PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Pops Ceballos (ranked 4232 p4p, 4949 weight class) and Miguel Baez (ranked 398 p4p, 443 weight class). Ceballos comes to the cage accompanied by Shawty Aint Shit. Both fighter's entrance songs getting the crowd jumping here.

Ceballos
vs
Baez

173 cm
19
150
1 - 0 - 0

170 cm
18
145
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Solid boxing
Granite chin

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Prefers standup

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 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Pops Ceballos!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Miguel Baez!
The judges for this bout are Kenichi Hosakawa, Shirou Masuda and Yuuki Gou.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Baez's corner calls for a 1-2. Baez obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.
Baez throws a hook to the side of Ceballos's head but Ceballos sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
A looping hook to the body misses from Baez. Ceballos does a little dance to reset his feet.
Ceballos is looking to counter with a shot to the body.
Ceballos tries for a takedown but Baez sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Baez feints a counter leg kick.
Ceballos lands a right hook to the body.
Ceballos throws a right hand that Baez ducks under and follows up with a left that Baez also avoids with ease.
Baez uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.

It looks like Pops Ceballos has been cut.
Ceballos looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Ceballos swings and misses with a hook to the body.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Baez! But no joy.
Ceballos swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Baez.
Baez uses good footwork to get in and out and land a nice right hand before Ceballos has time to react.
Baez misses with a few strikes there.
Baez misses with a wild body shot.
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!
Ceballos tries to clinch but Baez moves out of range.
Ceballos moves in looking to clinch but Baez pushes him off.
Baez ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Ceballos moves away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Baez uses good footwork to get in and out and land a nice right hand before Ceballos has time to react.
Baez throws a big shot that misses.
Ceballos swung with a counter punch to the body but it didn't connect.
No joy there for Ceballos, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
A right-left combo lands from Ceballos.
Ceballos fails in his attempt to clinch.
Baez on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Ceballos uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Baez.
Baez throws a right and a left that Ceballos avoids nicely.
Baez stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Baez wants it to stay on the feet.
Ceballos swings for the body but Baez moves out of range.
Ceballos is looking to wear down Baez with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.
Ceballos works the jab nicely.
Ceballos lands a right hook to the body.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Baez throws a jab when Ceballos was well out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ceballos's corner calls for a 1-2. Ceballos obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.
The fight stays on the outside here - Ceballos looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

Ceballos throws the overhand right but ducks down into a quick takedown attempt. Baez was covering up waiting for the punch and Ceballos finishes the takedown easily into guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Baez holds on and takes a little breather.
Ceballos working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Baez avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Ceballos 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.
Baez tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Ceballos in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Ceballos's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Baez throws a couple of weedy looking strikes off his back.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ceballos landing with the ground and pound.
Ceballos in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Baez is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Ceballos with a flurry of punches that miss.
Ceballos prevents Baez from getting back to his feet.
Ceballos working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Baez's head.
Baez controls Ceballos momentarily but Ceballos frees himself.
Baez wants to sweep but no luck.
Baez is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
Ceballos trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Ceballos makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Baez throwing strikes off his back to little effect.
Ceballos throwing strikes but missing.
Ceballos trying to control the position from guard on top but Baez is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Ceballos lands a couple of elbows.
Baez looking to hit a scissor sweep but Ceballos is one step ahead there.
Ceballos scoring with some ground and pound.
Ceballos slips nicely into half guard.
Ceballos missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Ceballos is figuring out what he wants to do next.
Ceballos passes to full mount!
Ceballos trying to control but Baez is having none of it.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Pops Ceballos dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Pops Ceballos's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

A low kick lands for Ceballos.
Baez checks a low kick. Bone on bone - not my idea of a good time.
It seemed like Baez was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.
Ceballos takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Baez pushes forward with a 1-2 combination that forces Ceballos back to the cage. Baez follows up with a solid lead hook to the liver.
Ceballos connects with a single shot there.
Baez throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Ceballos changes levels looking for a counter takedown but doesn't commit.
Donk. Ceballos catches Baez right on the button with a cross.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Baez misses the body punch
and Ceballos connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Ceballos blocks the body kick.
Ceballos fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Baez avoids it really well and circles away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ceballos blocks a leg kick.
Ceballos takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Ceballos closes the distance but Baez moves to the side
and Baez counters with a left to the body.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Ceballos.
Baez tries to bench press Ceballos off him but Ceballos keeps the position.
Ceballos wants to take a breather but Baez manages to regain guard - a lesson learnt for Ceballos.
Ceballos lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.

Ceballos got a little sloppy there for a moment and Baez has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Ceballos has managed to get both his arms back between Baez's legs - danger averted.
Ceballos throws a big right hand that misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Baez throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Ceballos slips nicely into half guard.
Baez is not content to let Ceballos control the position.
Pops Ceballos overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Baez is looking to control Ceballos's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Baez avoid being mounted?
Nice strikes from Ceballos there.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Baez looks like he's trying to stand up.
Baez controlling the leg, holding on to half guard.
Ceballos is trying to control the action in half guard but Baez is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ceballos is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Baez taking some punishment here, with Ceballos in his half guard.
Baez is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Ceballos scores with a couple of nice shots.
Ceballos wants to lay and pray for a moment but Baez keeps working.
Ceballos is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Baez!
Ceballos cracks Baez with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Baez can do anything to dispel that myth.
Baez is looking to improve his position but Ceballos isn't that keen on the idea.
Baez wants to get back to his feet.
Ceballos looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Baez is working to get back to half guard.
Ceballos lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Baez hang on?
Baez is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Ceballos can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Baez is looking to escape.
Baez tries to lock up and control but Ceballos gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Ceballos with shots to the head and body - Baez looks very uncomfortable down there.
Ceballos scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Baez?

Baez is rocked!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Ceballos unloading with bombs!
Baez is still in real trouble! Can Ceballos finish him?
Ceballos loads up on a couple of big shots to the head that have Baez scrambling to escape. He can't get free though and several more unanswered shots from Ceballos land to the head. The referee has no choice but to stop the fight. Ceballos stands and salutes the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:56 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Pops Ceballos!
A relieved looking Pops Ceballos thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.