PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between barry sanders (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Steven Murray (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.

sanders
vs
Murray

180 cm
18
160 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

178 cm
19
162 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, barry sanders!
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, Steven Murray!
The judges for this bout are David Schapiro, John Kavanagh and John Roberts.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Murray fails to land with a series of punches.
sanders misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
No luck for sanders with that takedown attempt.
Murray moves in looking to clinch but sanders pushes him off.
sanders tries to clinch but Murray is having none of it.
sanders tries to close the distance and clinch up but Murray swats him away and circles back towards the center.
sanders takes a shot to the body in his stride.
sanders swings wildly with a couple of big hooks
and Murray counters with a series of strikes. sanders will be more careful next time no doubt.
Murray throws a right hand that sanders ducks under and follows up with a left that sanders also avoids with ease.
Murray scores with a one two! sanders had his feet all tangled up there and couldn't avoid the strikes.

It looks like barry sanders has been cut.
Murray fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
That's a knee to de groin and it's over and out! sanders crumples to the ground after an illegal strike from Murray - the referee stops the clock and sanders gets 5 minutes to recover from that one. "I'm sorry" says Murray. sanders manages to get back to his feet and the fight resumes.

Murray darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
sanders is refusing to be controlled, as Murray sits in half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Murray decides to stand up and try his luck on the feet.
sanders is breathing heavily.
sanders misses with a takedown attempt - Murray sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for barry sanders. That's going to take a lot out of him.
sanders avoids the clinch attempt nicely.

Murray darts in and clinches sanders up against the cage.
Murray manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Murray drops down looking for an ankle pick but sanders pulls his leg out and moves away.
sanders misses with a double jab.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Murray fails in his attempt to clinch.
Some wild striking there from Murray.
Murray lands with a nice combination. sanders backs away looking to recover.
Murray tries to clinch there but sanders circles away.
sanders tries to clinch but fails miserably

and Murray counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for sanders!
Murray looking to control and managing it successfully.

Murray stands up from mount. Strange move.
This has been an exciting period of action!
sanders misses with a takedown attempt
and Murray counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Murray fails to land with a series of punches.
Murray tries to bum rush sanders with a series of wild strikes but sanders uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Murray cracks sanders with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Murray tries to grapple but his opponent circles

and sanders holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
sanders changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Murray fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Murray throws a sloppy head kick

and sanders counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by sanders.
sanders controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
sanders trying to control but Murray is working from the bottom.
sanders lands a couple of elbows.

sanders decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Murray throws a nice looking combination but sanders bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
sanders throws a head kick that misses.
sanders doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Murray counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Murray gets caught flat footed, as sanders shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.
sanders is fighting to break Murray's control of his arms but Murray is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.

sanders gets to his feet. Murray looking to butt scoot but the ref puts an end to that. On your feet son!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for leaving it all in the cage!
Murray darts in trying to clinch

and sanders counters with a single leg into guard. Murray didn't expect that.
sanders won't allow Murray to get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
sanders looking to control the position here, rather than advance.
Murray is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Murray pushes sanders off and gets back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Steven Murray dominated that round.
The cut man is working on barry sanders's cut.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

sanders closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
sanders is looking to stall here but Murray recovers full guard.
Murray throws some sloppy strikes off his back.
sanders pushes down on Murray's leg and manages to get into half guard.

sanders stands up and beckons Murray to join him on the feet.
Murray swings away with a body shot that misses

and sanders counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
sanders thows a big elbow that misses.

sanders decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Murray, up you get!
Murray fails with an attempt to clinch.
sanders misses with a jab to the body
and Murray counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
sanders throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Murray misses with a combination
and sanders counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Murray is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Murray takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.
barry sanders seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
sanders dodges the punch combination from Murray.
sanders takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.
Murray misses with the combination.
sanders takes one on the button.
sanders fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
sanders closes the distance looking to clinch
and Murray counters with a series of strikes. sanders will be more careful next time no doubt.
A combination from Murray does no damage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Murray throws a right and a left that sanders avoids nicely.
Murray works over sanders's head and body with a nice combination.
Murray misses with a combination

and sanders counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Murray is looking to improve his position.
sanders perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
sanders wants to free his trapped foot but Murray is holding on for dear life with his legs.

sanders is working for a kimura but Murray is defending it quite comfortably.
Murray is looking to get full guard. It looks like he might be successful but at the last minute sanders jumps into side control!

That's three minutes gone in the round.

sanders tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no sanders has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
A bit of a lull in the action. I'm sure it will pick up again soon... even if the ref has to physically pick them up and put them back on their feet.
sanders trying to control the position but Murray is working away.
sanders prevents Murray from escaping the position.
Murray tries to get back to his feet but has found himself mounted instead. Damn, that's gotta suck.
Murray tries to hold on but sanders postures up.
Murray is desperately trying to improve his position but sanders has a good base and remains in mount.
sanders manages to capitalize on a mistake by Murray to take his back!
sanders is not going to allow Murray to sit and survive in this position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
sanders is trying to stick to Murray's back but Murray is turning into sanders. He's managed to reverse the position - now he's in sanders's guard. Polite applause from the crowd in appreciation of some nice Jiu Jitsu by Murray.
Murray with a nice head shot there.
Murray 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.
Murray pushing down on sanders's thigh, trying to pass to half guard. He's managed it... Nice work.

Murray decides to stand and escape the position.
sanders tries to clinch there but Murray circles away.

sanders scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

sanders looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Murray gets back to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

barry sanders dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on barry sanders's cut.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

sanders moves into the clinch.
sanders gets underhooks to prevent Murray's takedown attempt.

Murray breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
sanders tries to clinch there but Murray circles away.
Murray avoids the body shot from sanders.
Murray avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
barry sanders is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Horrible takedown by Murray or perhaps it was just good defense by sanders which made him look bad.
Left hook, right uppercut from Murray.
sanders ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Murray moves away.
sanders shoots in and drives through. Murray sprawls well.
Murray cracks sanders with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
sanders throws a leg kick

and Murray counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
sanders missing with knees to the body.
Murray wants to get back to striking at distance but sanders won't allow it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Murray is looking to break free of the clinch but sanders has double underhooks.
Murray wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.

sanders has dropped down and is working for a takedown. Murray is trying to keep an underhook but sanders manages to get the takedown into half guard.
sanders seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Murray does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Murray tries to roll over but sanders keeps him under control.
Murray has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. sanders is working away from the top position though.

sanders decides to return to a standing position.

sanders scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
sanders prevents Murray from standing back up.
sanders wants to control but Murray is keeping him busy.
sanders drops an elbow to the side of Murray's head.
sanders performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Murray wants to get back to full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Murray with the active half guard here but sanders passes nicely into side control.
Murray tries to buck sanders off but sanders is having none of it.
Murray is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
sanders working away.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Murray throws a combination but it was largely blocked by sanders.
sanders avoids a punch combination nicely.
sanders gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Murray connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Murray doesn't manage to clinch there - sanders circles away.

sanders drives through with a takedown into guard.
Murray keeping moving, preventing sanders from controlling successfully.
Murray looking to hit a scissor sweep but sanders is one step ahead there.
sanders pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Murray is keeping the position for now.
barry sanders overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
sanders landing with the ground and pound.
sanders trying to control the position from guard on top but Murray is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Murray is wriggling around but sanders manages to pass to half guard.

Murray kicks sanders off and gets back to his feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Murray throws a lazy uppercut

and sanders counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by sanders.
Murray gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from sanders.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for barry sanders. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Murray manages to break the clinch.
sanders avoids a punch combination nicely.
sanders throws a nice looking combination but Murray bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Nice shot lands for Murray.
sanders shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Murray as he jumps to the side.
Murray misses with a double jab.
sanders with a lazy takedown attempt
letting Murray counter with a right hand.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from sanders.

And that's the end of the fight!
barry sanders showed his dominance in that final round.
I think sanders has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 David Schapiro scores the fight 29:28
Judge John Kavanagh scores the fight 29:28
Judge John Roberts scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... barry sanders!