspire Clothing

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 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Manus Murphy!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Roy Read!
The judges for this bout are Alyssa Summers, John Roberts and Joseph Jones.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Murphy tries to clinch but Read is having none of it.

Murphy moves into the clinch.
Read looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Read wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Murphy has him pressed against the cage.
Read can't break the clinch.
Read is trying to break the clinch but Murphy has him pressed against the cage.
Murphy is trying to pull guard but Read has him pressed against the cage.
Murphy is trying to pull guard but being pressed up against the cage enables Read to keep the fight standing.
Read working hard to break the clinch.

Read pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Read misses with a looping left.
The fight stays on the outside here - Murphy looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Murphy tries to clinch but Read is having none of it.
Read lets it all go there with a big combo counter but none of the punches connected.
Murphy closes the distance looking to clinch
and Read counters with a stiff right hand.
Read wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.

Murphy closes the distance and clinches.
Murphy tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Read just stands there and leans against the cage.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Manus Murphy. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Read manages to break the clinch.
Read tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Murphy was well out of range. Poor timing from Read.
Murphy wants to take advantage of his opponent's missed offense by moving into the clinch.
Read misses with a right hand

and Murphy holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Read wants to get back to striking at distance but Murphy won't allow it.

Read escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Murphy wants to clinch up but Read keeps it at a distance.
Read loads up on a big right hand but Murphy slips the punch.
Read avoids the clinch attempt nicely.

Murphy moves into the clinch successfully.
Read is trying to break the clinch but Murphy has him pressed against the cage.
Murphy tries to pull guard but Read forces him back to his feet, against the cage.

Murphy successfully pulls guard.
Murphy bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Read's guard.

This has been an exciting period of action!
Murphy 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.
Murphy sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Read's guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Read pushes Murphy off looking to stand but Murphy dives back in and keeps control.
Murphy passes to side control.

Read tries to escape back to his feet but Murphy has kept hold of him... Oh, now he's got Read's back and is looking for the choke... Is it? Is it sunk in? YES! Read is tapping! Murphy saw the opportunity and took it - ruthless!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:36 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Manus Murphy!
After the fight, Manus Murphy was humble in paying tribute to his opponent but made it clear he wants to go on to bigger and better things. It seemed to go down well with the crowd who cheered him loudly.