PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Blaze Cunningham (ranked 2226 p4p, 3626 weight class) and Rhett Marquez (ranked 215 p4p, 318 weight class). Cunningham comes to the cage accompanied by Empire State Of Mind. Blaze Cunningham has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Cunningham
vs
Marquez

183 cm
28
167
6 - 3 - 0

176 cm
19
166
2 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Decent boxing
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 6 - 3 - 0, fighting out of New York, Blaze Cunningham!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Rhett Marquez!
The judges for this bout are Franklyn Lucas, Joseph Jones and Anthony Taglia.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Cunningham throws a head kick but Marquez moves out of range.
Marquez throws out a counter right but Cunningham avoids it with no problem.
Cunningham throws a head kick that half lands.
Cunningham connects with a leg kick.
A big left from Cunningham misses.
A little jabbing left from Marquez on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.
Cunningham misses with a series of wild punches.
Marquez swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Cunningham plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
Blaze Cunningham seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Cunningham jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
Cunningham lands a head kick!

Marquez is rocked!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marquez avoids the head kick by Cunningham.
Cunningham lands a leg kick that knocks Marquez off balance momentarily.
Cunningham throws a right and a left that both miss.
Marquez looks like he wants to counter punch here.
Cunningham lands with a thumping leg kick.
Marquez takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Marquez avoids the head kick by Cunningham.
Marquez wants to counter with a clinch but Cunningham pushes him away.
A kick lands to the mid section there for Cunningham.
Cunningham with the inside leg kick.
Marquez looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
Cunningham throws a good cross that connects.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Cunningham tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Marquez wants to counter with a clinch but Cunningham pushes him away.
Marquez takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
A combination from Cunningham does no damage.
Marquez wants to counter the offense by Cunningham and move into the clinch position.
Cunningham dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Cunningham looking to land some kicks to the body here.
Marquez wants to counter with a clinch but Cunningham pushes him away.
Cunningham lands with a thumping leg kick.
Cunningham fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Marquez manages to avoid it.

Marquez tries to sprawl but Cunningham drives through with a takedown into half guard.
Cunningham prevents Marquez from improving his position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marquez regains full guard. Nicely done.
Cunningham won't allow Marquez to sweep him here.
Marquez lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Marquez tries to stand but Cunningham is controlling from the bottom.
Cunningham managing to control the position.

Marquez got a little sloppy there for a moment and Cunningham has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Marquez has managed to get both his arms back between Cunningham's legs - danger averted.
Marquez throwing strikes but missing.
Marquez trying to stand up but can't free himself from Cunningham's guard.
Marquez tries to free his leg and advance position but Cunningham is retaining full guard.

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

Marquez looking for a sweep. Not yet Marquez, not yet.
Marquez lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Marquez works a leg free and moves into half guard.
Cunningham is trying to get back to full guard.
Marquez thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Cunningham's head.
Cunningham wants to get back to full guard.
Cunningham keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Cunningham is trying to get back to full guard.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Blaze Cunningham dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Cunningham closes the distance and after a bit of a stuggle, scores a takedown into Marquez's guard.
Marquez wants to sweep here but Cunningham controlling him for the moment.
Cunningham makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Cunningham with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Marquez tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Cunningham showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Marquez looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Cunningham working some strikes from top position.
Cunningham advances position into side control!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marquez is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Marquez is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Marquez gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.
Marquez taking some punishment here, with Cunningham in his half guard.
Cunningham controlling the action here.
Marquez is trying to get back to full guard.
Cunningham not doing much here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are battling for position here. Marquez manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Cunningham slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Marquez is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Cunningham connects with a couple of short punches.
Marquez wants to sweep here but Cunningham controlling him for the moment.
Marquez keeps trying to improve his position.
Cunningham trying to control but Marquez is working from the bottom.
Blaze Cunningham overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Marquez manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Cunningham manages to get himself to full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marquez pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Cunningham is keeping the position for now.

Marquez avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Marquez slips nicely into half guard.
Cunningham has hold of Marquez's hands but Marquez slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Cunningham is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Marquez can do to turn this around?
Marquez stops Cunningham from getting back to his feet.
Marquez trying to mount his opponent but Cunningham defends it.
Marquez missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Marquez sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Cunningham defending well though.
Cunningham on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Cunningham tries to get out of the position.
Marquez moves into full mount! Cunningham won't be happy about that!
Marquez throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Cunningham is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Marquez punching from mount but Cunningham doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Cunningham avoids a series of strikes thrown by Marquez.
Marquez misses with some ground and pound and Cunningham recovers position to half guard.
Marquez throwing shots but Cunningham is blocking nicely.
Cunningham is trying to get back to full guard.
Cunningham moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Marquez wants to pass the guard but Cunningham is keeping the position.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

Marquez avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Marquez wants to pass the guard but Cunningham is keeping the position.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Rhett Marquez will probably get the nod - 10:9.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Marquez dodges the punch combination from Cunningham.
Cunningham throws a solid leg kick but Marquez takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Cunningham.
Cunningham looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.

Cunningham darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Cunningham wants to control but Marquez is keeping him busy.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Marquez is looking for a sweep. Cunningham is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Cunningham lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marquez tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Cunningham has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
Marquez tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Marquez gets back to half guard.
Cunningham takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Marquez is looking to improve his position.
Cunningham not doing much here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Cunningham passes to full mount!
Marquez can't escape the position.

Cunningham looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
Marquez is trying desperately to improve position.

Marquez defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Cunningham.
Marquez can't escape the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marquez regains half guard.
Cunningham prevents Marquez from improving his position.
Cunningham passes the guard and advances to mount!
Marquez is desperately trying to improve his position but Cunningham has a good base and remains in mount.

Cunningham working to secure an arm triangle but it's not happening for him just yet.
Marquez is looking to get to half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Cunningham controlling his opponent.
Cunningham working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Marquez tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Cunningham scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Marquez?
Marquez tries to reverse the position but Cunningham maintains control.
Marquez is flailing around like a fish out of water, trying to land strikes.
Cunningham can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Marquez is looking to escape.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

Cunningham working for a submission but Marquez is keeping him at bay.

And that's the end of the fight!
Blaze Cunningham showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Cunningham 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 Franklyn Lucas scores the fight 29:28
Judge Joseph Jones scores the fight 29:28
Judge Anthony Taglia scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Blaze Cunningham!
Blaze Cunningham decided to thank the fans in attendance for making a great atmosphere. It seemed to go down pretty well.