PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Deacon Fries (ranked 2809 p4p, 3241 weight class) and James Clerk Maxwell (ranked 180 p4p, 206 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Fries
vs
Clerk Maxwell

165 cm
22
143
5 - 1 - 0

165 cm
18
136
3 - 0 - 0

Good takedowns
Basic striking
Very quick

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

Ma Balls Is Hot Clothing
Brooklyn Apothecary

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Deacon Fries!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, James Clerk Maxwell!
The judges for this bout are Fedor Mirinova, Ivan Kurochkin and Illya Tyunina.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Fries takes one on the chin but seems OK.
Clerk Maxwell cracks Fries with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Clerk Maxwell keeps the fight on the outside.
Fries wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
Clerk Maxwell jabs Fries to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Clerk Maxwell moves into range and connects with a jab.
Fries looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Fries avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Fries takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Clerk Maxwell misses with a left hand

and Fries counters with a nice double leg into side control. Clerk Maxwell won't be happy with that.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
The ground and pound from Fries seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.
Clerk Maxwell tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Fries wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Fries scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Clerk Maxwell to see if he's OK.
Clerk Maxwell is trying to control Fries's posture but Fries avoids it.
Fries tries to cartwheel into mount but he doesn't manage it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Fries grinds an elbow into Clerk Maxwell's temple.
Clerk Maxwell can't do much from the bottom here.
Fries sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Clerk Maxwell is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.
Fries is chipping away with strikes.
Clerk Maxwell tries to improve position but can't.
Clerk Maxwell can't do much from the bottom here.
Fries working the head with strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Clerk Maxwell gets back to half guard.
Fries 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.
Fries is trying to control the action in half guard but Clerk Maxwell is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Fries controlling the action here.
Fries looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
Fries passes to side control.

Fries is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Clerk Maxwell has escaped the position, nice work there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Clerk Maxwell prevents Fries from moving into mount.
Fries looks up at the clock and then as Clerk Maxwell takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Fries smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
An elbow from Fries crashes against the mat.
Fries looks up at the clock and then as Clerk Maxwell takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Fries smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
Fries throwing strikes but missing, from side control.
Fries misses with an attempted head punch from side control.
Clerk Maxwell struggling a bit here.
Fries working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
We've been informed that Clerk Maxwell has been working hard on his conditioning in the buildup to the fight.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Fries creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Clerk Maxwell sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
Fries in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Fries landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.
Clerk Maxwell parries the strikes from Fries easily there. Fries is wary of posturing up too much because it might enable Clerk Maxwell to escape.
Clerk Maxwell gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.
Fries thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Clerk Maxwell's head.
Fries throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Clerk Maxwell holds on for dear life, maintaining half guard for now.
Clerk Maxwell is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Fries scores with a couple of nice shots.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Deacon Fries dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Fries shoots in but doesn't get the takedown
and Clerk Maxwell counters with a straight right hand.
Clerk Maxwell lands the left hand.
Clerk Maxwell throws a body punch but Fries moves out of range.
Clerk Maxwell moves into range and connects with a jab.

Fries looking to score a takedown here. Clerk Maxwell is defending well but Fries drives through and ends up in Clerk Maxwell's guard.
Clerk Maxwell looking to control.
Fries wants to control from the top but Clerk Maxwell keeps moving.
Fries passes Clerk Maxwell's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Fries lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Still in half guard, Fries seems content to control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Clerk Maxwell blocking the ground and pound attempt from Fries.
Fries missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Fries looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Fries thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Fries is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Fries moves nicely into side control.
Fries landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Fries landing strikes.
Fries working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
Fries cracks Clerk Maxwell with a big right hand but Clerk Maxwell just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.

Fries tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Fries has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Fries advances to mount.
Fries landing strikes, looking to finish!
Fries pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Fries landing shots from mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Clerk Maxwell wants to hold on but Fries pushes him away.

Fries with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Fries putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
The referee warns Clerk Maxwell that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Fries lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
BOOM! Fries connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Fries lands a heavy elbow.
Fries thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Fries tries to control but Clerk Maxwell wriggling away.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Fries is in the full mount, landing strikes.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Clerk Maxwell sneaks a leg back under and regains half guard and is working straight away to try and get back to guard. He hasn't managed just yet though.
Fries works his foot free and advances to mount.
Fries lands a nice shot to the head.
Fries working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Fries lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Deacon Fries dominated that second round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! And we move into the final round!

Fries is trying hard to land a takedown here. Clerk Maxwell sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
James Clerk Maxwell seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Clerk Maxwell just misses with a punch to the body.
Fries blocks a jab.
Fries changes levels looking for a counter takedown but doesn't commit.
Clerk Maxwell ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Fries moves away.
Fries tries to counter by clinching up but Clerk Maxwell breaks away and moves out of range.
Fries ducks right into an uppercut from Clerk Maxwell.

Fries shoots in with a lovely double leg takedown. Clerk Maxwell manages to land in full guard to minimise the damage.
Fries being controlled here momentarily.
Clerk Maxwell keeping full guard, as Fries tries to pass.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Fries throws a big right hand that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Fries tries to free his leg and advance position but Clerk Maxwell is retaining full guard.
Fries trying to control the position from guard on top but Clerk Maxwell is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Fries works a leg free and moves into half guard.
Fries scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Clerk Maxwell is trying to get back to full guard.
Fries 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.
Fries is trying to control. Clerk Maxwell wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Fries looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Clerk Maxwell with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Fries is looking to advance position but Clerk Maxwell won't allow it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Clerk Maxwell wants to get back to full guard.
Fries throwing shots but Clerk Maxwell is blocking nicely.
Fries tries to pass the half guard into mount. Clerk Maxwell knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Clerk Maxwell keeping hold of Fries's head, controlling as best he can.
Fries trying to pass the guard but Clerk Maxwell defending well.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters, thinking about a standup.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up.
Clerk Maxwell throws a body shot but no joy.
Clerk Maxwell thuds a left hand into Fries's body.
Fries uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Clerk Maxwell.
Fries tries to clinch but Clerk Maxwell moves away
and Clerk Maxwell counters with a straight right hand.
Fries gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Clerk Maxwell counters with a nice uppercut.
Good work by Clerk Maxwell as he checks the leg kick.
Fries shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Clerk Maxwell pinned against the cage. Clerk Maxwell gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Deacon Fries. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Fries closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Clerk Maxwell quickly recovers to half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Clerk Maxwell wants to get back to full guard.
Fries passes the guard and advances to mount!

Fries wants to finish this one by submission but Clerk Maxwell is holding onto his waist, trying to prevent any attacks from Fries.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Fries lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
A nice elbow there by Fries.

And that's the end of the fight!
Deacon Fries showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Fries, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Fedor Mirinova scores the fight 30:27
Judge Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 30:27
Judge Illya Tyunina scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Deacon Fries!
During a confident post fight interview, Deacon Fries thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.