PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Zalt Gaanja (ranked 6568 p4p, 5554 weight class) and Dwayne Wilder (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Gaanja comes to the cage accompanied by Nathan Evans - Wellerman. Wilder has chosen Giannis (ft. Anderson Paak) - Freddie Gibbs & Madlib as his entrance music. Zalt Gaanja has a significant reach advantage - let's see if he can make it count.

Gaanja
vs
Wilder

195 cm
21
190
0 - 0 - 0

179 cm
21
201
3 - 7 - 0

Good wrestling
Great elbows
Very quick

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Zalt Gaanja!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Dwayne Wilder!
The judges for this bout are George Francis, Chris Downing and Wesley Smith.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Gaanja walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
Gaanja uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Wilder.
Gaanja throwing a counter right hand but Wilder manages to avoid it.
Wilder scores with a jab. Gaanja acknowledges it with a nod of the head.

Gaanja moves into the clinch successfully.
A head punch on the inside from Gaanja fails to land.
Wilder lands a hook to the side of the head.
Gaanja misses with a hook to the ribs.
Gaanja swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Gaanja misses with a punch to the body.
Gaanja scores with a shot to the side of Wilder's head.
Wilder pushes Gaanja back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Wilder lands with a short head shot on the inside.
Wilder tries a body shot but Gaanja blocks it.
Gaanja working aggressively here.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Gaanja gets through Wilder's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Gaanja blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Wilder lands a right hand that snaps the head of Gaanja backwards.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gaanja misses with the head strike.
Gaanja can't find room to land a body shot as Wilder controls the action.
Wilder misses with a punch on the inside.
Gaanja blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Wilder misses with a punch on the inside.
Wilder misses with the head strike.
Gaanja swings wildly with an uppercut but Wilder uses good head movement to avoid it.
Gaanja misses with a punch on the inside.
Wilder blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Wilder blocking some punches.
Gaanja misses with a body punch.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Wilder.
Gaanja throws a punch but it's blocked by Wilder.
Wilder stalling in the clinch.
Gaanja misses with some punches.
Gaanja misses with a body punch.
Wilder blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Gaanja misses with a hook from the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gaanja swings wildly with an uppercut but Wilder uses good head movement to avoid it.
Wilder prevents a body shot from Gaanja.
Wilder blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Gaanja gets through Wilder's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Gaanja pushes Wilder back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Wilder is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Gaanja is keeping busy.
Gaanja blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Wilder blocks an uppercut.
Gaanja softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Both guys are working to get underhooks.
Gaanja tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Gaanja scores with a shoulder strike.
Gaanja lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Gaanja misses with a hook to the ribs.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Gaanja creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Gaanja lands with a light punch inside.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Gaanja misses with some punches.
Gaanja misses with the head strike.
Gaanja swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Gaanja lands a body shot in the clinch.
Wilder is stalling here.
Gaanja lands a nice uppercut.
Gaanja working aggressively here.
Gaanja throws a head punch that misses.
Gaanja swings wildly with an uppercut but Wilder uses good head movement to avoid it.
Gaanja throws a head punch that misses.
Wilder pushes Gaanja back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Wilder stalling the fight.
Gaanja goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
A short right from Gaanja.
Wilder controlling the action here for a moment.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Gaanja misses with a punch on the inside.
Gaanja throws a punch but it's blocked by Wilder.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Wilder.
Wilder fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Gaanja swings wildly with an uppercut but Wilder uses good head movement to avoid it.
Gaanja lands a right hand that snaps the head of Wilder backwards.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Gaanja misses with a punch on the inside.
A short right from Gaanja.
Gaanja throws a punch but it's blocked by Wilder.
Wilder blocking some punches.
Gaanja blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Wilder lands with a good tight uppercut to the head.
Gaanja swings wildly with an uppercut but Wilder uses good head movement to avoid it.
Gaanja throws a punch but it's blocked by Wilder.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Zalt Gaanja dominated that 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.

Gaanja looks to land a right hand but Wilder moved out of range.
Wilder throws out a powerful jab.
Zalt Gaanja is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Wilder defending well as Gaanja loads up on a big left hand.
Gaanja on the wrong end of an overhand right that came out of nowhere.
Wilder shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Gaanja eats them both and turns towards Wilder to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.

Gaanja clinches with his opponent.
Gaanja stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Wilder misses with a punch on the inside.
Zalt Gaanja has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Gaanja throws a head punch that misses.
Wilder lands a left hand that snaps the head of Gaanja backwards.
Wilder blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Gaanja lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Wilder backwards.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Gaanja's head jolts backwards as he takes an uppercut right on the button!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gaanja lands a right hand.
Gaanja lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Wilder backwards.
Wilder lands a right hand.
Gaanja lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Wilder backwards.
Still in the clinch, Gaanja scores with a nice short uppercut.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Gaanja creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Gaanja lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Gaanja can't find room to land a body shot as Wilder controls the action.
Gaanja lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Gaanja has a couple of punches blocked by Wilder.
Gaanja lands an uppercut.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Gaanja tries to work over Wilder's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
A hook to the body from Gaanja.
Gaanja lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Wilder working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Gaanja blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Wilder lands with a short head shot on the inside.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Wilder.
Wilder pushes Gaanja back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Gaanja.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Wilder.
Wilder misses with some punches.
Gaanja lands with a left to the head.
Wilder pushes Gaanja back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Gaanja.
Wilder trying to stall but Gaanja improves his position.
Wilder blocking some punches.
Gaanja lands a nice uppercut.
Gaanja tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Gaanja blocking some punches.
Gaanja lands with a short shot to the head.
Wilder misses with a short punch on the inside.
Gaanja throws a head punch that misses.
A right hook to the body lands for Wilder.
Gaanja misses with a punch on the inside.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Wilder tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Gaanja lands a right hand.
Gaanja lands with a light punch inside.

Wilder is rocked!
Gaanja misses with the head strike.
Wilder wants to stall.
Gaanja blocking some punches.
Gaanja misses with a hook to the ribs.
Wilder blocking some punches.
Gaanja lands a shoulder strike.
Wilder is still on wobbly legs! Can Gaanja finish him?
A head punch blocked on the inside by Wilder.
Wilder blocking some punches.
Gaanja misses with a hook from the clinch.
Wilder seems to have recovered his senses.
Wilder takes an elbow to the forehead.

It looks like Dwayne Wilder has been cut.
Gaanja lands a big right hand that drops Wilder! The killer instinct kicks in and Gaanja finishes his opponent with a series of strikes from mount. A dominating finish by Gaanja!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Zalt Gaanja!
An out of breath Zalt Gaanja thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.