PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Destin Craven (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Kunta Kinte (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Kunta Kinte has the eye of the tiger tonight.

Craven
vs
Kinte

173 cm
25
184 lbs
3 - 3 - 0

188 cm
26
185 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Good kicks
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Decent knees
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 3 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Destin Craven!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Kunta Kinte!
The judges for this bout are Vladimir Khabensky, Aleksei Zolotukhin and Aleksandr Martynov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Craven moves into range and clinches up with Kinte.
Kinte wants to get back to striking at distance but Craven won't allow it.
Craven keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Kinte's efforts to push away.
Kinte tries to break the clinch but Craven is controlling the position.

Craven has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Kinte uses from the top position.
Kinte won't allow Craven to sweep him here.

Craven uses the cage to get back to his feet.

Craven has taken the fight to the clinch.
Craven misses with a knee to the head.
Kinte tries to pull guard but Craven holds him up against the cage and eventually Kinte drops back down to his feet.
Kinte is trying to pull guard but Craven turns him against the cage and we stay in the clinch.
Kinte tries to pull guard but Craven won't allow it.
Destin Craven has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Kunta Kinte.
Craven scores a nice knee to the body.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Kinte is trying to pull guard but being pressed up against the cage enables Craven to keep the fight standing.
Craven crunches a lovely knee into Kinte's ribcage.
Kinte looks winded!
Craven scores with a shoulder strike.
Craven pushes Kinte back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.

Craven breaks from the clinch.

Kinte clinches up with Craven and pushes him back against the cage.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Craven pulls guard successfully.
Craven is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Craven content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
Craven is pressing down on Kinte's thigh, looking to free his foot. Kinte is holding on for now.
Craven is taking a breather. Kinte says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

We're going to have a standup here because Destin Craven wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.

Kinte moves into the clinch successfully.
Kinte tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Craven lands a good knee to the midsection. Kinte won't want to take too many of those.
Kinte takes an elbow to the forehead.

Craven breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Craven shoots in and bounces Kinte off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Craven sitting in guard here, content to control.
Craven passes into half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Craven is taking a breather. Kinte says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.
Craven moves into full mount! Kinte won't be happy about that!
Craven connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Craven controlling the pace for now.
Craven has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Craven raining down hammerfists from mount.
Craven lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Craven looking to control and managing it successfully.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Craven'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.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Craven seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Kinte for as long as he can get away with.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Sloppy strikes from Kinte. Those never looked like landing.

Craven darts in and clinches Kinte up against the cage.

Craven jumps guard and drags Kinte to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.

Kinte postures up as if he's going to throw some strikes but drops back for an ankle! Craven is in big trouble! He looks ready to tap! But no, he's escaped and dives on top of Kinte, into his guard.
Destin Craven overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Craven forces his way into half guard.
Kinte wants to control but Craven is keeping busy.
Craven looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Kinte has hold of Craven's hands but Craven slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Craven content to control rather than advance.
Craven is nestled in close to Kinte, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Craven controlling the action here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Destin Craven.
Craven tries a head kick but it misses.

Craven decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Craven has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Craven controlling from mount.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Craven scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Kinte?
Craven punishing his opponent with strikes.
Craven controlling his opponent.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Craven connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Craven landing strikes, looking to finish!
Craven controlling from the full mount.

Craven goes for an armbar but he's not got it… Kinte turns into him and now he's in Craven's guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Craven looking to hit a scissor sweep but Kinte is one step ahead there.
Craven manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Craven controlling his opponent.
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!
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.

Destin Craven dominated that second round.
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!

Kinte misses with a takedown attempt - Craven sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Craven fails with an attempt to clinch.
Craven is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Kinte can do to turn this around?

Kinte rushes Craven and presses him up against the cage.

Craven decides to pull guard.
Kinte stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Craven swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Craven is controlling Kinte's posture.

Kinte drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and Craven dives on top into guard.
Craven sitting in guard, not really doing much.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.

Kinte looks to be working for a triangle here. Oh, it looks like he might have it! Craven has picked Kinte up and slammed him! Kinte can't keep hold of the triangle and Craven manages to pass to side control!
Kinte takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Craven slows the pace down.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Destin Craven just wasn't active enough.
Kinte misses with a double jab.

Craven clinches up against the cage.
Craven trying to land knees to the body.
Craven scores a nice knee to the body.
Craven lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Kinte.
Destin Craven has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Craven landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Craven scores a nice knee to the body.
Kinte takes a knee to the side of the body.
Craven lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.

Craven has Kinte pressed up against the cage. He's trying to work for a single leg takedown. Craven pulls back from the cage and twists to the side, sending Kinte tumbling to the mat - Craven dives into Kinte's guard.
Craven is pushing down on Kinte's leg trying to pass to half guard. Kinte is fighting to maintain full guard but Craven has managed to sneak the leg through.
Craven slows the pace down in half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Craven looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Craven content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Destin Craven just wasn't active enough.

Craven drives through and clinches with Kinte against the cage.

Craven pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Kinte has managed to clinch.
Craven lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.

Craven has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Kinte uses from the top position.

Kinte drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and Craven dives on top into guard.
Craven is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Destin Craven is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Craven sitting in guard here, content to control.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!

And that's the end of the fight!
Destin Craven showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Craven has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Vladimir Khabensky scores the fight 30:27
Judge Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 30:27
Judge Aleksandr Martynov scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Destin Craven!