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PBP Commentary |
Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Khaba Dagestanskiy (ranked 1302 p4p, 1156 weight class) and Zenzo Rai (ranked 193 p4p, 171 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.
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| 175 cm
30
175
11 - 8 - 0 |
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183 cm
30
180
5 - 1 - 0 |
Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Insanely flexible |
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Good wrestler
World class MT
Granite chin |
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Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 11 - 8 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Khaba Dagestanskiy!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Zenzo Rai!
The judges for this bout are Mauricio Rocha, Leandro Rodrigues and Felipe Paraventi.
The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A kick lands to the mid section there for Rai.
Rai moves out of range as Dagestanskiy strikes.
A bone on bone clash there as Dagestanskiy blocks the leg kick.
Dagestanskiy looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Dagestanskiy scores with a one two! Rai had his feet all tangled up there and couldn't avoid the strikes.
Rai throws a hook to the side of Dagestanskiy's head but Dagestanskiy sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Rai stuffs the takedown.
Rai throws a head kick but Dagestanskiy moves out of range.
Rai throws a hook to the side of Dagestanskiy's head but Dagestanskiy sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Dagestanskiy tries to clinch there but Rai circles away.
Dagestanskiy shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Rai sprawls well. Rai wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Dagestanskiy gets slowly back to his feet.
Rai does a little shimmy and throws a leg kick. The leg kick missed by a considerable margin though, making him look a little bit silly for doing the shimmy.
Rai thows a leg kick but Dagestanskiy checks it
and Dagestanskiy counters with a three punch combination, finished off with a leg kick. Nice work.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Dagestanskiy moves into range and clinches up with Rai.
A left hand lands to the body for Rai.
A short left from Rai.
Dagestanskiy prevents Rai from breaking the clinch.
Rai lands on the inside with an uppercut.
I was talking to Dagestanskiy's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
That's one minute gone in the round.
Rai throws a head punch that misses.
Rai lands an uppercut.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Rai creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Dagestanskiy is trying to work for a single leg takedown but Rai pulls him back up using the underhooks.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Khaba Dagestanskiy. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Rai misses with a hook to the ribs.
Dagestanskiy drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Rai gets the underhooks and prevents it.
Rai misses with a body punch.
Rai lands with a right to the head.
Dagestanskiy blocking some punches.
Rai has a couple of punches blocked by Dagestanskiy.
Dagestanskiy just leaning against Rai, taking a breather.
Dagestanskiy has hold of one of Rai's legs. Rai is fighting the takedown attempt but Dagestanskiy gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.
Rai wants to control here, rather than go for any submissions from the bottom. At least for now.
That's two minutes gone in the round.
Dagestanskiy postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Dagestanskiy preventing the sweep.
Dagestanskiy throwing strikes from guard but Rai blocks nicely.
Rai has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
Dagestanskiy stopping the sweep attempt from Rai.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Dagestanskiy missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Rai holds on and takes a little breather.
Dagestanskiy works over Rai with some ground and pound from guard.
Dagestanskiy stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Rai swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Dagestanskiy throwing strikes from guard but Rai blocks nicely.
That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rai utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Dagestanskiy throwing strikes from guard but Rai blocks nicely.
Rai is pulling down on Dagestanskiy's head. It's preventing any offense from Dagestanskiy, at least for the moment.
Dagestanskiy looking to pass the guard.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Rai controls Dagestanskiy momentarily but Dagestanskiy frees himself.
Rai pulls Dagestanskiy in to control the position.
Rai looking to hit a scissor sweep but Dagestanskiy is one step ahead there.
Dagestanskiy controls from within his opponent's guard.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Dagestanskiy loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Dagestanskiy stopping the sweep attempt from Rai.
Dagestanskiy trying to control but Rai is working from the bottom.
Rai is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Dagestanskiy regains full guard. Nicely done.
Rai 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.
Dagestanskiy is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Rai must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Rai controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.
A close round but Zenzo Rai will probably get the nod.
That's time! Dagestanskiy's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.
Dagestanskiy uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Rai.
Dagestanskiy fakes low and throws an overhand right that catches Rai on the side of the head.
Dagestanskiy misses with a series of wild punches.
Dagestanskiy misses the jab.
Rai lands a slapping body shot.
Dagestanskiy looks to land a combination but Rai avoids it well.
Rai scores with a punch to the gut of his opponent.
Rai stuns Dagestanskiy with a nice body shot, before stepping back out of range.
Rai attempts a low kick but it misses it's target.
Rai digs a good body shot into Dagestanskiy's ribs.
Rai lands with a right hand.
Dagestanskiy scores with a big left there. The judges will like that one.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Dagestanskiy closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Both fighters take a look at the clock.
An elbow from Dagestanskiy crashes against the mat.
That's one minute gone in the round.
Rai is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Rai parries the strikes from Dagestanskiy easily there. Dagestanskiy is wary of posturing up too much because it might enable Rai to escape.
Dagestanskiy working away.
Dagestanskiy scoring with punches and elbows.
Khaba Dagestanskiy overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Dagestanskiy working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Dagestanskiy working the ground and pound from side control.
Rai struggling a bit here.
Rai is letting Dagestanskiy control him for a moment.
Rai sneaks back into half guard.
Dagestanskiy prevents Rai from improving his position.
That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rai keeps control of the position for the meantime.
Rai is trying to control but can't.
Dagestanskiy content to control rather than advance.
Dagestanskiy is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and Rai defends it well.
Rai wants to improve his position but Dagestanskiy is controlling well.
That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rai is concentrating on defense, preventing Dagestanskiy from advancing position.
Dagestanskiy throwing shots but Rai is blocking nicely.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Rai is defending against the submission attempts here by Dagestanskiy.
Rai is looking for a sweep. Dagestanskiy is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Rai is controlling Dagestanskiy's position as best he can from this difficult position.
Rai is trying to control but can't.
Dagestanskiy 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.
Rai blocking the ground and pound attempt from Dagestanskiy.
Dagestanskiy prevents Rai from improving his position.
Dagestanskiy working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Dagestanskiy wants to control but Rai is keeping him busy.
That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rai holds on for dear life, maintaining half guard for now.
Rai is trying to control but can't.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Rai has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Dagestanskiy is working away from the top position though.
Dagestanskiy working the head and body with strikes.
Rai is defending against the submission attempts here by Dagestanskiy.
Rai is looking to improve his position.
Rai works his way to full guard. Good work.
Rai looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Dagestanskiy scoring with some ground and pound.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.
Khaba Dagestanskiy dominated that second 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. This is the final round!
Rai throws a head kick but Dagestanskiy moves out of range.
Nice jab there from Dagestanskiy.
Dagestanskiy misses with a hook.
Dagestanskiy moves out of range as Rai strikes.
Khaba Dagestanskiy is winning the standup battle so far.
Rai swings for the body but Dagestanskiy moves out of range.
Dagestanskiy is looking to counter with a shot to the body.
Dagestanskiy tries to close the distance and clinch up but Rai swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Rai throws a low kick, looking for Dagestanskiy's leg but Dagestanskiy calmly moves out of range.
Dagestanskiy throws a series of punches but Rai moves out of range.
Rai throws out a leg kick but Dagestanskiy moves out of range and Rai only half commits.
Dagestanskiy blocks a head kick by Rai.
Dagestanskiy avoids the head kick by Rai.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Rai dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Dagestanskiy. That did some damage!
Rai will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.
Dagestanskiy throws a big counter combination but Rai scrambles out of danger and avoids any damage.
Rai scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Dagestanskiy doesn't seem bothered though.
Dagestanskiy fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.
Dagestanskiy shoots in looking for a takedown but Rai manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Dagestanskiy's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Dagestanskiy cracks Rai with a good jab.
That's one minute gone in the round.
Rai misses with a head kick.
Rai misses with a low kick as Dagestanskiy jumps back.
Rai is throwing a lot of body shots here, looking to wear down Dagestanskiy rather than just go for the knockout.
Dagestanskiy throws a series of strikes that have Rai backpedaling.
Rai avoids a punch combination nicely.
Dagestanskiy fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Rai manages to avoid it.
Rai misses with a straight right.
Rai throws a head kick that Dagestanskiy semi-blocks.
Rai throws a nice outside leg kick.
Dagestanskiy rushes Rai and presses him up against the cage.
Rai tries to throw a body punch but Dagestanskiy avoids it by throwing Rai back against the cage.
Dagestanskiy lands with a good tight uppercut to the head.
A head punch on the inside from Rai fails to land.
Dagestanskiy taking a breather.
Dagestanskiy breaks from the clinch.
That's two minutes gone in the round.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
A combination from Dagestanskiy does no damage.
Rai pivots, looking for a leg kick but Dagestanskiy is out of range and Rai settles back down.
Dagestanskiy tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Some bone on bone action there as Dagestanskiy checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Dagestanskiy misses with a jab, cross combination.
Dagestanskiy gets a double leg takedown into Rai's guard.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Rai holds on and takes a little breather.
Dagestanskiy trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Rai controlling the position.
Rai is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Dagestanskiy working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Rai is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Dagestanskiy is looking to work some ground and pound but Rai has wrist control.
That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rai tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Rai has momentary wrist control but Dagestanskiy slips an elbow through the middle.
Rai wants to sweep here but Dagestanskiy controlling him for the moment.
Dagestanskiy sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Dagestanskiy is looking to work some ground and pound but Rai has wrist control.
Dagestanskiy is in close to Rai's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Dagestanskiy being controlled here momentarily.
Dagestanskiy in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Rai pulls Dagestanskiy in close to his closed guard and prevents Dagestanskiy from doing any damage or advancing position.
Dagestanskiy showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
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.
Dagestanskiy won't allow Rai to sweep him here.
Rai working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Dagestanskiy.
Dagestanskiy is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Dagestanskiy missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Dagestanskiy with a flurry of punches that miss.
Rai has control of Dagestanskiy's left arm, preventing Dagestanskiy from doing any damage.
Dagestanskiy is working Rai over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Dagestanskiy engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
Rai is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Dagestanskiy throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
And that's the end of the fight!
Khaba Dagestanskiy showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Dagestanskiy 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 Mauricio Rocha scores the fight 29:28
Judge Leandro Rodrigues scores the fight 30:28
Judge Felipe Paraventi scores the fight 29:28
In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Khaba Dagestanskiy!
During a confident post fight interview, Khaba Dagestanskiy thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.
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| S |
C
A |
G |
S |
C
B |
G |
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S |
C |
G |
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energy
A | B |
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hype
A | B |
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pop
A | B |
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mgr
A | B |
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FIGHT
RATING
44% |
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