PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Islam Rafiq (ranked 4219 p4p, 4234 weight class) and Joseph Dredd (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Rafiq
vs
Dredd

182 cm
22
170
0 - 0 - 0

182 cm
18
177
0 - 0 - 0

Decent wrestler
Brawler
Hates pizza

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Very confident

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Islam Rafiq!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Joseph Dredd !
The judges for this bout are Viktor Lagutenko, Aleksei Zolotukhin and Konstantin Menshow.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Dredd misses with a straight right.
Rafiq pulls out of a head kick attempt.

Rafiq closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Dredd to the mat! Dredd manages to get full guard.
Dredd looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Rafiq is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Rafiq seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Dredd for as long as he can get away with.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rafiq lands a couple of digs.
Rafiq slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.
Rafiq content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.

Rafiq is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Dredd is trying to control the position from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rafiq sitting in guard here, content to control.
Dredd looking to control but Rafiq passes into half guard.
Dredd is looking to get full guard. It looks like he might be successful but at the last minute Rafiq jumps into side control!
Rafiq scores with a couple of short elbows.
Rafiq has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Rafiq takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.

Dredd tries to improve his position but Rafiq has taken his back! Rafiq has a choke - it's sunk in pretty tight... Will Dredd tap? No... maybe... yes! He's tapped! Rafiq pushes Dredd away and gets up to celebrate with his corner!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:56 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Islam Rafiq!