PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Bubba Joe (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Donald Cross (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Cross has chosen You're A Jerk as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Bubba Joe has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Joe
vs
Cross

173 cm
21
135 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

175 cm
18
144 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Determined

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 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Bubba Joe!
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, Donald Cross!
The judges for this bout are Columbo Gatti, Joseph Jones and Anthony Taglia.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Cross is looking to clinch.
Cross fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Cross shoots in looking for a takedown. Joe tries to sprawl out of it but Cross keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Joe manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Cross tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.

Cross gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Joe tries to land a knee to the head but Cross blocks with his arms.
Nice elbow from Joe.
Cross trying to land knees to the body.
Joe using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Cross has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Cross.
Cross is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
Bubba Joe has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Donald Cross.
Joe with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Joe lands a left hand that snaps the head of Cross backwards.
Joe tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Joe stalling in the clinch but Cross improves position.

Cross jumps guard.
Joe wants to stand but Cross is controlling his posture from full guard.
Joe is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Joe preventing the sweep.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Cross is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.

Cross is looking for a triangle but Joe pushes his legs off easily.
Joe wants to stand and escape but instead Cross has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.
Cross wants to control from the top but Joe keeps moving.

Cross decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Nice defenses there by Cross.
Joe keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Joe showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Cross.
Cross looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Joe is fending him off so far but Cross persists. Nope, Joe circles away and we're back to standing.
The fight stays on the outside here - Joe looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Joe tries to close the distance and clinch up but Cross swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Joe stuffs the takedown.
Bubba Joe is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Joe tries to clinch but Cross moves away

and Cross counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Joe wants to stand up but Cross is controlling him.
Cross trying to control but Joe is working from the bottom.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Cross is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Cross trying to control but Joe is working from the bottom.
Cross throwing strikes but missing.
Joe keeping moving, preventing Cross from controlling successfully.
Joe wants to stand up but Cross is controlling him.
Joe manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Cross can't escape the position.

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.
Joe avoids the attempt from Cross to control.
Joe punching from mount but Cross doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Cross is wriggling around trying to escape.
Cross slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
Cross wants to control but Joe is keeping busy.
Joe wants to stand but Cross has hold of a leg and an arm, so he's trapped for now.
Cross is looking to improve his position.
Joe lands with a punch from half guard.
Joe is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Cross keeping hold of Joe's head, controlling as best he can.
Joe wants to get back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Cross shoots in for a double leg but Joe sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Cross avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Horrible takedown by Cross or perhaps it was just good defense by Joe which made him look bad.
Joe throws a one two combo.
Joe lands a body shot.
Joe blocks a leg kick.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Joe, right into the meat.
Cross is breathing heavily.

Joe gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Joe breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Bubba Joe is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Cross fails with the takedown.
Bubba Joe has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Donald Cross.
Joe tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Joe tries to clinch there but Cross circles away.
Cross closes the distance and clinches up with Joe, looking for a takedown. Cross pushes Joe against the cage but Joe circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Cross ducks under a wild hook from Joe.
Cross wants to clinch.
Cross has a takedown stuffed.
Cross pivots as if he's going to throw a leg kick but stops half way.

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.
Nice sprawl there from Joe as Cross shoots in.
The fight stays on the outside here - Joe looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Joe looks to clinch
and Cross counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Joe fails in his attempt to clinch.

Joe instigates a clinch.
Joe scores with a knee to the head.

Cross breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Joe tries a head kick but it misses.
Joe doesn't manage to clinch there - Cross circles away.

Cross shoots in for a takedown and gets it.

Cross is working for a kimura but Joe is defending it quite comfortably.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Joe taking some punishment here, with Cross in his half guard.
Cross passes to side control.
Joe is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Cross is controlling him well.
Cross lands a nice forearm strike.
Joe is looking for a sweep.
Joe dodges the ground and pound from Cross.
Joe is putting a lot of effort into getting back to his feet here.

Cross stands up and beckons Joe to his feet.

Joe clinches up with Cross and pushes him back against the cage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Joe scores a nice knee to the body.
Cross jumps guard but Joe stands there with Cross around his waist. Cross gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Joe gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Cross fails to pull guard.

Cross successfully pulls guard.
Cross looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Joe puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.
Cross is trying is best to control the position here.
Cross moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.

Cross working for a triangle but Joe defends it easily.
Cross seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.
Cross looking to control.
Cross looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Joe wanted to stand there but Cross had control of the position.
Joe is fighting to break Cross's control of his arms but Cross is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Donald Cross will probably get the nod - 10:9.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Joe wants to clinch

and Cross counters with a nice double leg into side control. Joe won't be happy with that.
Cross working the head with strikes.
Joe struggling a bit here.
Joe is looking to regain half guard here but Cross keeps moving and retains side control.
Joe tries to escape but Cross is in control.

Cross has hold of Joe's arm. He's looking for a kimura. Joe seems comfortable defending it but Cross has shifted his position slighty and is cranking on the arm! Joe is real pain and he's forced to tap out! Joe is disgusted with himself for not defending it better but Cross couldn't care less - he's delighted!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:37 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Donald Cross!