PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Spider Silva (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Higuain Esperanza (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Higuain Esperanza looks lathargic as he enters the arena. Wake up son, you're about to have a fight!

Silva
vs
Esperanza

185 cm
21
185 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

197 cm
18
184 lbs
0 - 3 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Determined

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Spider Silva!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Higuain Esperanza!
The judges for this bout are , and .

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Silva throws a series of punches but Esperanza avoids them all with ease.

Esperanza drives through with a takedown into guard.
Silva wants to sweep here but Esperanza controlling him for the moment.
Silva is working hard here to advance position.

Silva has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes Esperanza off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.
Esperanza tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Esperanza dodges the punch combination from Silva.
Esperanza keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
Higuain Esperanza seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Silva fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Some wild striking there from Silva.
Silva shoots in but no luck this time.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Spider Silva. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Esperanza is looking to clinch.
Silva fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Esperanza is looking to clinch but Silva is avoiding it.
Esperanza lands with a shot to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Esperanza swings wildly with a couple of big hooks
and Silva counters with a left and a right that stings Esperanza.
A solid leg kick lands there for Esperanza.
Silva is breathing heavily.
Esperanza misses with a combination

and Silva counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
Silva scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Esperanza is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.

Esperanza is looking to sinch up a gullotine here but Silva pulls his head out easily.
Esperanza tries to kick Silva off but Silva keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Esperanza is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Silva scores with a couple of nice shots.
Silva passes to full mount!
Silva working Esperanza over with strikes here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silva is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Silva with shots to the head and body - Esperanza looks very uncomfortable down there.
Esperanza takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Silva lands with some strikes.
Esperanza is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
BOOM! Silva connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Esperanza is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Silva lands a big elbow.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Silva cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Silva is in the full mount, landing strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Silva fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Esperanza tries to reverse the position but Silva maintains control.
Silva landing punches.
Esperanza is wriggling around trying to escape.
Silva in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Silva is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Silva putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Silva avoids the attempt from Esperanza to control.
Silva 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.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Silva lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Esperanza hang on?
Silva looking to finish Esperanza with some ground and pound. This is bad for Esperanza!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Spider Silva dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Esperanza takes the fight into the clinch.
Silva goes for a takedown in the clinch but Esperanza prevents it.

Esperanza breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Silva has a takedown stuffed.
Silva circles away from the clinch attempt.
Esperanza tries to clinch but Silva moves out of range.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Silva dodges the punch combination from Esperanza.
Silva falls off balance throwing a combination

and Esperanza counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silva looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Spider Silva overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Silva throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.
Silva throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.
Silva is looking to stand up but Esperanza isn't so interested in that idea.
Silva looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Esperanza puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.

Esperanza is trying to work for a kimura but Silva is defending well.
Esperanza wants to take a breather but Silva is having none of it.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
Esperanza stuffs the takedown attempt from Silva. Silva gets slowly back to his feet.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Spider Silva. That's going to take a lot out of him.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.

Silva gets caught flat footed, as Esperanza shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.
Silva wants to sweep here but Esperanza controlling him for the moment.
Esperanza stays in close to Silva's body and controls the position.
Esperanza trying to control but Silva is working from the bottom.
Esperanza is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Silva manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Esperanza manages to get himself to full guard.
Esperanza keeping full guard, as Silva tries to pass.
Silva passes easily into side control. Nice work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Esperanza gets back to half guard.
Esperanza trying to control here.
Silva tries to stand but can't do so whilst Esperanza controls his leg.
Esperanza avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Silva.
Silva wants to get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Silva not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Silva wants to stand but his hand is trapped. Esperanza uses the opportunity to regain full guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Esperanza will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.
Esperanza working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Silva.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Esperanza throws a combination that misses
and Silva counters with a three punch combination, finished off with a leg kick. Nice work.
Esperanza falls off balance throwing a combination

and Silva counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Esperanza's guard now.
Silva postures up.
Silva with a nice head shot there.
Esperanza wants to sweep here but Silva controlling him for the moment.

Esperanza looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.

Silva stands up from guard. Let's bang!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Higuain Esperanza will probably get the nod - 10:9.
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. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final round!

Esperanza fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Esperanza misses with a two punch combination.

Silva gets the takedown into side control.
Silva is putting a hurting on Esperanza here, landing some big shots from side control.
Silva working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Esperanza on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Silva lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Esperanza is putting a lot of effort into getting back to his feet here.
Silva works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Silva working the ground and pound.
Esperanza is looking to reverse the position.
Silva working the head with strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Esperanza struggling a bit here.
Esperanza tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Silva wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Esperanza wants to escape from the position here - easier said than done!
Silva working the head with strikes.
Esperanza takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Silva scoring with punches and elbows.
Esperanza on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Silva cracks Esperanza with a big right hand but Esperanza just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Esperanza is sneaking out the side here. He's bucked Silva off and has taken his back!
You can see the frustration on Silva's face… He knows he is in trouble unless he improves his position sooner rather than later.

Esperanza tightening his grip on Silva, looking for the choke.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Esperanza tries to keep control of the position but Silva is staying busy.
Silva is trying to get back to his feet but Esperanza has full control of the position and if anything, Silva has just worked his way into a worse spot.
You can see the frustration on Silva's face… He knows he is in trouble unless he improves his position sooner rather than later.
Silva manages to reverse the position and now he's in Esperanza's guard. Nice work there by Silva.

Silva gets to his feet - Esperanza follows without any prompting.
A nice leg kick lands there from Esperanza.
Esperanza lands a really nice looking cross but Silva seems unphased.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silva misses with a combination
and Esperanza counters with a series of strikes. Silva will be more careful next time no doubt.
Silva shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Esperanza but Esperanza pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Esperanza fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Silva circles away from the clinch attempt.
Esperanza wants to clinch.
Esperanza closes the distance and clinches up with Silva, looking for a takedown. Esperanza pushes Silva against the cage but Silva circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Silva scores with a one two! Esperanza had his feet all tangled up there and couldn't avoid the strikes.
Silva fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Esperanza misses with a low kick.
Silva has a nice red mark on his side after a thudding body kick by Esperanza.
Silva looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Esperanza is fending him off so far but Silva persists. Nope, Esperanza circles away and we're back to standing.
Esperanza shoots in but no luck this time.
Spider Silva has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Higuain Esperanza.
Esperanza ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Silva moves away.

And that's the end of the fight!
Spider Silva showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Silva 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 Andi Peters scores the fight 29:28
Judge Gordon Ramsey scores the fight 29:28
Judge Frank Skinner scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Spider Silva!