PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Zyonimir Asanovic (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Roy Ragheb (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Ragheb is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: Stronger. Roy Ragheb told me before the fight that he's been watching a lot of DVDs so let's see if that helps him in this one! I can't wait to find out!

Asanovic
vs
Ragheb

177 cm
22
195 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

179 cm
18
190 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Tends to cut

Twisted Soldier Clothing

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 Montreal, Zyonimir Asanovic!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Roy Ragheb!
The judges for this bout are Dillan Fox, William Peck and Trevor Gratis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Nice defenses there by Ragheb.
Ragheb tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Asanovic paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Ragheb slips a straight right by Asanovic.
Ragheb misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Ragheb tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Asanovic.
Asanovic cracks Ragheb with a big right hand but Ragheb just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.

Asanovic tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Asanovic has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Asanovic throws a knee to the body but it doesn't do much damage.
Asanovic tries to advance to mount but Ragheb denies him.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Asanovic cracks Ragheb with a big elbow.
Asanovic scores with a couple of short elbows.
Asanovic works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
Asanovic throws a knee to the body but it doesn't do much damage.
Check out the look on Asanovic's face as he threw that strike - that's one determined fighter!
Asanovic 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.
Ragheb prevents Asanovic from improving position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Asanovic tries for a kimura but Ragheb is defending well.
The strikes coming from Asanovic are missing the target in this wave of attacks.

Asanovic goes for an armbar! This could be all over! Wait, no, Ragheb rolls with the submission and now he's on top in Asanovic's guard! Nice work there by Ragheb!
Ragheb preventing the sweep.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Asanovic is working hard here to advance position.
Asanovic has a closed guard, preventing Ragheb from standing up.
Ragheb must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Ragheb looks gassed!
Asanovic lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Ragheb!
Asanovic scoring with strikes but Ragheb is staying in there.
Asanovic has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Ragheb's face.
Asanovic is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Asanovic fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!

Asanovic is working to isolate an arm here. It's a telegraphed submission attempt but he's gone for it anyway - and he's got it! Asanovic extends the arm and Ragheb is forced to tap!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:02 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Zyonimir Asanovic!