PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Karim Chamakh (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ricardo Martinez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chamakh comes to the cage accompanied by Linda Sundblad - To All My Girls. Karim Chamakh has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Chamakh
vs
Martinez

168 cm
19
185 lbs
8 - 0 - 0

183 cm
23
185 lbs
4 - 1 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter striker
Very quick

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
Powerful

Vandal Fight Boutique

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the middleweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 8 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Karim Chamakh!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Ricardo Martinez!
The judges for this bout are Viktor Lagutenko, Vladimir Khabensky and Sergei Dronov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Chamakh ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.

Chamakh shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Chamakh was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Martinez is wriggling around trying to escape.
Martinez is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Chamakh looking to control but Martinez is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Chamakh controlling the pace for now.
We could do with one of the fighters taking the initiative a bit more on the ground - they're both waiting to capitalize on a mistake.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez is in all sorts of trouble here.
Martinez tries to hold on but Chamakh pushes him away.
Martinez is trying to avoid being dragged into an even worse position than he's already in but Chamakh is staying active.
Martinez wants to use the cage to get back to his feet here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Martinez is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Martinez avoids a series of strikes thrown by Chamakh.
Chamakh has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Martinez's face.

It looks like Ricardo Martinez has been cut.
Chamakh controlling the position easily from mount.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Chamakh cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Chamakh sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Chamakh throwing strikes here but Martinez is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Martinez tries to reverse the position but Chamakh maintains control.
Martinez is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Chamakh tries to control but Martinez wriggling away.
Chamakh throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Chamakh trying to control but Martinez is having none of it.
Chamakh is really struggling to control Martinez but he's trying to hold on to the position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Karim Chamakh dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Ricardo Martinez's cut.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

The fighters are starting to get sweaty, which will make takedowns a bit more tricky.
Martinez misses with a wild body shot.
Martinez lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Chamakh circles away quickly and effectively.

Chamakh closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Martinez keeps control of the position for the meantime.
Martinez wants to improve his position but Chamakh is controlling well.
Chamakh is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez trying to hold on to Chamakh's head to control him but Chamakh postures up.
Chamakh works his foot free and advances to mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Chamakh throws some wild stikes that Martinez manages to avoid easily.
Chamakh with the ground and pound from mount.

That has opened up Ricardo Martinez's cut even more.
Chamakh controlling his opponent.
Martinez gets back to half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Chamakh controlling the action here.
Martinez is trying to control but can't.
Chamakh slows the pace down in half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Chamakh thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Martinez's head.
Chamakh is pressing down on Martinez's thigh, looking to free his foot. Martinez is holding on for now.
Martinez is controlling Chamakh's position as best he can from this difficult position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Karim Chamakh dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Ricardo Martinez's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Martinez misses with a few strikes there.
Martinez getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Chamakh shoots for a takedown but Martinez saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Chamakh fails with the takedown.
Martinez misses with the combination.
Martinez misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.

Chamakh darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Chamakh looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez trying to control here.
Chamakh lands strikes from half guard.
Chamakh is taking a breather. Martinez says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Martinez won't allow Chamakh to pass to mount.
Chamakh is thwarting Martinez's attempts to control the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Martinez looks to land a combination. Chamakh sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.

It looks like Karim Chamakh has been cut.
Martinez lands a glancing blow to the side of Chamakh's head.
Martinez misses the jab.
Ricardo Martinez is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

Chamakh scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Martinez regains full guard, whilst avoiding punches from Chamakh.
Martinez is trying to control the position but Chamakh postures up.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Martinez keeping moving, preventing Chamakh from controlling successfully.
Martinez looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.
Chamakh throwing strikes but missing.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ricardo Martinez really dominated that round.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
That's time! Chamakh's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Martinez throws a body kick that misses.
Chamakh takes one to the chin there.
Martinez tries a head kick but it misses.
Chamakh takes a body punch but keeps moving.
Martinez misses with the combination.
Left hook, right uppercut from Martinez.
Martinez displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
Martinez misses with a two punch combination.
A combination from Martinez does no damage.
Martinez throws a right and a left that both miss.

Chamakh gets the takedown into side control.
Martinez avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Chamakh.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez wants to control but Chamakh postures up.
Chamakh trying to control the action but Martinez is working from the bottom.
The strikes coming from Chamakh are missing the target in this wave of attacks.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Martinez managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Chamakh.
Chamakh grinds an elbow into Martinez's temple.

The cut above Ricardo Martinez's eye is starting to cause him problems now.
Martinez dodges the ground and pound from Chamakh.
Martinez is not content to let Chamakh control the position.
Martinez avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Chamakh.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Chamakh remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Chamakh working away.
Chamakh wants to control but Martinez is keeping him busy.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ricardo Martinez dominated that fourth round.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

Chamakh uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Martinez.
A combination from Martinez does no damage.
Martinez throws a low kick but Chamakh avoids it.
Chamakh fails with a takedown attempt.
Martinez scores with a one two! Chamakh had his feet all tangled up there and couldn't avoid the strikes.
Martinez bobs and weaves and throws out a fast jab that snaps Chamakh's head backwards.
Martinez misses with a two punch combination.
A slow jab from Martinez misses its intended target.
Chamakh slips under a jab.
Chamakh showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Martinez.

Chamakh decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Chamakh missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Chamakh throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Martinez is looking to improve his position.
Chamakh stalling.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Martinez wants to get back to full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Chamakh is trying to work for a kimura but Martinez is defending well.
Chamakh sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Martinez is trying to maintain the position but Chamakh is very close to passing his half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Martinez is refusing to be controlled, as Chamakh sits in half guard.
Chamakh is trying to advance to mount but he's lost his balance and Martinez reverses the position - he's now on top in Chamakh's guard.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Chamakh tries to land a sweep but no joy.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Ricardo Martinez.
I think Martinez 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 5 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Viktor Lagutenko scores the fight 47:48
Judge Vladimir Khabensky scores the fight 47:48
Judge Sergei Dronov scores the fight 48:48

In favor of your winner, by majority decision... Ricardo Martinez!
Ricardo Martinez is the new middleweight champion!