PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Javier Martinez (ranked 354 p4p, 3913 weight class) and Daniel Grigoryan (ranked 53 p4p, 486 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.

Martinez
vs
Grigoryan

188 cm
27
200
19 - 3 - 0

188 cm
45
209
22 - 3 - 3

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
KO power

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Granite chin

Brooklyn Apothecary
Brooklyn Threads

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, for the light heavyweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 19 - 3 - 0, fighting out of New York, Javier Martinez!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 22 - 3 - 3, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Daniel Grigoryan!
The judges for this bout are Wesley Smith, Stewart Dunkirk and Tiny Johnson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Grigoryan dives in for a single leg takedown but Martinez sprawls and the fighters end up clinched against the cage.
Grigoryan shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Martinez as he jumps to the side.

Martinez moves into the clinch.
Martinez lands an elbow that stopped Grigoryan in his tracks for a moment.

Martinez breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

Martinez shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Grigoryan's guard.
Grigoryan is pulling down on Martinez's head to control his posture.
Martinez throws a big elbow that misses.
Grigoryan is pulling down on Martinez's head. It's preventing any offense from Martinez, at least for the moment.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Martinez trying to control the position from guard on top but Grigoryan is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Martinez with a flurry of punches that miss.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez being controlled here momentarily.
Martinez missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
We may be looking at a referee standup if the pace doesn't pick up soon.
Martinez is in a tricky position. We've heard reports from his gym mates at Deep waters that he's been drilling escapes, so let's see if he can get back to his feet.
Grigoryan controlling the position.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Martinez looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Grigoryan changes levels for a counter takedown but doesn't follow through with his attempt.
A big left from Martinez misses.
Martinez keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
Javier Martinez has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Daniel Grigoryan.
Grigoryan tries for a takedown but Martinez sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Grigoryan shoots in looking for a takedown. Martinez tries to sprawl out of it but Grigoryan keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Martinez manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nice sprawl there from Martinez as Grigoryan shoots in.
It looked like Martinez was trying to counter with a body shot coming off that last attack from Grigoryan.
Martinez lands with a nice body punch.
Grigoryan closes this distance looking for a takedown but Martinez circles away.
Martinez tries to score a power double leg takedown but Grigoryan sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Martinez somewhat.
Martinez slaps away a takedown attempt from Grigoryan, before circling back to the center of the mat.
An attempted straight right counter from Martinez misses the target.
Grigoryan dives in and grabs Martinez's left leg, looking for a takedown. Martinez pushes down on Grigoryan's head and hops out.
Martinez misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Grigoryan will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Grigoryan closes the distance and clinches up with Martinez, looking for a takedown. Grigoryan pushes Martinez against the cage but Martinez circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Martinez throwing a counter right hand but Grigoryan manages to avoid it.
Grigoryan shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Martinez sprawls well. Martinez wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Grigoryan gets slowly back to his feet.

Martinez gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Martinez misses with an elbow over the top.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Grigoryan on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Martinez effectively controlling the action here.
Grigoryan blocks an elbow strike.
Martinez putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Grigoryan in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Grigoryan stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
Grigoryan wants to stall.
Grigoryan stalling in the clinch but Martinez improves position.
Grigoryan wants to stall.
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as Martinez takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.
Martinez comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Martinez missing with knees to the body.
Martinez just leaning against Grigoryan, taking a breather.
Martinez misses with an elbow strike.

Martinez has hold of one of Grigoryan's legs. Grigoryan is fighting the takedown attempt but Martinez gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Grigoryan is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

Grigoryan seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
Martinez wants to get back to his feet.
Martinez won't allow Grigoryan to pass to mount.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Javier Martinez dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare each other down, ready to get back to the action.

Grigoryan misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Grigoryan shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Martinez as he avoids it easily.
Grigoryan throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Martinez's waist but Martinez gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Grigoryan off to one side.
Javier Martinez has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Daniel Grigoryan.
Grigoryan shoots in for a takedown but Martinez shows good takedown defense.
Grigoryan shoots in but doesn't get the takedown
and Martinez counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Nice takedown defense from Martinez. No joy for Grigoryan on that attempt.

Grigoryan tries to keep at a distance but Martinez has taken the fight into the clinch.
Grigoryan blocks an elbow strike.
Martinez gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.

It looks like Daniel Grigoryan has been cut.
Grigoryan doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Martinez pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Martinez pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Martinez comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Grigoryan stalling the fight.
Grigoryan wants to stall.
Martinez throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Grigoryan blocks an elbow strike.
Grigoryan tries to stall but Martinez uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
Grigoryan just leaning against Martinez, taking a breather.
With the fighters up against the cage, Martinez throws an elbow but misses.
Grigoryan struggles to land a body shot inside as Martinez controls his hands.

Martinez pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Grigoryan shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Martinez as he jumps to the side.
Grigoryan is trying hard to land a takedown here. Martinez sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
Grigoryan goes for a double leg but Martinez avoids the attempt and the two fighters end up clinched against the cage as Martinez continues to drive forward.
Grigoryan shoots in but Martinez avoids the takedown attempt easily.

Grigoryan gets caught on his heels momentarily as he allows Martinez to score an easy takedown into full guard.
Grigoryan preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Grigoryan has momentary wrist control but Martinez slips an elbow through the middle.
Martinez working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Martinez throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Grigoryan working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Martinez.
Martinez trying to control the position from guard on top but Grigoryan is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Grigoryan is adopting a defensive guard.
Grigoryan controls Martinez momentarily but Martinez frees himself.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Martinez is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Martinez working some strikes from top position.
Martinez's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Martinez scoring with punches to the head and body.
Martinez postures up in Grigoryan's guard and throws a big left but Grigoryan blocks it.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Martinez accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Javier Martinez overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Martinez in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Martinez is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Grigoryan keeping moving, preventing Martinez from controlling successfully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Martinez is in close to Grigoryan's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Martinez throws an elbow that misses. Grigoryan uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Martinez's guard. Nice move by Grigoryan!

Grigoryan tries to free his leg and advance position but Martinez is retaining full guard.
Martinez can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Grigoryan controls the pace.
Grigoryan's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Javier Martinez dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Daniel Grigoryan's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Grigoryan fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.

Martinez closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Martinez lands in his opponent's guard.
Grigoryan has Martinez pulled in close to control his posture.
Martinez is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Grigoryan can do to turn this around?
Martinez lands a couple of decent looking shots.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Martinez is fighting to break Grigoryan's control of his arms but Grigoryan is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
Martinez stopping the sweep attempt from Grigoryan.
Martinez missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Grigoryan is trying to control the position from the bottom.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Martinez accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Grigoryan has his hands on Martinez's head, controlling the position.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up.
Grigoryan shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Martinez as he avoids it easily.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Grigoryan.
Javier Martinez has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Daniel Grigoryan.
Martinez slaps away a takedown attempt from Grigoryan, before circling back to the center of the mat.

Martinez shoots in and bounces Grigoryan off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Grigoryan utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Martinez cracks Grigoryan with a solid left hand.
Martinez wants to control from the top but Grigoryan keeps moving.
Grigoryan has Martinez pulled in close to control his posture.
Martinez scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Martinez looking to sit in guard and control but Grigoryan gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

Martinez keeping full guard, as Grigoryan tries to pass.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Grigoryan stays in close to Martinez's body and controls the position.
Martinez is adopting a defensive guard.
Grigoryan sitting in guard here, content to control.

The fighters are working up against the cage. Martinez manages to wriggle his way back to his feet, so the fighters are now clinched against the cage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Martinez being controlled against the cage.
Martinez is trying to drag Grigoryan to the mat but Grigoryan just about manages to keep his footing. He used the cage to his advantage there.
Grigoryan tries to throw a body punch but Martinez avoids it by throwing Grigoryan back against the cage.
Grigoryan blocks the elbow strike.
Javier Martinez has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Grigoryan wants to stall.
Grigoryan effectively controlling the action here.
Daniel Grigoryan has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Martinez being controlled against the cage.
Grigoryan continues to stall. The referee tells him to work or he's going to break them up.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Martinez looking to slow down the pace here.
Grigoryan is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Martinez is keeping busy.

And that's the end of the fight!
Javier Martinez showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Martinez has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Wesley Smith scores the fight 30:27
Judge Stewart Dunkirk scores the fight 30:27
Judge Tiny Johnson scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Javier Martinez!
Javier Martinez is the new light heavyweight champion!
Javier Martinez bigged himself up after the win. The crowd seemed to love it.