PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Roger Birbiglia (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joe Wills (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Wills has chosen Enter Sandman as his entrance music. The fight MMA fans around the world have waited their entire lives for!

Birbiglia
vs
Wills

186 cm
19
199 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

205 cm
23
198 lbs
2 - 5 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Very strong

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Roger Birbiglia!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Joe Wills!
The judges for this bout are Hugh Johnson, Ben Hemmingworth and Bruno Hogan.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Birbiglia tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Wills was well out of range. Poor timing from Birbiglia.
Birbiglia moves out of the way of the counter high kick fromWills.
Wills bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Wills unleashes a big counter combination but Birbiglia bobs and weaves and avoids any damage.

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

Wills bucks up and manages to escape back to his feet!
Wills fails with the takedown.
Birbiglia throws a big shot that misses.
Wills keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.

Wills moves into the clinch successfully.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Wills has dropped down and is looking to force the takedown but it's defended by Birbiglia after a bit of a struggle.

Birbiglia turns his back and goes for a hip toss. It's a bit messy but it gets the job done and Birbiglia manages to end up in side control.
Birbiglia is putting a hurting on Wills here, landing some big shots from side control.

Birbiglia tries for a kimura but Wills is defending well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Wills wings away with a couple of strikes but they don't land.
Birbiglia is looking to take a break and control but Wills is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Wills is trying to control Birbiglia's posture but Birbiglia avoids it.

Birbiglia tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Birbiglia has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Birbiglia lands a decent elbow from side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Birbiglia scores with a couple of short elbows.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Wills is looking for a sweep.
Birbiglia working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Wills is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Birbiglia asserts his dominance and retains side control.
Wills tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Birbiglia wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Wills stops Birbiglia from passing to mount.
Birbiglia is chipping away with strikes.
Birbiglia definitely looks more muscular than last time we saw him fight.
Wills is trying to escape and get back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Roger Birbiglia dominated that round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Birbiglia fakes a head punch and goes low to the body. Nicely done.
Birbiglia throws an ugly left hook that misses
and Wills counters with a slapping leg kick.
A decent looking body kick lands there for Wills.

Birbiglia shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.

The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Wills pushes Birbiglia off and gets back to his feet.
Birbiglia circles away from the clinch attempt.
The fight stays on the outside here - Wills looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Birbiglia misses the jab.
Wills tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Wills shoots in looking for a takedown. Birbiglia tries to sprawl out of it but Wills keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Birbiglia manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Nice defenses there by Wills.
Joe Wills is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Wills tries a head kick but it misses.
Birbiglia throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Birbiglia misses with a left hand
and Wills counters with a three punch combo that has Birbiglia backing up. Birbiglia nods at Wills to acknowledge the strikes.
Wills goes for a double leg but Birbiglia avoids the attempt and the two fighters end up clinched against the cage as Birbiglia continues to drive forward.
Birbiglia misses with a wild body shot.
Wills throws a body kick that misses.
Wills is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Birbiglia lands a glancing blow to the side of Wills's head.
Birbiglia throws a hook but Wills blocks it.
Wills tries to counter with a clinch but Birbiglia shakes him off and moves away.
Birbiglia thows a left - swing and a miss!
Birbiglia misses with a body shot.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

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

Wills is scooting his butt against the cage and has managed to get back to his feet. Birbiglia presses him back against the cage, presumably looking to take the fight back to the mat.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Birbiglia tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Wills's elbow.

Birbiglia manages to break the clinch.
Birbiglia lands a jab, followed by a cross and another cross, as Wills backs up against the cage.

Wills is rocked!

Birbiglia fakes a strike and closes the distance, dragging Wills to the ground. Birbiglia is now in Wills's guard.
Wills is still in real trouble! Can Birbiglia finish him?
Wills keeping full guard, as Birbiglia tries to pass.
Wills is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Birbiglia is controlling him.
Wills is breathing heavily.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Birbiglia is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.
Wills seems to have recovered his senses.
Wills controls Birbiglia momentarily but Birbiglia frees himself.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Roger Birbiglia will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Birbiglia circles away from the clinch attempt.
Birbiglia stuffs the takedown.
Wills fails with the takedown.
Birbiglia throws a hook to the side of Wills's head but Wills sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.

Birbiglia lands a big right hand that sends Wills crashing to the mat! Birbiglia stays standing though and waves Wills back to his feet!

Birbiglia dives in and gets a big takedown. He lands in full mount and immediately unloads a series of heavy strikes! Wills has had enough and taps out.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:32 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Strikes). Roger Birbiglia!
After the fight, Roger Birbiglia was humble in paying tribute to his opponent but made it clear he wants to go on to bigger and better things. It seemed to go down well with the crowd who cheered him loudly.
Joe Wills was interviewed post fight and said 'Well Try Better Next Time'.