PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between fedor emelianenko (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and yasir smalls (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The fight MMA fans around the world have waited their entire lives for!

emelianenko
vs
smalls

185 cm
22
265 lbs
1 - 3 - 0

190 cm
22
290 lbs
0 - 1 - 1

BJJ White Belt
Solid boxing
Granite chin

BJJ White Belt
Good kicks
Solid chin

SPARTAN FIGHTWARE
SPARTAN FIGHTWARE

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 3 - 0, fighting out of London, fedor emelianenko!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 1, fighting out of London, yasir smalls!
The judges for this bout are Steven Brown, James Atkins and James Ackerman.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

smalls has managed to clinch.

emelianenko breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
emelianenko darts in trying to clinch

and smalls counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
A short left from emelianenko.

It looks like yasir smalls has been cut.
emelianenko blocks an elbow strike.
smalls lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
smalls has a couple of punches blocked by emelianenko.
smalls misses with a short punch on the inside.
A nice glancing elbow lands by smalls.
smalls wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
emelianenko blocks the elbow strike.
smalls lands a left hand that snaps the head of emelianenko backwards.
emelianenko stalling against the cage.
smalls blocks a punch to the side of the head.
emelianenko blocking some punches.
smalls lands an uppercut.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
smalls has a couple of punches blocked by emelianenko.
smalls fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for smalls.
emelianenko misses with a punch on the inside.
A short right hand to the side of the head by emelianenko.
emelianenko blocks an elbow strike.
With the fighters up against the cage, smalls throws an elbow but misses.
smalls throws an elbow that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
emelianenko lands a right hand that snaps the head of smalls backwards.
emelianenko tries to circle away but smalls has him pinned against the cage.
emelianenko looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
emelianenko takes an elbow to the forehead.
emelianenko really is a fat lump.
emelianenko blocks a body shot from smalls.
smalls stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
A knee to the head by smalls.
emelianenko is breathing heavily.
emelianenko lands a right hand.

smalls escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
The fight stays on the outside here - smalls looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
emelianenko wants to clinch but smalls slips to the side
and emelianenko takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
yasir smalls is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

emelianenko closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
smalls throws a strike from the bottom that misses.
emelianenko thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed smalls's head.
smalls keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.

smalls looking for submissions from an awkward position here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
smalls flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.
smalls trying to control here.
emelianenko seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
emelianenko knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for smalls on the ground.
emelianenko not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.

emelianenko is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in smalls's half guard.
smalls wants to control but emelianenko passes into side.
emelianenko working the head and body with strikes.
The referee tells the fighters to keep busy.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
emelianenko working the ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
smalls is pushing emelianenko's head away, looking to escape. emelianenko manages to hold on to the position though.

emelianenko decides to stand back up. emelianenko steps back and let's smalls get back to his feet.

emelianenko clinches with his opponent.
smalls swings away with an uppercut that misses.
A right hook to the body lands for emelianenko.
emelianenko is trying to break the clinch but smalls has him pressed against the cage.

emelianenko pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

emelianenko closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
emelianenko lands an uppercut.
emelianenko looking to throw knees to the head but smalls is blocking nicely.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
emelianenko lands a left hand that snaps the head of smalls backwards.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
A short right from emelianenko on the inside.

emelianenko breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
emelianenko looks to clinch
and smalls counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.

emelianenko clinches.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but yasir smalls will probably get the nod.
The cut man is working on yasir smalls's cut.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

emelianenko doesn't manage to clinch there - smalls circles away.
smalls misses with a low kick.
smalls fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
smalls tries to grapple but his opponent circles

and emelianenko counters with a shoot takedown. smalls fights it but they end up in guard.
smalls is trying to control the position from the bottom.
emelianenko is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
emelianenko postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
smalls is breathing heavily.
smalls controls emelianenko momentarily but emelianenko frees himself.
emelianenko stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. smalls swivels though and keeps the full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

emelianenko decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on smalls, up you get!

emelianenko moves into the clinch successfully.
emelianenko effectively controlling the action here.
A short right hand to the side of the head by emelianenko.
A short right from emelianenko.
emelianenko stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
smalls swings wildly with an uppercut but emelianenko uses good head movement to avoid it.
emelianenko lands a shot to the body.
emelianenko tries to circle away but smalls has him pinned against the cage.
emelianenko connects with a knee to the head.
Nice body punch from emelianenko - that landed with a thud.
emelianenko misses with a knee to the head.
emelianenko misses with a knee to the head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
emelianenko gets through smalls's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
emelianenko connects with a nasty looking knee right to smalls's face.
smalls misses with an elbow strike.
smalls managing to block the knees to the body from emelianenko.
fedor emelianenko has scored more points in the clinch so far.
emelianenko just leaning against smalls, taking a breather.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for smalls.
smalls working aggressively here.
emelianenko gets through smalls's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
A shot in the inside from emelianenko.
emelianenko lands a body shot.
emelianenko throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
emelianenko working some nice short punches in the clinch.
emelianenko throws an elbow but it's blocked.
emelianenko lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of smalls backwards.

emelianenko breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.

emelianenko is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in smalls's half guard.
smalls punching from the bottom.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

emelianenko decides to stand and escape the position.
emelianenko is looking to clinch but smalls is avoiding it.

emelianenko darts in and clinches smalls up against the cage.
emelianenko lands a hook to the side of the head.
smalls wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.

emelianenko breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
emelianenko tries to clinch up.
emelianenko moves in looking to clinch but smalls pushes him off.

emelianenko closes the distance and clinches.
emelianenko leaning his opponent against the cage.
emelianenko tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
emelianenko missing with knees to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
emelianenko looking to throw knees to the head but smalls is blocking nicely.
smalls is trying to force a seperation but emelianenko has the dominant position.
emelianenko displaying some good clinch control by pressing smalls up against the cage.
emelianenko lands a hook that snaps the head of smalls backwards.
emelianenko has smalls pushed against the cage.
emelianenko misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from smalls.
emelianenko effectively controlling the action here.
emelianenko pushes off an throws an elbow but smalls leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
smalls tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
emelianenko makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.
emelianenko lands a body shot in the clinch.
emelianenko scores with an uppercut up the middle.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

emelianenko escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

emelianenko clinches.
emelianenko is trying to maintain a safe position but smalls gets an underhook and turns emelianenko into the cage.
emelianenko leaning his opponent against the cage.
emelianenko blocking some punches.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

fedor emelianenko dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on yasir smalls's cut.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - 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.

emelianenko has taken the fight to the clinch.
emelianenko throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but smalls blocks it with crossed arms.

emelianenko manages to break the clinch.

emelianenko shoots in and bounces smalls off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
emelianenko has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of smalls is proving hard to escape from.
emelianenko postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
fedor emelianenko overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
emelianenko controls from within his opponent's guard.
emelianenko has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
emelianenko wanted to stand there but smalls had control of the position.
smalls takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.

smalls kicks emelianenko off and gets to his feet.
smalls misses with a low kick.

emelianenko closes the distance and pushes smalls back into the cage.
emelianenko throws a blind hook that connects with the side of smallss head.
emelianenko is trying to force a seperation but smalls has the dominant position.
emelianenko wants to get back to striking at distance but smalls won't allow it.
emelianenko lands with a right to the head.
A nice glancing elbow lands by smalls.
emelianenko lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of smalls backwards.
smalls takes an elbow to the forehead.
emelianenko wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but smalls has him pressed against the cage.
smalls tries a body shot but emelianenko blocks it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
smalls keeps control of emelianenko as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
smalls being controlled against the cage.
smalls trying to land knees to the body.
emelianenko misses with an elbow over the top.
emelianenko manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.

emelianenko pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

emelianenko fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with smalls, pushing him back against the cage.
emelianenko looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
emelianenko has smalls pressed against the cage, preventing smalls from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
emelianenko stalling in the clinch.
A frustrated look appears on emelianenko's face as he tries to break the clinch.
smalls has a couple of punches blocked by emelianenko.
emelianenko trying to control the position but instead, smalls has worked for underhooks and has pushed emelianenko into the cage.
emelianenko lands a hook to the side of the head.
Still in the clinch, emelianenko scores with a nice short uppercut.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
smalls is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. emelianenko is defending well for now.
emelianenko lands a left hand that snaps the head of smalls backwards.

That has opened up yasir smalls's cut even more.
emelianenko unloads a knee to the mid-section.
A frustrated look appears on smalls's face as he tries to break the clinch.
A short right hand to the side of the head by emelianenko.

emelianenko's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
emelianenko is looking to clinch.
emelianenko is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that smalls can do to turn this around?

emelianenko moves into the clinch.
emelianenko has smalls pressed against the cage, preventing smalls from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
emelianenko trying to land knees to the body.
emelianenko is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
smalls tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
emelianenko lands with a light punch inside.
emelianenko avoiding damage as smalls throws knees to the body.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from emelianenko.
emelianenko throws an elbow that misses.
emelianenko avoids a wild elbow strike from smalls.
emelianenko throws a knee to the head but misses.
emelianenko lands with a short punch from the clinch.
emelianenko lands with a short punch from the clinch.
emelianenko lands with a short shot to the head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
smalls throws a head punch that misses.
emelianenko is stalling here.
emelianenko scores with a shoulder strike.
emelianenko is trying to break free.
emelianenko manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
smalls wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but emelianenko has him pressed against the cage.

emelianenko breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
emelianenko tries to close the distance and clinch but smalls swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
smalls circles away from the clinch attempt.
emelianenko tries to clinch but smalls is having none of it.
emelianenko tries to clinch up.

emelianenko gets a clinch.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
emelianenko stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
With the fighters up against the cage, smalls throws an elbow but misses.
emelianenko blocks an elbow strike.
smalls is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. emelianenko is defending well for now.

And that's the end of the fight!
fedor emelianenko showed his dominance in that final round.
I think emelianenko has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Steven Brown scores the fight 30:26
Judge James Atkins scores the fight 29:27
Judge James Ackerman scores the fight 29:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... fedor emelianenko!