PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Maksim Taranin (ranked 1035 p4p, 998 weight class) and Devon Sage (ranked 111 p4p, 104 weight class). Devon Sage has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Taranin
vs
Sage

170 cm
20
146
4 - 1 - 0

170 cm
27
157
12 - 1 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Counter fighter
Cardio machine

BJJ Brown Belt
Basic striking
Good gas tank

AVALON
Warrior Fight Store

Shadow Realm Apparel
Bondi MMA 🏝️

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the featherweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Maksim Taranin!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 12 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Devon Sage!
The judges for this bout are Fedor Mirinova, Aleksei Zolotukhin and Ivan Kurochkin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Sage rushes Taranin and presses him up against the cage.

Taranin tightens his grip and picks Sage up, before dumping him to the ground. Sage manages to land in guard.
Taranin slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.
Sage keeping moving, preventing Taranin from controlling successfully.
Taranin works over Sage with some ground and pound from guard.
Taranin preventing the sweep.

Sage is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Taranin stopping the sweep attempt from Sage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Sage lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Taranin looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.

Taranin had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Sage defends it easily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Sage 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.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Taranin keeping moving, preventing Sage from controlling successfully.

Taranin working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Sage doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Sage manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.

Taranin has his foot on Sage's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Sage works his way back into a safe position though.

Taranin is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Sage is aware though and is defending well.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Sage looking to pass the guard.
Taranin seems to have improved his submission grappling technique since last time we saw him. Let's see if he can pull off a submission.

Taranin had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Sage defends it easily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sage looking to pass the guard.
Taranin bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Sage's guard.

Taranin avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Taranin looking to pass the guard.
Taranin trying to control but Sage is working from the bottom.

Sage is looking for a triangle but Taranin pushes his legs off easily.
Sage keeping moving, preventing Taranin from controlling successfully.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Sage is on top in guard.

Taranin lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Sage working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Taranin doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Taranin manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Taranin wants to control from the top but Sage keeps moving.
Taranin is looking to work some ground and pound but Sage has wrist control.
Sage looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Taranin wants to pass the guard but Sage is keeping the position.
Sage working a defensive guard here.
Sage working a defensive guard but Taranin passes into half guard.

Taranin is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Sage manages to get to full guard.

Taranin drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Taranin jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Sage trying to control the position.
Sage looking for a sweep. Not yet Sage, not yet.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Maksim Taranin dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Taranin looks to throw the jab but Sage is out of range.

Taranin drives through with a takedown into guard.
Sage wants to sweep but no luck.

Sage looking for a guillotine here but Taranin defends easily.
Taranin pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Sage is keeping the position for now.

Sage is looking to cinch up a triangle. Taranin throws the leg off to one side though and gets in tight to Sage's body to avoid the submission. Sage has instead reached around Taranin's neck and now has a guillotine! Oh, this is biiiig trouble! Sage arches his back and squeezes and forces the tap from his hapless opponent.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:50 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Guillotine). Devon Sage!
Devon Sage is the new featherweight champion!
A very excited looking Devon Sage made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.