PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Samuel Cooke (ranked 2740 p4p, 305 weight class) and Sergey Chernishev (ranked 1938 p4p, 227 weight class). Cooke comes to the cage accompanied by Harm's Way - Warriors Will Reign. Chernishev is bouncing up and down as he enters the arena, backed by MC Hovanskiy - Father in the building. The fight MMA fans around the world have waited their entire lives for!

Cooke
vs
Chernishev

184 cm
26
161 lbs
11 - 8 - 0

173 cm
27
165 lbs
13 - 11 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Olympic wrestler
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

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 11 - 8 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Samuel Cooke!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 13 - 11 - 0, fighting out of New York, Sergey Chernishev!
The judges for this bout are Alexandre Firmino, Paulo Santos and Daniel Cesar.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Chernishev misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Cooke.
Cooke throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Chernishev stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Chernishev dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Cooke looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Cooke throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
A looping hook to the body misses from Cooke. Chernishev does a little dance to reset his feet.
Chernishev looks to score with a jab to the body but Cooke is just out of range.
Cooke throws a jab when Chernishev was well out of range.

Chernishev darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Cooke slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Cooke has his hands on Chernishev's head, controlling the position.
Cooke looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Chernishev postures up.
Chernishev must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Cooke looking to hit a scissor sweep but Chernishev is one step ahead there.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Chernishev's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Chernishev preventing the sweep.
Cooke is trying to control the position but Chernishev postures up.
Cooke will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Cooke wants to sweep but no luck.

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.

Cooke looking for a guillotine here but Chernishev defends easily.
Chernishev is in close to Cooke's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Chernishev scoring with some ground and pound.
Chernishev keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Cooke's head.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Chernishev works over Cooke with some ground and pound from guard.
Chernishev is looking to work some ground and pound but Cooke has wrist control.

Cooke is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Cooke can't keep his opponent in guard - Chernishev advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Cooke is trying to maintain the position but Chernishev is very close to passing his half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Cooke is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Chernishev scores with a couple of nice shots.
Cooke is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Chernishev's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Chernishev's back!
Chernishev can't escape the position.
Cooke trying desperately to keep hold of the dominant position.
Cooke avoiding Chernishev 's attempts to control his hands.
Cooke wants to control but Chernishev is keeping busy.
I would not like to be Chernishev right now.
Cooke is hanging on to Chernishev's back as he tries to escape.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Cooke trying to control.
Cooke misses with a punch to the head.
Cooke has improved his flexibility recently so we will have to see if he can use that to his advantage.
A bit of a pause in the action here. Cooke controlling the positon.
Cooke lands a punch that was close to the back of the head but the ref thinks it's OK.
Cooke tries to get the hooks in deep but Chernishev pushed the leg off.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Chernishev tries to break free.
Chernishev is being controlled on the ground here - he must escape this position otherwise surely the end is near.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Samuel Cooke will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Chernishev misses with a low kick.
Cooke swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Cooke is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
Cooke throws out a leg kick but Chernishev moves out of range and Cooke only half commits.
Cooke fails with the takedown.
The fighters circling - Chernishev throws out the jab but it was never going to land.

Cooke fakes a strike and closes the distance, dragging Chernishev to the ground. Cooke is now in Chernishev's guard.
Cooke stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Chernishev swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Chernishev is pulling down on Cooke's head. It's preventing any offense from Cooke, at least for the moment.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Cooke trying to control the position from guard on top but Chernishev is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cooke preventing the sweep.
Chernishev managing to control the position.
Samuel Cooke overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Cooke trying to control but Chernishev is working from the bottom.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Good work by Chernishev as he checks the leg kick.
Chernishev swings widly with a right hand
and Cooke counters with a lovely shot to the body.

That's two 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.
Cooke misses with a hook. Chernishev ducked under it nicely.
Chernishev feints the counter takedown.
Chernishev thuds a left hand into Cooke's body.
Cooke thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Chernishev if he has to take too many more of those.
Chernishev lands with a cross.
A punch lands to the side of Chernishev 's head but he takes it in his stride.
A head kick misses from Cooke.
A decent looking body kick lands there for Cooke.
Cooke fails with an attempt to clinch.
Chernishev avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Cooke fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
A jab from Chernishev finds it's way through Cooke's defenses.
Cooke throws a body punch but Chernishev moves out of range.

Cooke manages to get an easy takedown there - catching Chernishev on his heels. He'll look to pass Chernishev's guard now, I'm sure.
Chernishev throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.
Chernishev can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Cooke controls the pace.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Cooke pushes down on Chernishev's leg and manages to get into half guard.
Cooke looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
Chernishev regains full guard. Nicely done.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Chernishev is on top in guard.

Cooke wants to sweep here but Chernishev controlling him for the moment.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Cooke holds on and takes a little breather.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Chernishev postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Chernishev is in close to Cooke's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Cooke has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
In the pre-fight buildup videos we saw Chernishev working his ground and pound in the gym. So far it seems to be working well.
Cooke looking to control.
Cooke has Chernishev pulled in close to control his posture.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Chernishev controls from within his opponent's guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Samuel Cooke dominated that second round.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Cooke with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Chernishev to score with a decent uppercut.
Cooke ducks under a wild hook from Chernishev.
Cooke throws a low kick but Chernishev moves out of range easily.
Cooke tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Chernishev was well out of range. Poor timing from Cooke.
Chernishev tests Cooke's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Cooke connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Chernishev misses with a body shot.
Cooke scores with a push kick.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Cooke throws an overhand right that lands on Chernishev's shoulder, as Chernishev tries to avoid the shot.
Chernishev takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Chernishev fails to land with a series of punches.
Cooke dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Chernishev. That did some damage!
Cooke throws a push kick but Chernishev slaps the foot to one side.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cooke takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
Cooke misses with an uppercut. Chernishev saw that one coming.
Chernishev throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Cooke sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Cooke is looking to wear down Chernishev with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.
Cooke throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Cooke lets loose with a powerful body kick. Chernishev will feel that in the morning.
Chernishev slips a jab and a cross from Cooke.
Chernishev avoids the body shot from Cooke.
Nice uppercut there from Chernishev.
Cooke takes a jab right on the nose. That must have hurt but he shrugs his shoulders and looks to return the favor.
Chernishev misses with a body shot.
Cooke keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Cooke takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Chernishev misses with a telegraphed body shot

so Cooke counters with a double leg into guard. Good agility.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Cooke controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Sergey Chernishev has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Cooke wants to control from the top but Chernishev keeps moving.
Chernishev looking for a sweep. Not yet Chernishev, not yet.
Cooke trying to control but Chernishev is working from the bottom.
Cooke seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Cooke being controlled here momentarily.
Cooke tries to free his leg and advance position but Chernishev is retaining full guard.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Chernishev displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Cooke.
A punch lands to the side of Cooke 's head but he takes it in his stride.
Chernishev fails miserably with a takedown attempt.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Chernishev takes a jab right on the kisser.
Cooke lands with a right hand.
Chernishev takes a head kick and keeps coming.
Chernishev avoids the body shot from Cooke.
A slapping body kick lands there for Cooke.
Chernishev scores with a jab to the body.
Samuel Cooke is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Cooke ducks under a wild hook from Chernishev.
Cooke misses with a series of wild punches.
Chernishev misses with a wild body shot.
Samuel Cooke is winning the standup battle so far.
Chernishev throws a lazy right hand but Cooke sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Cooke uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Chernishev.
Chernishev misses with a body shot.
Cooke throws a quick counter kick to the body but Chernishev avoids it.

And that's the end of the fight!
Samuel Cooke showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Cooke has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Alexandre Firmino scores the fight 30:28
Judge Paulo Santos scores the fight 30:27
Judge Daniel Cesar scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Samuel Cooke!
Samuel Cooke seemed lost for words in his post fight interview but he remembered to thank his fans and directed everyone to his website.