PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Dereon Church (ranked 3454 p4p, 3353 weight class) and Riptide Santa Romero (ranked 375 p4p, 366 weight class). This should be a great matchup!

Church
vs
Santa Romero

183 cm
19
192
1 - 0 - 0

185 cm
18
190
1 - 0 - 0

Decent wrestler
Brawler
Very quick

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Powerful

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 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Dereon Church!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Riptide Santa Romero!
The judges for this bout are Skip Squint, Chris Dean and Eliza Hachem.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Church throws a loose over hand right and dives in with a double leg takedown. Santa Romero tries to sprawl but it's too late and the fighters hit the mat. Church is in Santa Romero's guard.
Church trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Church looking to pass the guard.
Church is working hard here to advance position.
Church chips away with some ground and pound.
Church loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Church passes Santa Romero's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Church looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Church is looking to pass Santa Romero's guard but actually Santa Romero recovers to full guard.
Church 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.
Church advances to half guard.
Church missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Church throws a big elbow that misses, also allowing Santa Romero to regain full guard.
Church throwing strikes but missing.
Church pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Santa Romero is keeping the position for now.
Santa Romero is trying to control the position from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santa Romero working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Church.
Church wants to pass the guard but Santa Romero is keeping the position.
Church sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Santa Romero's guard.
Church missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Santa Romero won't allow Church to pass to mount.
Church has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Church putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Santa Romero wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Church.
Santa Romero is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Church throwing strikes here but Santa Romero is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.
A nice elbow there by Church.
Santa Romero is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.
Church looks to be in better condition than last time we saw him fight. Obviously he's been working hard on his cardio.
Santa Romero really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Church. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Church pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Church lands a heavy elbow.
Church fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Church throws a strike there. Santa Romero manages to avoid it well and slips a leg under to get to half guard.
Church not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Santa Romero keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Church throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Church is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Santa Romero!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Church thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Church thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Santa Romero felt the need to train up his defensive grappling in the buildup to the fight. Presumably he was expecting to be in a difficult position like this, so let's see if he can get out of it.
Santa Romero avoids a series of strikes thrown by Church.
Church landing strikes from the mount.
Church sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Church throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Santa Romero because Church loaded up on that one.
Church lands with some strikes.
Church throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Santa Romero because Church loaded up on that one.
Church is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Santa Romero can't stay in a position like this for much longer.

Santa Romero is rocked!
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Church unloads with some shots from mount but Santa Romero bucks and avoids them well.
Santa Romero is still in real trouble! Can Church finish him?
Santa Romero avoids a series of strikes thrown by Church.
Santa Romero seems to have recovered his senses.
Church throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Dereon Church dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

A nice leg kick from Santa Romero, right into the meat of the thigh.
Nice shot lands for Church.
Santa Romero stuffs the takedown.
Santa Romero catches Church with a nice straight right. He seems pissed - ooooh, it's on now! On like donkey kong!

Excellent takedown into side control there by Church.
Church is trying to ground and pound but Santa Romero uses the momentary lack of control by Church to regain half guard.
Church not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Church sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Santa Romero defending well though.
Church wants to pass the guard but Santa Romero is defending well.
Church throwing shots but Santa Romero is blocking nicely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Santa Romero is trying to control but can't.
Church missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Church lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Church is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Santa Romero can do to turn this around?
Church passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Santa Romero!
Santa Romero wants to control but Church is having none of it.
Santa Romero is hanging on here. He's in a desperate position.
Church sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Dereon Church overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Church throws some wild stikes that Santa Romero manages to avoid easily.
Santa Romero is bucking up trying to escape but Church cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Church sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Church landing strikes from the mount and Santa Romero is in trouble!
Church connects with a bit shot that sees Santa Romero covering up! More strikes from Church and the referee jumps in to stop the fight! Church is our winner by TKO!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:42 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Dereon Church!