PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Junior Harris (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Wayne Rutherford (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Rutherford has chosen All of the Lights - Kanye West as his entrance music. Wayne Rutherford is the more experienced fighter, so let's see if that makes a difference tonight.

Harris
vs
Rutherford

174 cm
18
168 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

164 cm
18
154 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Cardio machine

Good takedowns
Counter fighter
Good gas tank

{R.W} Four Aces Nutrition

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, Junior Harris!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Wayne Rutherford!
The judges for this bout are Franklyn Lucas, Eddie Farnsworth and John Roberts.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Harris moves into the clinch.
Harris taking a breather.
Rutherford dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.

Harris pulls guard effortlessly.
Rutherford advances to half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Rutherford tries to pass the half guard into mount. Harris knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Rutherford not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Harris is trying to control but can't.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Rutherford thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harris has hold of Rutherford's hands but Rutherford slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Rutherford trying to control the pace.

Rutherford looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Harris has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Rutherford is working away from the top position though.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford prevents Harris from improving his position.
Harris is trying to maintain the position but Rutherford is very close to passing his half guard.
Harris avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Rutherford.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Rutherford lands a nice short elbow.
Harris tries to roll over but Rutherford keeps him under control.
Rutherford stops Harris from getting back to his feet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.

Harris manages to create a bit of space in order to work his way back to his feet. Rutherford keeps hold of his opponent and drives him back against the cage.
Rutherford trying to stall but Harris improves his position.
Rutherford tries for a takedown. No joy.
Rutherford looking to slow down the pace here.

Harris has picked Rutherford up - he's going for a ride! Harris dumps his opponent to the mat with a thud and settles into half guard.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Harris is trying to control the action in half guard but Rutherford is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Harris knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Rutherford on the ground.
The referee claps his hands together and tells the fighters to work.

Junior Harris has forced the referee to step in and bring the fight back to the feet.
Rutherford tries to clinch

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

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Harris decides to pull guard.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Harris manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Rutherford manages to get himself to full guard.

Rutherford working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Harris doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Harris manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Harris trying to control the position from guard on top but Rutherford is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Rutherford trying to control the position.
Harris has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Harris looking to sit in guard and control but Rutherford gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Rutherford lands a couple of elbows.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Wayne Rutherford will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Harris 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.
Rutherford has been working on his striking defense in training and it's paying off as Harris is landing a low percentage of strikes.
Harris throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Rutherford.

Harris drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Rutherford sneaks back into half guard.
Rutherford is looking to improve his position.
Harris trying to control from Rutherford's half guard. Rutherford has other ideas though and has regained full guard.
Harris in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Rutherford looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Harris being controlled here momentarily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Rutherford looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Harris wants to pass the guard but Rutherford is keeping the position.
Rutherford manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Harris manages to get himself to full guard.
Rutherford scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Rutherford lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Rutherford wants to control from the top but Harris keeps moving.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
Rutherford throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Harris works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Harris is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Rutherford postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Harris looking for a sweep. Not yet Harris, not yet.
Harris is wriggling around but Rutherford manages to pass to half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford trying to control the action but Harris is working from the bottom.
Harris on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Harris tries to get out of the position.
Rutherford throwing shots but Harris is blocking nicely.
Rutherford not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Wayne Rutherford has got the better of the ground game so far.
Harris is looking to improve his position.
Rutherford has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Rutherford thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Rutherford sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Harris defending well though.
Harris is not content to let Rutherford control the position.
Harris avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Rutherford.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Harris has hold of Rutherford's hands but Rutherford slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Rutherford seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Rutherford thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Harris's head.
Rutherford not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Harris is trying to control but can't.
Rutherford thows a huge punch but Harris dodges it nicely.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Harris wants to control but Rutherford is keeping busy and won't allow it.
Rutherford wants to control but Harris is keeping him busy.

Rutherford is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Wayne Rutherford showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

Rutherford tries to land a leg kick but Harris saw it coming and moves away.
Harris takes a swing at Rutherford's ribcage but misses.

Harris closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Harris lands in his opponent's guard.
Rutherford keeping moving, preventing Harris from controlling successfully.
Harris is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Rutherford is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Harris trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Rutherford is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.

We're going to have a standup here because Junior Harris wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.
Rutherford dodges the punch combination from Harris.
Rutherford tries to close the distance and clinch but Harris swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

Harris shoots in and gets a takedown into Rutherford's guard.

Rutherford is looking for a triangle but Harris pushes his legs off easily.
Rutherford doesn't do any damage with a couple of strikes from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Harris looking to sit in guard and control but Rutherford gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Rutherford is looking to work some ground and pound but Harris has wrist control.
Rutherford slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.
Harris is trying to control the position but Rutherford postures up.
Rutherford scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Harris looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.

Harris is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Rutherford defends well.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Rutherford accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Rutherford trying to control the position from guard on top but Harris is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Rutherford passes easily into side control. Nice work.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Rutherford is trying to get an arm triangle but Harris is defending well.
Rutherford tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.
Rutherford in side control, throwing shots but Harris defends.
Junior Harris has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

Rutherford tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Rutherford has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Rutherford misses with the ground and pound.

And that's the end of the fight!
Wayne Rutherford comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Rutherford winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Franklyn Lucas scores the fight 27:30
Judge Eddie Farnsworth scores the fight 27:30
Judge John Roberts scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Wayne Rutherford!
Wayne Rutherford really struggled to get his t-shirt on before his hand was raised. Making sure that CHAOS Clothing (*Laundry Available @ 87.5%*) logo gets some air time is pretty tricky when you're all sweaty.