PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Starling Silva (ranked 1621 p4p, 1829 weight class) and Royce Gracie (ranked 239 p4p, 267 weight class). Gracie has chosen Jiu Jitsu by Smoke Serpent as his entrance music. Starling Silva looks tired to me. Hopefully he has got enough gas left in the tank to put in a good performance.

Silva
vs
Gracie

191 cm
43
183
32 - 22 - 1

185 cm
36
192
27 - 16 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
KO power

Excellent grappler
Decent boxing
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 32 - 22 - 1, fighting out of New York, Starling Silva!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 27 - 16 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Royce Gracie!
The judges for this bout are Ron Honeybunn, John Mangel and Chris Dean.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Silva missing with a left hand there. Gracie was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Silva looks exhausted already! Oh dear, he should have come in in better shape than this!

Gracie closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Gracie lands in his opponent's guard.
Gracie forces his way into half guard.
Gracie wants to pass the guard but Silva is defending well.
Gracie moves into full mount! Silva won't be happy about that!
Silva stops Gracie from taking his back. Still, being mounted isn't any better.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Silva has given up his back - I don’t know if this is a deliberate ploy to try and escape or if he is just struggling down there.

Silva defends a rear naked choke attempt by controlling one of Gracie's arms.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Gracie has his arm under Silva's chin here. Game over son! Gracie squeezes tightly and Silva is forced to tap out!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:23 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Royce Gracie!
Royce Gracie decided to thank the fans in attendance for making a great atmosphere. It seemed to go down pretty well.