PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Gilmat Kirk (ranked 1766 p4p, 4093 weight class) and Steven Rutherford (ranked 184 p4p, 367 weight class). Kirk comes to the cage accompanied by Lords of Iron. Both these guys have really solid chins. Will we see a standup war or will they both decide that a knockout is unlikely and try to win the fight elsewhere?

Kirk
vs
Rutherford

170 cm
32
148
7 - 3 - 0

183 cm
50
149
36 - 19 - 3

Abu Dhabi Champ
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
Excellent MT
Granite chin

Barry Bonds Performance Enhancers $110 160q Rec&St

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 7 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Gilmat Kirk!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 36 - 19 - 3, fighting out of Las Vegas, Steven Rutherford!
The judges for this bout are Cecil Peabody, Alan Glass and Frank Dennis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Rutherford throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Rutherford bobs and weaves and unloads with a good uppercut.
Rutherford is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Rutherford is looking to clinch.
Kirk tries to counter by moving into the clinch but Rutherford manages to circle out of the way.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Kirk!
Rutherford takes a swing at Kirk's ribcage but misses.
Kirk closes this distance looking for a takedown but Rutherford circles away.

Kirk has Rutherford up against the cage in a clinch.
Rutherford stalls.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Rutherford working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Kirk stalling the fight.
Kirk has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Rutherford avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
Rutherford blocking some punches.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kirk lands a nice elbow.

Kirk pulls guard.

Rutherford avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Kirk holds on and takes a little breather.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Rutherford preventing the sweep.
Rutherford trying to control but Kirk is working from the bottom.

Kirk is looking for a triangle here but Rutherford uses the submission attempt to pass into side control.
Kirk gets back to half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Kirk actively working from the bottom here.
Kirk blocking the ground and pound attempt from Rutherford.
Rutherford looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Kirk has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Rutherford is working away from the top position though.

Rutherford moves into side control, avoiding a weak kimura attempt from Kirk.
Rutherford working away.
Kirk sneaks back into half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Kirk looking for submissions off his back.

Kirk is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Rutherford pulls his head out easily.
Kirk trying to hold on to Rutherford's head to control him but Rutherford postures up.
Kirk gets full guard.
Kirk trying to keep a closed guard but Rutherford is proving a slippery customer.
Rutherford wants to control from the top but Kirk keeps moving.
Rutherford engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.

That's four 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.

Kirk working for a triangle but Rutherford defends it easily.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Kirk throws his legs up looking for a submission but Rutherford uses it to pass to side control.
Kirk is looking for a sweep.
Kirk manages to work his way to half guard, despite Rutherford's best efforts.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Kirk moves into full guard.

Kirk looking for a guillotine here but Rutherford defends easily.
Kirk wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Rutherford is now in half guard.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Gilmat Kirk will probably get the nod.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Rutherford swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Rutherford bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Kirk's head.
Kirk avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Rutherford paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button.
Kirk ducks under a wild hook from Rutherford.
Kirk keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Rutherford.
Kirk shoots and misses
and Rutherford counters with a nice uppercut.
Kirk shoots in for a takedown but Rutherford shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Rutherford lands a nice shot to the body.
Steven Rutherford seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Rutherford closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
A short right hand to the side of the head by Kirk.
Kirk pressing his opponent against the cage.
Rutherford blocking some punches.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Rutherford escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Rutherford misses with a looping right.
Kirk went nuts there looking for a big combo counter but none of the flurry connected.
Gilmat Kirk is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Kirk closes this distance looking for a takedown but Rutherford circles away.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Gilmat Kirk. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Kirk shoots in looking for a takedown. Rutherford tries to sprawl out of it but Kirk keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Rutherford manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Steven Rutherford seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Kirk throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Rutherford's waist but Rutherford gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Kirk off to one side.
A little jabbing left from Rutherford on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.
Rutherford looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.
Kirk tries to counter by moving into the clinch but Rutherford manages to circle out of the way.
Rutherford fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Kirk manages to avoid it.
Steven Rutherford is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Kirk wants to clinch up but Rutherford keeps it at a distance.
Rutherford thinks about the counter body kick.
Rutherford misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Kirk.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford bobs and weaves and unloads with a good uppercut.
Rutherford has used his reach advantage pretty well so far tonight.
A leg kick checked by Kirk.
As Rutherford looks to move away, Kirk throws a big counter combo but Rutherford just gets out of the way.
Rutherford is using his reach advantage to land shots from outside his opponent's range.
Nice defenses there by Kirk.
Kirk seemed to be looking to counter by closing the distance.
Rutherford wants to clinch.
Rutherford fakes and then throws a beautiful body shot. Kirk looks a bit winded and takes a step backwards to take a breath.
Kirk fails with an attempt to clinch.
Rutherford rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Kirk moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Kirk is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Rutherford has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Kirk manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Rutherford misses with a jab to the body

and Kirk counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Kirk.
Rutherford is adopting a defensive guard.
Kirk throws a big elbow that misses.
Kirk landing with the ground and pound.
Kirk postures up.
Kirk is looking to work some ground and pound but Rutherford has wrist control.
Kirk trying to pass the guard. He's being very persistent here but Rutherford manages to land a sweep and now he's on top!

Rutherford got a little sloppy there for a moment and Kirk has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Rutherford has managed to get both his arms back between Kirk's legs - danger averted.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rutherford content to stall in guard here.

Rutherford avoids a guillotine attempt easily.

Kirk looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Rutherford passes into side control.
Kirk tries to slip a leg under to move to half guard but Rutherford presses down on the leg and jumps into full mount!
Rutherford avoids the attempt from Kirk to control.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Steven Rutherford showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Kirk gets a clinch.
Kirk lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Rutherford or not.
Rutherford swings wildly with an uppercut but Kirk uses good head movement to avoid it.
Kirk working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Kirk lands a left hand that snaps the head of Rutherford backwards.
Kirk jumps guard but Rutherford stands there with Kirk around his waist. Kirk gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Kirk is working hard here but doesn't seem to be able to control effectively, up against the cage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Rutherford slows down the pace here.

Kirk gets double underhooks and manages to take the fight to the ground.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kirk scoring with some ground and pound.
Kirk wants to control from the top but Rutherford keeps moving.
Rutherford looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

Kirk postures up as if he's going to throw some strikes but drops back for an ankle! Rutherford is in big trouble! He looks ready to tap! But no, he's escaped and dives on top of Kirk, into his guard.

Kirk is trying to keep Rutherford in close.

Kirk throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Rutherford must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Rutherford wants to stand but Kirk is controlling his posture from full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Rutherford is posturing up here but Kirk has hold of an arm and he's gone for an armbar! Rutherford tries to roll out but it's too tight and Rutherford has to tap! Slick submission there by Kirk!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:23 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Gilmat Kirk!
Gilmat Kirk seemed lost for words in his post fight interview but he remembered to thank his fans and directed everyone to his website.