PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Rodrigo Rodriguez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Chad Benavidez (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.

Rodriguez
vs
Benavidez

162 cm
18
142 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

167 cm
25
143 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Determined

Boomerang! Costume Shop ($12 Fun Gear)

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Rodrigo Rodriguez!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Chad Benavidez!
The judges for this bout are Damien Edna, Skip Squint and Steve Erwin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Rodriguez lands with a good body shot.
Benavidez has his head slapped from side to side by a 3 punch combination. That must have hurt him.
A slow jab from Rodriguez misses its intended target.
Rodriguez loads up on a big right hand but Benavidez slips the punch.
Rodriguez scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Benavidez takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
Benavidez misses with a series of wild punches.

Benavidez fakes an overhand right and shoots for a takedown. Rodriguez sprawls well initially but Benavidez persists and gets the takedown into half guard.

Benavidez wants to work for an arm triangle but Rodriguez is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.
Rodriguez is looking to improve his position.
Rodriguez blocking the ground and pound attempt from Benavidez.
Benavidez is nestled in close to Rodriguez, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Rodriguez wants to improve his position but Benavidez is controlling well.
Benavidez trying to control from half guard but Rodriguez is working away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rodriguez has a hand on Benavidez's thigh, trying to get back to full guard. Benavidez takes advantage of the position though and mounts him!
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Benavidez controlling his opponent.
Rodriguez really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Rodriguez is working hard here to advance position.
Rodriguez is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Benavidez lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Benavidez with the ground and pound from mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez controlling his opponent.
Rodriguez is squirming around, avoiding Benavidez's attempts to control the action.
Rodriguez knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Benavidez on the ground.
Benavidez scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Rodriguez?
Benavidez lands a heavy elbow.
Benavidez fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Rodriguez throwing hammer fists to the chest of Benavidez. What's that going to do exactly?
Rodriguez throwing hammer fists to the chest of Benavidez. What's that going to do exactly?
Benavidez prevents Rodriguez from getting the reversal.
Benavidez postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Rodriguez looks a forlorn figure.
Benavidez scores with a couple of good head shots there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez lands with some strikes.
Rodriguez throwing hammer fists to the chest of Benavidez. What's that going to do exactly?
Benavidez with a couple of short strikes.
Rodriguez is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Rodriguez is breathing heavily.
Benavidez is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Benavidez controlling the position easily from mount.
Benavidez landing punches.
Benavidez lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Benavidez lands a heavy elbow.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Benavidez working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Rodriguez really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Benavidez with good strikes from the mount here!
Benavidez tries to control but Rodriguez wriggling away.
Rodriguez is looking to get to half guard.
Benavidez lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Benavidez landing strikes, looking to finish!
Benavidez landing strikes from the mount.
Benavidez has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Benavidez breaks from Rodriguez's wrist control and lands an elbow.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chad Benavidez dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Benavidez shoots in but Rodriguez avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Benavidez misses with a hook.
Rodriguez thuds his right hand into Benavidez's forehead from close range. That could be painful for both fighters.
Rodriguez stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Rodriguez wants it to stay on the feet.
Benavidez takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.

Benavidez feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Benavidez 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.
Rodriguez looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Benavidez is breathing heavily.
Benavidez chips away with some ground and pound.

Benavidez stands up from Rodriguez's guard - Benavidez perhaps looking for a knockout.
Rodrigo Rodriguez is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Rodriguez connects with a good right hand that stumbles Benavidez. Benavidez circles away out of range and recomposes himself.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rodriguez cracks Benavidez with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Nice shot by Rodriguez.
Rodriguez lands a vicious shot with the stealth of a sniper and the strength of a viper. Are vipers that strong? I can think of lots of things that are stronger than a viper - not many rhyme with sniper though.
Rodriguez lands three nice shots there - that looked like it hurt!
Rodriguez misses with a few strikes there.
Benavidez fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Rodriguez avoids it really well and circles away.
Rodrigo Rodriguez has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Chad Benavidez.
Rodriguez misses with a series of wild punches.
A punch combination from Benavidez misses.
Benavidez fails with a takedown attempt.
Rodrigo Rodriguez is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Rodriguez scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
A punch lands to the side of Benavidez 's head but he takes it in his stride.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A combination from Rodriguez does no damage.
Rodriguez swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Rodriguez misses with a jab, cross combination.
Benavidez fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Rodriguez's corner calls for a 1,2 combination and Rodriguez duly obliges.
Benavidez takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.
Nice sprawl there from Rodriguez as Benavidez shoots in.
Benavidez shakes his hands off, looking to compose himself, but takes a jab to the jaw whilst he does it.
The fighters circle momentarily. Rodriguez darts into range and connects with a nice straight punch.
Benavidez takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.
Benavidez walks straight into a jab right on the nose. That one stung - he's blinking and trying to clear his head.
Rodriguez ducks down and throws a hook to the body.
Benavidez takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Rodriguez throws a combination. Benavidez tries to block but a couple of punches get through.
Rodriguez goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Rodriguez is working the combinations to good effect here.
Rodriguez throws a nice looking combination but Benavidez bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez shoots for a takedown but Rodriguez saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Jab by Rodriguez.
Rodriguez looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Rodriguez stooping low to avoid any incoming strikes and then lunges in with an uppercut come cross that lands flush.
Benavidez is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
Rodriguez scores with a punch to the head.
Benavidez is trying hard to land a takedown here. Rodriguez sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
Rodriguez scores with a nice strike.
Rodriguez works the jab nicely.
Good exchange - Rodriguez coming out on top.
Rodriguez uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.
Rodriguez fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Rodriguez lands a really nice looking cross but Benavidez seems unphased.
Rodriguez throws a one two combo.

Benavidez darts in and clinches Rodriguez up against the cage.
Benavidez has a pretty nasty looking mouse under his right eye.

Benavidez gets a trip takedown into half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez throwing shots but Rodriguez is blocking nicely.
Rodriguez is looking to improve his position.
Rodriguez throws a strike from the bottom that misses.
Benavidez throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Benavidez trying to control from half guard but Rodriguez is working away.
Benavidez is thwarting Rodriguez's attempts to control the position.
Rodriguez tries to get to full guard but Benavidez has control of the leg.
Nice strikes from Benavidez there.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rodrigo Rodriguez dominated that second round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Benavidez shakes his hands off, looking to compose himself, but takes a jab to the jaw whilst he does it.

Benavidez feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Rodriguez wants to get back to his feet but Benavidez is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Benavidez advances position into side control!
Benavidez scoring with punches from side control.
Benavidez scoring with punches from side control.
Rodriguez is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Benavidez is controlling him well.
Benavidez slips into full mount, dodging the strikes by Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is bucking up trying to escape but Benavidez cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Rodriguez taking shots to the head.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rodriguez is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Benavidez landing shots from mount.
Benavidez lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Rodriguez hang on?
Rodriguez is looking to get to half guard.
Rodriguez is in a horrible position here. Benavidez smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Benavidez with the ground and pound from mount.
Benavidez raining down shots from the mount!
Rodriguez is bucking up trying to escape but Benavidez cracks him with another couple of good strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez landing punches.
Benavidez is landing with some decent strikes but Rodriguez is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Benavidez lands a heavy elbow.
Benavidez controlling the pace for now.
Benavidez scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Rodriguez?
The referee warns Rodriguez that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Benavidez with a couple of short strikes.

Benavidez looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
Rodriguez throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Benavidez pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Chad Benavidez has got the better of the ground game so far.
Rodriguez is in a horrible position here. Benavidez smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Benavidez unloading with bombs!
Rodriguez throwing hammer fists to the chest of Benavidez. What's that going to do exactly?

Benavidez swings around for an armbar but it's a sloppy attempt and Rodriguez is now in Benavidez's guard. A big mistake from Benavidez there, giving up the dominant position!

Benavidez escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Rodriguez gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Rodriguez is looking to stand up but Benavidez won't let him.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Rodriguez throws and elbow that misses. Benavidez uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Rodriguez's guard. Nice move by Benavidez!
Benavidez is in close to Rodriguez's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Benavidez trying to control the position from guard on top but Rodriguez is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Benavidez gets to his feet - Rodriguez follows without any prompting.
Benavidez fails with a takedown attempt.
A jab from Rodriguez finds it's way through Benavidez's defenses.
Benavidez walks into a straight right hand from Rodriguez.
Benavidez lands with a two punch combination before moving back out of range.
Benavidez tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Rodrigo Rodriguez seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Rodriguez fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.

And that's the end of the fight!
Chad Benavidez comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Benavidez has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Damien Edna scores the fight 28:29
Judge Skip Squint scores the fight 28:29
Judge Steve Erwin scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Chad Benavidez!