PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Urijah Faber (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joseph Smith (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The crowd giving both fighters a great reception on their way into the arena. That's good to see.

Faber
vs
Smith

168 cm
22
145 lbs
0 - 3 - 0

180 cm
18
145 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Good takedowns
Brawler
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 3 - 0, fighting out of New York, Urijah Faber!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Joseph Smith!
The judges for this bout are John Roberts, Russell Pearce and Chad Campbell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Smith goes for a high kick. It partially lands.

Faber closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Smith is trying to stand back up but Faber is controlling him
Smith really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Faber. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Faber working the head and body with strikes.

Faber postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Smith to stand up.
Faber tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Smith was well out of range. Poor timing from Faber.
Smith tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Faber takes a head kick and keeps coming.
Faber tries to shoot in for a takedown. He's got hold of a leg but Smith swivels and escapes.
Nice defenses there by Smith.
Smith throws a quick head kick that skims the top of Faber's head.
Smith misses with a head kick.
Smith displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Faber.
Smith lands a kick to the ribs of his opponent. Nice work there - in and out in a flash.
Faber shoots in for a takedown but Smith shows good takedown defense.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Urijah Faber. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Faber takes a kick to the side of the head.
Smith misses the shot to the body.
Smith tries to close the distance and clinch up but Faber swats him away and circles back towards the center.

Faber shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
Faber is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Smith is trying to get back to his feet but can't.
Smith wants to control but Faber is having none of it.
Faber lands a big shot there that rocks Smith but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Smith keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Smith takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Smith keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Smith is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Faber looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Smith in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Smith working to try and regain half guard.
Faber working the ground and pound effectively.
Faber in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Smith is trying to escape the mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Smith is trying to stand up.
Faber scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Smith?
Smith is trying to get back to his feet but can't.
Smith is bucking up trying to escape but Faber cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Smith in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Faber putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Smith wants to control but Faber is having none of it.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Faber cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Faber with good strikes from the mount here!
Smith squirming around on the bottom, looking to escape.
Faber working the ground and pound effectively.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Faber lands a big elbow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Smith is looking to improve his position but Faber isn't that keen on the idea.
Faber landing strikes from the mount and Smith is in trouble!
Smith is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Smith is working to get back to half guard.
Smith tries to buck Faber off but he can't manage it.
Faber landing shots from mount.
The referee warns Smith that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
A nice elbow there by Faber.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Faber landing strikes from the mount and Smith is in trouble!
Faber blocks Smith's feeble attempts to strike from the bottom.
Smith takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Faber has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Faber lands with some strikes.
Faber scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Smith?
Smith squirming around on the bottom, looking to escape.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Faber is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Smith can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Faber lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Smith hang on?
Faber avoids the attempt from Smith to control.
Smith is in a horrible position here. Faber smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Faber working Smith over with strikes here.
Faber putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Faber blocks Smith's feeble attempts to strike from the bottom.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Faber cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
A nice elbow there by Faber.
You get the feeling that Smith really doesn't like being in this position too much.
Faber lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Faber landing strikes, looking to finish!
Faber scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Smith?
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Urijah Faber dominated that round.
That's time! Faber's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Faber shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Smith sprawls well. Smith wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Faber gets slowly back to his feet.
Smith connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Smith with a poor takedown

and Faber counters with a shoot takedown. Smith fights it but they end up in guard.
Smith is trying to keep Faber in close.
Faber working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Faber is looking to work some ground and pound but Smith has wrist control.
Smith utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Smith wants to sweep but no luck.
Smith wants to stand but Faber is controlling the position.

Smith pushes Faber off and gets back to his feet.
Faber takes a head kick and keeps coming.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Smith gets caught flat footed, as Faber shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.
Faber advances position into side control!
Faber cracks Smith with a big right hand but Smith just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Faber cracks Smith with a big right hand but Smith just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Smith struggling a bit here.
Faber lands some shots froms side control.
Faber is chipping away with strikes.
Faber lands a nice forearm strike.
Smith is trying to get back to his feet.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

Faber bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.

Faber decides to stand up, so the ref orders Smith to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nice takedown defense from Smith. No joy for Faber on that attempt.
Smith shoots and misses

and Faber counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Smith is trying to maintain the position but Faber is very close to passing his half guard.

Faber looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Nice strikes from Faber there.
Urijah Faber overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Smith is trying to stand.
Smith has hold of Faber's hands but Faber slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Smith is trying to maintain the position but Faber is very close to passing his half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Faber lands with a punch from half guard.
Smith misses with some strikes from the bottom.
Faber lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Smith trying to hold on to Faber's head to control him but Faber postures up.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Smith misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
A punch combination from Faber misses.
Smith throws a nice head kick!
Smith takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Urijah Faber seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Smith throws a head kick that connects with a bit of head and a bit of hand.

Faber scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.
Faber working the head and body with strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Smith wants to get back to his feet.
Faber scores with a couple of short elbows.
Smith wants to control but Faber postures up.

Faber is in a dominant position here, looking for a kimura. Smith looks calm but he's in trouble here. Faber gets his leg over his opponent's head and yanks on the arm. Smith is tapping like a morse code operator on the titanic! SOS! SOS! Faber lets go of the hold and Smith can pop his arm back in it's socket.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:47 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Urijah Faber!