PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Jacob Smith (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ben Gray (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). This should be fireworks!

Smith
vs
Gray

200 cm
23
250 lbs
6 - 12 - 0

188 cm
37
280 lbs
8 - 15 - 0

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Cardio machine

BJJ Brown Belt
Counter fighter
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 6 - 12 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Jacob Smith!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 15 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Ben Gray!
The judges for this bout are Frank Dennis, Tiny Johnson and Cecil Peabody.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Gray tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Smith manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Gray leaves Smith with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Smith shoots in looking for a takedown. Gray tries to sprawl out of it but Smith keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Gray manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

Smith closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Smith seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Gray does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Gray keeping control of the leg, stopping his opponent passing to mount.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Smith is trying to control. Gray wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

Smith stands up from half guard.
Smith shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Gray sprawls well. Gray wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Smith gets slowly back to his feet.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jacob Smith. That's going to take a lot out of him.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gray is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Smith looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.

Smith shoots in and bounces Gray off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Gray is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Smith working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.

Gray is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Smith defends well.
Smith with a flurry of punches that miss.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Smith stopping the sweep attempt from Gray.
Gray keeping moving, preventing Smith from controlling successfully.
Gray bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Smith's guard.

Gray wants to control from the top but Smith keeps moving.
Gray stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Smith swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Smith is avoiding any damage by keeping wrist control.
Gray won't allow Smith to sweep him here.
Gray tries to stand but Smith is controlling from the bottom.
Smith scores with a couple of body punches from the bottom.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Gray trying to move into half guard but instead Smith has managed to sweep!

Smith stopping the sweep attempt from Gray.

Gray escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Smith gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Smith throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Smith trying to control but Gray is working from the bottom.
Smith 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.
Gray keeping moving, preventing Smith from controlling successfully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Gray throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.
Smith lands a couple of elbows.
Smith postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Gray manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Smith manages to get himself to full guard.

Smith controls Gray momentarily but Gray frees himself.
Gray won't allow Smith to get back to his feet.
Smith will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.

Smith has an omoplata and is looking to use it perhaps as a submission or perhaps to transition. Gray is in a bit of discomfort here, but he's managed to free himself and has dived into side control! That didn't work out too well for Smith.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Smith struggling a bit here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jacob Smith dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Gray closes the distance and pushes Smith back into the cage.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Gray.

Smith pulls guard effortlessly.
Smith 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.
Gray postures up.
Smith thows some rabbit punches from the bottom but they don't do any damage.
Gray showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
Smith is trying to control the position but Gray postures up.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Smith throwing strikes off his back to little effect.
Smith working a defensive guard here.

Gray thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Smith is adopting a defensive guard.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Smith manages to get an easy takedown there - catching Gray on his heels. He'll look to pass Gray's guard now, I'm sure.

Gray escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Smith gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Smith passes into half guard.
Gray trying to control but Smith postures up.
Jacob Smith overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Smith sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Gray defending well though.
Smith is looking to take a break and control but Gray is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Gray wants to improve his position but Smith is controlling well.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Smith working Gray over with strikes.
Smith is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Gray can do to turn this around?
Smith wants to lay and pray for a moment but Gray keeps working.
Smith not doing much here.
Gray blocking the ground and pound attempt from Smith.
Smith is stalling here. Gray is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Smith seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Gray has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Smith tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Gray working away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A bit of a lull in the action. I'm sure it will pick up again soon... even if the ref has to physically pick them up and put them back on their feet.
Gray lands an elbow.
Smith is not content to let Gray control the position.
Smith is looking for a sweep.

Gray thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.
Smith is not content to let Gray control the position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Gray working away.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Gray lands a decent elbow from side control.
You can see the frustration on Smith's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Gray taking a breather here.
Smith misses with an elbow from the bottom.
Smith struggling a bit here.
Smith looks to move to half guard but instead Gray has passed into mount! Damn!
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Gray unloading with bombs!
Gray lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ben Gray showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Smith shoots in looking for a takedown but Gray manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Smith's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Gray shoots in but no luck this time.

Gray moves into the clinch successfully.
Smith is trying to drag Gray to the mat but Gray just about manages to keep his footing. He used the cage to his advantage there.

Gray drags the fight down to the ground.
Gray is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Gray keeping moving, preventing Smith from controlling successfully.
Gray looking to hit a scissor sweep but Smith is one step ahead there.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Smith trying to control but Gray is working from the bottom.

Smith stands up and waves to Gray to follow him.
Smith shoots in looking for a takedown. Gray tries to sprawl out of it but Smith keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Gray manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
It seemed like Gray was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jacob Smith. That's going to take a lot out of him.
A right-left combo lands from Smith.

Smith drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gray tries to improve position but can't.
Gray struggling a bit here.
Gray tries to buck Smith off but Smith is having none of it.
Smith lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Gray down.
You can see the frustration on Gray's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Smith cracks Gray with an elbow. That is naaassty.
Smith working the head with strikes.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Gray is pushing Smith's head away, looking to escape. Smith manages to hold on to the position though.
Gray avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Smith.
Smith connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Gray some visible discomfort.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Gray tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Gray stops Smith from passing to mount.
Smith trying to control the position but Gray is working away.
Smith will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.

Smith tries for a kimura but Gray is defending well.
Gray is looking to regain half guard here but Smith keeps moving and retains side control.
Gray manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Gray punching from the bottom.
Smith takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Gray avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Smith.
Gray is staying active underneath Smith, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Gray blocking the ground and pound attempt from Smith.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.

Smith closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Smith lands a nice short elbow.
Gray wants to control but Smith is keeping busy.
Gray is not content to let Smith control the position.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Gray wants to control but Smith is keeping busy.

And that's the end of the fight!
Jacob Smith showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Smith 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 Frank Dennis scores the fight 29:28
Judge Tiny Johnson scores the fight 29:28
Judge Cecil Peabody scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Jacob Smith!
During a confident post fight interview, Jacob Smith thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.