PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Joshua Forde (ranked 3835 p4p, 2643 weight class) and Adrian Hughes (ranked 232 p4p, 164 weight class). Well, I have no idea who's going to take this one!

Forde
vs
Hughes

180 cm
25
135
2 - 1 - 0

170 cm
19
147
5 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Good in bed

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Knockout power

Advance Sport Supplements

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 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Joshua Forde!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Adrian Hughes!
The judges for this bout are Konstantin Menshow, Sergei Dronov and Dmitry Maklakov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hughes changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Forde tries to avoid it but Hughes manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Forde to the ground. Forde escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
Forde half commits to a counter takedown before pushing away, out of range.
Hughes shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Forde as he jumps to the side.
Hughes takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Forde throws a right hand that Hughes ducks under and follows up with a left that Hughes also avoids with ease.
A countering left hand to the body from Hughes misses.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Hughes closes the distance and clinches up with Forde, looking for a takedown. Hughes pushes Forde against the cage but Forde circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Joshua Forde has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Adrian Hughes.

Forde shoots in and bounces Hughes off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Forde controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Forde is in close to Hughes's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Forde works over Hughes with some ground and pound from guard.
Hughes has been taking part in the yoga sessions down at The Factory. Presumably he's going to look for a slick submission... Or maybe he's looking to avoid one.
Forde landing with the ground and pound.
Forde postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Forde scoring with punches to the head and body.
Forde lands a couple of digs.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Forde not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hughes looking to control.
Hughes wants to stand but Forde is controlling the position.
Forde with a nice head shot there.
Forde is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.

Hughes looking for a guillotine here but Forde defends easily.

Hughes is looking for a triangle but Forde pushes his legs off easily.
Forde really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Forde chips away with some ground and pound.
Forde with a nice head shot there.
Forde controlling from the top position.
Forde postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Hughes wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Forde is now in half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Forde lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Forde slips a nice elbow through Hughes's hands, connecting with Hughes's forehead.
Forde is looking to advance position but Hughes won't allow it.
Forde 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.
Forde trying to control from Hughes's half guard. Hughes has other ideas though and has regained full guard.
Forde wants to control from the top but Hughes keeps moving.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Hughes controls Forde momentarily but Forde frees himself.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Joshua Forde dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Forde closes the distance and after a bit of a stuggle, scores a takedown into Hughes's guard.

Hughes is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Forde is aware though and is defending well.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Forde's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Forde has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Hughes is trying to keep Forde in close.
Forde trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Forde with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Forde makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Forde keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Hughes's head.
Forde is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Forde stopping the sweep attempt from Hughes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Forde with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Forde seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Forde is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Forde landing some decent shots from guard.
Forde pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Hughes is keeping the position for now.
Hughes is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Hughes might have to switch it up a bit here because his efforts to control Forde haven't been going to plan, at least at the current moment in time.
Forde works over Hughes with some ground and pound from guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Forde content to stall in guard here.
Forde is working Hughes over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Hughes trying to keep a closed guard but Forde is proving a slippery customer.
Hughes manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Forde manages to get himself to full guard.

Hughes wants to pass the guard but Forde is keeping the position.
Forde is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Hughes can do to turn this around?
Forde wants to control here, rather than go for any submissions from the bottom. At least for now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hughes trying to control the position from guard on top but Forde is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Forde looking for a sweep. Not yet Forde, not yet.
Forde on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Forde tries to get out of the position.
Forde pulls Hughes in close to prevent any damage.
Forde looking to hit a scissor sweep but Hughes is one step ahead there.
Forde keeping moving, preventing Hughes from controlling successfully.
Joshua Forde overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

The fighters are working up against the cage. Forde 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.
Hughes misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Forde.
Forde managing to block the knees to the body from Hughes.
Hughes throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Hughes has a couple of punches blocked by Forde.
Hughes dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Hughes misses with a punch to the body.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Joshua Forde dominated that second round.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Forde misses with a takedown
and Hughes makes him pay by landing a nice hook to the body before moving out of range.
Horrible takedown attempt by Hughes or perhaps it was just good defense by Forde, which made it look bad.
Forde throws a big counter combination but Hughes scrambles out of danger and avoids any damage.
Forde misses with a takedown attempt
and Hughes counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Forde lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Forde slaps away a takedown attempt from Hughes, before circling back to the center of the mat.
As Hughes looks to move away, Forde throws a big counter combo but Hughes just gets out of the way.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Forde doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Hughes counters with a stiff right hand.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Joshua Forde. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Forde drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Forde scores with punches from side control.
Hughes takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Hughes is not content to let Forde control the position.
Forde scoring with punches and elbows.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Forde scores with punches from side control.
Forde scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Hughes to see if he's OK.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Forde is working Hughes over with some ground and pound from side control.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Hughes is not in a great position here, taking some shots.

Hughes is rocked!
Forde working the ground and pound.
Hughes is still in real trouble! Can Forde finish him?
Forde scoring with punches and elbows.
Forde scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Hughes to see if he's OK.
Forde working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Forde in side control here. He's dropped a big elbow there and Hughes looks hurt! Oh, he is hurt! Forde turns on the heat and pounds him out for a TKO victory! Good killer instinct there!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:53 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Joshua Forde!
Joshua Forde decided to hype himself up post fight. It was going well but he went on about it a bit too long and the crowd turned on him a little.