PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Thomas Payne (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Andres Bonifacio (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.

Payne
vs
Bonifacio

170 cm
25
210 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

225 cm
25
215 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Granite chin

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Thomas Payne!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Andres Bonifacio!
The judges for this bout are Yasuomi Hirokawa, Yukihiro Shimada and Yuuki Gou.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Bonifacio tries to clinch up.

Bonifacio tries to sprawl but Payne drives through with a takedown into half guard.
Payne not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Payne wants to take a breather but Bonifacio is having none of it.
Payne is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Payne takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Payne's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.
Payne tries to pass to full mount but Bonifacio defends it.
Payne looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Payne lands with a punch from half guard.
Bonifacio is trying to stand back up but Payne is controlling him

That's one minute gone in the round.
Payne is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Payne is trying to control the action in half guard but Bonifacio is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Bonifacio avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Payne.
Payne winds up and cracks Bonifacio with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Payne sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Bonifacio avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Payne.
Payne thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Bonifacio's head.
Payne wants to pass to mount but Bonifacio is defending the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Payne controlling the action here.
Bonifacio looks gassed!
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Payne seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Bonifacio for as long as he can get away with.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Thomas Payne wasn't doing enough on the ground.
Bonifacio stuffs the takedown.

Payne closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Payne thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Bonifacio's head.

Payne is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Payne content to control rather than advance.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Payne works his way into side control.

Payne wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Bonifacio, who protects the arm well.
Payne lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Payne scores with punches from side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Bonifacio is trying to escape the position but Payne is controlling the position.
Payne lands a few punches from side control.
Payne working the head with strikes.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Payne happy to just control the position for now.
Bonifacio is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Payne lands an elbow.
Payne 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.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Payne landing a few strikes.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thomas Payne dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Horrible takedown by Payne or perhaps it was just good defense by Bonifacio which made him look bad.

Payne gets the takedown into side control.
Payne lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Bonifacio taking punishment in the form of punches.
Payne lands a nice forearm strike.
Payne scores with a couple of short elbows.
The strikes coming from Payne are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Payne controlling the position.
Bonifacio is breathing heavily.
Payne advances to full mount.
Payne landing strikes from the mount.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A nice elbow there by Payne.
Bonifacio is bucking up trying to escape but Payne cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Payne postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Bonifacio looks a forlorn figure.
Payne tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.

Payne quickly switches position and commits to an armbar! It's a big risk for Payne but it's paid off an Bonifacio is forced to tap! Nice work by Payne.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:52 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Thomas Payne!