PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Gatekeeper Devil (ranked 5715 p4p, 470 weight class) and Kenny Smith (ranked 4095 p4p, 397 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Smith's choice of entrance music: Is This Love. Kenny Smith has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Gatekeeper Devil's chin.

Devil
vs
Smith

210 cm
21
190 lbs
3 - 5 - 0

181 cm
19
176 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Dangerous knees
Experienced

Good wrestler
Dangerous knees
Granite chin

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 3 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Gatekeeper Devil!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Kenny Smith!
The judges for this bout are Vladimir Khabensky, Viktor Lagutenko and Ivan Kurochkin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Smith scoring well with a low kick there.
Devil fails with a takedown attempt.
Devil shoots in for a takedown but Smith shows good takedown defense.

Smith moves into the clinch successfully.
Devil throws a head punch that misses.
Smith stalling.
Devil lands a left hand.
Smith stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
Devil with a knee to the head.

It looks like Kenny Smith has been cut.
Smith dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Devil makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Smith is stalling here. The referee will be looking to step in if he doesn't pick up the pace.
Smith lands an elbow that stopped Devil in his tracks for a moment.

It looks like Gatekeeper Devil has been cut.
Devil throws an elbow that misses.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Devil creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Devil crunches a lovely knee into Smith's ribcage.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Devil lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Smith backwards.
Smith creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Devil's defenses.
Devil lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
I was talking to Devil's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Smith taking a break, stalling in the clinch.
Smith is pressed up against the cage. Devil has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Smith down to the mat. Smith avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Gatekeeper Devil. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Smith throws a sloppy head kick and Devil moves out of range easily.
Devil tries for a takedown but Smith sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Devil is trying hard to land a takedown here. Smith sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
Smith is trying to avoid his opponent's strikes and get into the clinch.
Smith lands with a nice low kick. That'll leave a bruise.
Devil fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Smith lands with a nice body kick.
Devil is breathing heavily.
Smith throws a head kick but Devil moves out of range.
Devil has his takedown stuffed

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

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as Smith takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.
Smith unloads a knee to the mid-section. Devil lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Smith with the Thai clinch, lands a knee to the head.
Smith lands a knee to the body.
Stalling in the clinch from Smith.
Smith lands an elbow just above Devil 's eye.
Devil wants a takedown but no success here.
Devil takes a knee right on the jaw!

Devil is rocked!
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Oh Devil is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Smith jerks Devil's head down, straight into the path of a devastating knee! Devil drops to the floor in a crumpled heap! Smith goes to throw a finishing haymaker but pulls out - good sportsmanship from Smith because Devil was completely out of it. That was a nice finish - just the right level of brutality to send everyone home happy.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:39 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Knee). Kenny Smith!
A very excited looking Kenny Smith made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.