PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Steve Nash (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nicky Harwood (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Nash
vs
Harwood

189 cm
23
180 lbs
5 - 4 - 0

187 cm
22
175 lbs
3 - 5 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Experienced

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Steve Nash!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Nicky Harwood!
The judges for this bout are Leandro Rodrigues, Felipe Paraventi and Emerson Jorge.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Harwood throws a head kick but Nash moves out of range.
A punch combination from Harwood misses.

Nash fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Harwood, pushing him back against the cage.

Nash manages to break the clinch.
Harwood leaves Nash with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Harwood fails in his attempt to clinch.
Harwood slaps away a takedown attempt from Nash, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Nash scoring well with a low kick there.

Nash takes the fight into the clinch.
Harwood takes a knee right on the jaw!
Harwood fails to pull guard.
Harwood has had enough of the clinch but Nash keeps him there for the moment.
Harwood wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Harwood stops a takedown attempt from Nash.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Steve Nash. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Nash connects with a knee to the head.
Nash looking to stall.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Nash has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Harwood uses from the top position.
Nash looking to hit a scissor sweep but Harwood is one step ahead there.
Harwood lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Harwood wants to stand but Nash has a closed guard, so he can't escape.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Nash controls Harwood momentarily but Harwood frees himself.
Harwood wants to stand but Nash has a closed guard, so he can't escape.
Nash tries to land a sweep but no joy.

That's two 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.
Harwood sitting in guard here, content to control.
Nash looking for a sweep. Not yet Nash, not yet.
Nash bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Harwood's guard.
Nash won't allow Harwood to get back to his feet.
Nash trying to control the position from guard on top but Harwood is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Nash won't allow Harwood to get back to his feet.
Harwood looks gassed!
Harwood working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Nash.
Nash won't allow Harwood to get back to his feet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nash trying to control the position from guard on top but Harwood is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Nash controlling from the top position.
Nash is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Nash won't allow Harwood to get back to his feet.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.

Nash shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Harwood taking some punishment here, with Nash in his half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nash lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.

Harwood is defending against the submission attempts here by Nash.
Harwood is trying to stand.

Harwood looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Nash seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Steve Nash dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Nash fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.

Nash drives through with a takedown into guard.
Nash tries to free his leg and advance position but Harwood is retaining full guard.
Nash throws and elbow that misses. Harwood uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Nash's guard. Nice move by Harwood!
Nash has a closed guard, preventing Harwood from standing up.
Nash keeping moving, preventing Harwood from controlling successfully.

Harwood decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Harwood lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Nash circles away quickly and effectively.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harwood misses with a series of wild punches.

Nash closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Harwood to the mat! Harwood manages to get full guard.
Nash sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Nash stops Harwood from standing up.
Nash wants to control from the top but Harwood keeps moving.
Nash wants to pass the guard but Harwood is keeping the position.
Nash won't allow Harwood to sweep him here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Nash drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Nash jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.
Nash tries to free his leg and advance position but Harwood is retaining full guard.
Nash trying to control the position from guard on top but Harwood is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Nash shoots for a double leg takedown but Harwood sprawls well. He's pushed Nash's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Nash throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Harwood's waist but Harwood gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Nash off to one side.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Steve Nash. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Harwood shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Nash is looking for a sweep. Harwood is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nash is doing well to avoid being mounted. He's controlling the position at the moment.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Harwood connects with a nice short shot to Nash's temple.
Harwood looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Nash gets back to full guard.

Nash looking for a guillotine here but Harwood defends easily.
Nash looking to control.

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.
Harwood preventing the sweep.
Nash doesn't do any damage with a couple of strikes from the bottom.
Nash has Harwood pulled in close to control his posture.
Nash will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.
Harwood makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.

Nash working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Harwood doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Harwood manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Harwood stopping the sweep attempt from Nash.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Steve Nash will probably get the nod.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

Harwood scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Harwood throws a series of punches but Nash moves out of range.
Nash throws a head kick that connects with a bit of head and a bit of hand.
Nice sprawl there from Harwood as Nash shoots in.

Nash shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Nash was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Nash misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Nash wants to control the pace but Harwood is squirming around nicely.
Nash controlling the position easily from mount.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harwood is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.

Nash goes for an armbar but he's not got it… Harwood turns into him and now he's in Nash's guard.
Nash looking for a sweep. Not yet Nash, not yet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Nash trying to keep a closed guard but Harwood is proving a slippery customer.
Nash keeping moving, preventing Harwood from controlling successfully.
Harwood preventing the sweep.
Nash looking to control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Nash had isolated an arm as going for an omaplata. Harwood is defending the submission well but is in a very vulnerable position. Nash Is leaning forward trying to finish the omaplata but decides to abandon it, and take Harwood's back instead.
Nash misses with punches from the back.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Harwood has his hands over his head blocking the strikes from Nash.
Nash throwing wild punches that miss their target.
Nash gets his hands free as Harwood looks to control.
Nash throwing strikes from the back - he gets a warning from the referee for striking the back of the head but all these shots are hurting Harwood!
Nash tries to keep control of the position but Harwood is staying busy.
Harwood looking to stop the rear naked choke attempt by controlling the hands.

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.
Nash has good solid back control here.
Steve Nash overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Harwood holding both Nash 's hands and preventing any damage.
Nash tries to get the hooks in deep but Harwood pushed the leg off.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Nash throws a big right hand but he misses and hits the mat. Ouch.

Harwood defends a rear naked choke attempt by controlling one of Nash's arms.
Harwood is trying to get back to his feet but Nash has full control of the position and if anything, Harwood has just worked his way into a worse spot.

And that's the end of the fight!
Steve Nash showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Nash 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 Leandro Rodrigues scores the fight for Steve Nash!
Judge Felipe Paraventi scores the fight for Steve Nash!
Judge Emerson Jorge scores the fight for Steve Nash!

Steve Nash wins by unanimous decision!