PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Yago Gutierrez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Emmanuel Baptiste (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Gutierrez's ring entrance music is that housewives' favourite, Justified by AMEN. I can't wait for this one - let's get the fighter introductions out of the way and get this one started!

Gutierrez
vs
Baptiste

187 cm
27
190 lbs
10 - 3 - 0

185 cm
26
195 lbs
13 - 7 - 1

Good wrestling
Solid boxing
Very quick

ADCC Champion
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 10 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Yago Gutierrez!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 13 - 7 - 1, fighting out of St Petersburg, Emmanuel Baptiste!
The judges for this bout are Ivan Kurochkin, Igor Prikhodko and Valeri Chadov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Baptiste scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Baptiste looks to land a right hand but Gutierrez moved out of range.
The fight stays on the outside here - Gutierrez looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

Baptiste 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.
Baptiste stopping the sweep attempt from Gutierrez.
Baptiste trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Baptiste controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Gutierrez is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Gutierrez has momentary wrist control but Baptiste slips an elbow through the middle.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gutierrez looking to hit a scissor sweep but Baptiste is one step ahead there.
Baptiste is in close to Gutierrez's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Gutierrez working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Baptiste.
Baptiste trying to control but Gutierrez is working from the bottom.
Baptiste in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Baptiste stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Gutierrez swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Baptiste won't allow Gutierrez to sweep him here.
Gutierrez working a defensive guard here.
Gutierrez 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.

That's two 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.
Gutierrez trying to control the position here.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Baptiste accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Gutierrez working a defensive guard here.
Gutierrez is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Baptiste is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Yago Gutierrez.
Baptiste doesn't manage to clinch there - Gutierrez circles away.

Baptiste takes the fight into the clinch.
Baptiste lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.
Baptiste is working Gutierrez over against the cage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Baptiste can't get the takedown.
Baptiste blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Baptiste tries to circle away but Gutierrez has him pinned against the cage.
Baptiste is trying to break the clinch but Gutierrez is controlling him.
Baptiste wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Baptiste looking to stall.
A right hand to the body from Gutierrez.
Baptiste avoiding damage.
Gutierrez tries a body shot but Baptiste blocks it.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from Gutierrez.
The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Gutierrez throws a head punch that misses.
Gutierrez throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
A short uppercut from Gutierrez.
Gutierrez prevents Baptiste from breaking the clinch.
Baptiste digs a right hand underneath Gutierrez's ribcage. Gutierrez let out a lung full of air as it connected.
A head punch on the inside from Gutierrez fails to land.
Baptiste tries to break free but Gutierrez pushes him back against the cage.
Gutierrez lands with a short head shot on the inside.
Baptiste wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Baptiste misses with a hook to the ribs.
Baptiste is working for takedown but Gutierrez is calmly controlling the position for now.
Baptiste blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Baptiste can't break the clinch.
Baptiste is trying to force a seperation but Gutierrez has the dominant position.
Gutierrez is pushing Baptiste up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
Nice body punch from Gutierrez.

Baptiste's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Gutierrez lands a slapping body shot.
Baptiste swings for the body but Gutierrez moves out of range.
Gutierrez fails in his attempt to clinch.
Gutierrez wants to clinch.
Baptiste fails to land with a series of punches.
Baptiste jabbing away but nothing is landing.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Baptiste connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Baptiste looks to score with a jab to the body but Gutierrez is just out of range.
Baptiste tries to shoot in for a takedown. He's got hold of a leg but Gutierrez swivels and escapes.
Baptiste on the wrong end of a nice jab.
Gutierrez misses the shot to the body.
Baptiste takes a shot to the body in his stride.
Gutierrez tries to move into range but Baptiste moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Gutierrez misses with a wild body shot.

Baptiste looking for a takedown here - he's got it.
Baptiste looking to pass the guard.
Baptiste stopping the sweep attempt from Gutierrez.
Baptiste passes easily into side control. Nice work.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Baptiste is looking to take a break and control but Gutierrez is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Baptiste sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Gutierrez is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.
Baptiste has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Gutierrez manages to work his way to half guard, despite Baptiste's best efforts.
Baptiste wants to control but Gutierrez is keeping him busy.
Gutierrez trying to control from the bottom.
Gutierrez regains full guard. Nicely done.

Gutierrez escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Baptiste gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.

That's two 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.
Baptiste postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Gutierrez looking to hit a scissor sweep but Baptiste is one step ahead there.
Gutierrez keeping moving, preventing Baptiste from controlling successfully.
Gutierrez avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Baptiste wants to control from the top but Gutierrez keeps moving.
Baptiste pushes down on Gutierrez's leg and manages to get into half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Baptiste keeping composed on the top, looking to control the action.
Gutierrez moves into full guard.
Baptiste preventing the sweep.
Gutierrez is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Baptiste wants to control from the top but Gutierrez keeps moving.
Baptiste is looking to work some ground and pound but Gutierrez has wrist control.

That's four 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.
Baptiste looking to sit in guard and control but Gutierrez gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Gutierrez stopping the sweep attempt from Baptiste.

Baptiste is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Baptiste keeping moving, preventing Gutierrez from controlling successfully.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Emmanuel Baptiste showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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!

Baptiste throws a body punch but Gutierrez moves out of range.
The fight stays on the outside here - Gutierrez looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Baptiste ducks under a wild hook from Gutierrez.

Baptiste shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Gutierrez's guard.
Baptiste trying to control the position from guard on top but Gutierrez is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Gutierrez bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Baptiste's guard.
Gutierrez is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Gutierrez postures up and lands a big shot to Baptiste's brow.

Gutierrez avoids a guillotine attempt easily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gutierrez stopping the sweep attempt from Baptiste.
Gutierrez wants to control from the top but Baptiste keeps moving.
Baptiste wants to sweep but no luck.
Baptiste wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Gutierrez is now in half guard.

That's two 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.
Gutierrez is thwarting Baptiste's attempts to control the position.
Gutierrez with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
Gutierrez throwing shots but Baptiste is blocking nicely.
Gutierrez seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Baptiste does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Gutierrez prevents Baptiste from improving his position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.
Gutierrez slows the pace down in half guard.
Yago Gutierrez has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

We're going to have a standup here because Yago Gutierrez wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.
Gutierrez uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Baptiste.
Baptiste gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Nice uppercut there from Gutierrez.
Gutierrez misses with a wild body shot.
Gutierrez wants to clinch
and Baptiste cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Baptiste just misses with a punch to the body.
Baptiste misses with a looping right.
Gutierrez is looking to wear down Baptiste with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
A jab from Baptiste misses.
The fighters circling - Gutierrez throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Baptiste throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.

Gutierrez closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Baptiste quickly recovers to half guard.
Emmanuel Baptiste is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Gutierrez trying to control from half guard but Baptiste is working away.
Gutierrez missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Baptiste trying to control here.
Baptiste tries to get to full guard but Gutierrez has control of the leg.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Gutierrez throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.

And that's the end of the fight!
Yago Gutierrez showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Baptiste has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 28:29
Judge Igor Prikhodko scores the fight 28:29
Judge Valeri Chadov scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Emmanuel Baptiste!