PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Luke Johnson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rick Ross (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Johnson's ring entrance music is that housewives' favourite, Will T. Bear - For a Few Dollars More. The crowd seem to be enjoying Ross's choice of entrance music: Show me how to live. Rick Ross has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Johnson
vs
Ross

179 cm
29
176 lbs
19 - 4 - 0

179 cm
31
168 lbs
21 - 11 - 0

BJJ Red Belt
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class MT
Granite chin

Reaper Combatwear
Hell's Balls Recovery (160)

DJs Locker
Conviction

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 19 - 4 - 0, fighting out of New York, Luke Johnson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 21 - 11 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Rick Ross!
The judges for this bout are Jonathan Paton, David Schapiro and Steve Montenegro.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Ross doesn't manage to clinch there - Johnson circles away.
Johnson lands with a nice body kick.
Johnson ducks under a wild hook from Ross.
Johnson tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Ross was well out of range. Poor timing from Johnson.
Ross throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Johnson stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Johnson moves out of range of the body kick from Ross.
Ross fakes with the hands and throws a leg kick but Johnson is out of range.
Ross throws a hook but Johnson blocks it.
Johnson changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Ross tries to avoid it but Johnson manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Ross to the ground. Ross escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
Ross takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
The fight stays on the outside here - Johnson looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Johnson fails to land the takedown.
Johnson throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Ross scores with a jab. Johnson acknowledges it with a nod of the head.
A head kick misses from Ross.
A kick lands to the mid section there for Johnson.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Johnson gets the takedown into side control.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Ross is letting Johnson control him for a moment.

Johnson working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

Johnson wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Ross, who protects the arm well.
Johnson landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johnson in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.

Johnson tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Johnson has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Johnson moves into full mount!
Ross holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Johnson tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
Johnson 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.
Ross slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Johnson controlling the action here.
Johnson missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Johnson is looking to take a break and control but Ross is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Ross wants to get back to full guard.
Johnson is trying to control. Ross wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Ross really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Johnson. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Ross keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Johnson tries to pass to full mount but Ross defends it.
Johnson is working hard here to advance position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Ross pushes Johnson off looking to stand but Johnson dives back in and keeps control.
Ross is looking for a sweep. Johnson is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Johnson works his way into side control.

Johnson looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Ross is working to avoid the ground and pound but Johnson connects with a decent elbow.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Luke Johnson dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

The fight stays on the outside here - Johnson looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Johnson just misses with a punch to the body.
Ross lands the left hand.
Johnson is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Ross.
Ross throws the left hand but Johnson avoids the punch easily.
Ross scores with a nice right hand.
Johnson looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Ross is fending him off so far but Johnson persists. Nope, Ross circles away and we're back to standing.
Ross scoring well with a low kick there.
Johnson on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Johnson throws a leg kick but Ross sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Ross throws a head kick that misses.
Johnson throws a body kick that misses.
Johnson keeps Ross at a distance using the push kick.
Johnson fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Johnson wants to clinch up but Ross keeps it at a distance.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Johnson throws a lazy head kick
and Ross counters with a body kick that brings a smile to the face of both fighters.
Johnson misses with a wild body shot.
Ross misses with a straight right.
Ross looking to land some kicks to the body here.
Ross scores with a jab to the head.
Ross thuds his shin into the meat of Johnson's side.
Rick Ross is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

Johnson shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Johnson showed some decent athleticism there.
Ross is trying to stand back up but Johnson is controlling him
Ross blocking the ground and pound attempt from Johnson.

Johnson is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johnson is looking to take a break and control but Ross is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Johnson looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Johnson controlling the action here.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Ross makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Ross.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Johnson wants to control from the top but Ross keeps moving.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Johnson trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Johnson working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Johnson loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Ross pulls Johnson in close to prevent any damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Johnson looking to sit in guard and control but Ross gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Johnson controls Ross momentarily but Ross frees himself.
Johnson is really struggling to control Ross but he's trying to hold on to the position.
Johnson tries to land a sweep but no joy.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Luke Johnson will probably get the nod.
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. And we move into the final round!

Ross throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Johnson pivots as if he's going to throw a leg kick but stops half way.
Ross slips in close and lands a nice hook before moving back out of range.
Ross slips a jab and a cross from Johnson.
Ross throws a leg kick

and Johnson counters with a shoot takedown. Ross fights it but they end up in guard.
Johnson engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
Johnson throwing strikes from guard but Ross blocks nicely.
Luke Johnson overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Ross not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Johnson slips nicely into half guard.
Johnson is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!
Johnson fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Johnson fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Ross is looking to get to half guard.
Ross holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Johnson tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johnson misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Johnson throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Johnson scoring with strikes but Ross is staying in there.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Johnson scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Ross?

Johnson moves into side control, trying to work for a kimura. That looks painful! Will he finish!!?? No, Ross has worked his arm free - good work by Ross!
Johnson wants to control but Ross is keeping him busy.
Ross pushes Johnson away and creates a bit of space to escape. He's almost out here... but no, Johnson gets a good hold of his legs and remains firmly in side control.
Rick Ross has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Johnson working the ground and pound but Ross is defending the strikes.
Johnson looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Ross is avoiding damage well.
Ross is not content to let Johnson control the position.
Johnson tries to cartwheel into mount but he doesn't manage it.

Johnson is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Ross knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Ross is trying to control Johnson's posture but Johnson avoids it.

Johnson looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Johnson tries to cartwheel into mount but he doesn't manage it.

And that's the end of the fight!
Luke Johnson showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Johnson, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Jonathan Paton scores the fight 30:27
Judge David Schapiro scores the fight 30:27
Judge Steve Montenegro scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Luke Johnson!