PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Shawn Burton (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Alistar Sylvia (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Alistar Sylvia is the more experienced fighter, so let's see if that makes a difference tonight.

Burton
vs
Sylvia

191 cm
19
200 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

187 cm
22
188 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Big heart

BJJ White Belt
Decent knees
Determined

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Shawn Burton!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Alistar Sylvia!
The judges for this bout are Wagner Zegers, Nard Betker and Radbod Blank.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Sylvia closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the ropes.
Sylvia fails to pull the fight into his guard.
Burton tries to circle away but Sylvia has him pinned against the ropes.
Burton is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the ropes.
Sylvia tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Burton just stands there and leans against the ropes.
Sylvia tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Burton just stands there and leans against the ropes.
Shawn Burton has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Alistar Sylvia.
Burton stops a takedown attempt from Sylvia.
Sylvia gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Burton.

Sylvia has dropped down and is working for a takedown. Burton is trying to keep an underhook but Sylvia manages to get the takedown into half guard.
Burton gets back to full guard.
Sylvia trying to control the position from guard on top but Burton is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Sylvia really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Burton. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
Burton is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
Burton keeping moving, preventing Sylvia from controlling successfully.
Sylvia must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Burton tries to strike from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Burton trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!
Burton keeping moving, preventing Sylvia from controlling successfully.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Sylvia checks a leg kick.
Sylvia looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Burton is looking to chop away at Sylvia's legs.
Sylvia shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Burton as he avoids it easily.
Sylvia blocks a jab.
Burton throws a head kick that misses.

Burton scores with a takedown into Sylvia's guard.
Sylvia is trying to control the position but Burton postures up.
Burton throwing strikes from guard but Sylvia blocks nicely.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Burton has gone for a leg lock! Sylvia slips out almost immediately though and dives into Burton's guard.
Sylvia is stalling in the full guard.
Sylvia wanted to stand there but Burton had control of the position.
Sylvia looking to sit in guard and control but Burton gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Sylvia keeping moving, preventing Burton from controlling successfully.
Burton thows a big elbow that misses.

Burton is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.

Burton is holding a leg here, probably looking for an ankle lock - he drops back and goes for it! Sylvia is in trouble! Is it all over??? No! Sylvia has escaped and now he's on top!
Sylvia has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Burton is proving hard to escape from.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Alistar Sylvia 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.

Both fighters circling a little - Burton finishes the exchange with a kick to the body.

Sylvia decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Burton makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Burton.
Sylvia wants to control from the top but Burton keeps moving.
Sylvia is in a good position here but he's just trying to control... And he's not even managing to do that successfully.
Sylvia trying to pass the guard. He's being very persistent here but Burton manages to land a sweep and now he's on top!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sylvia is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Burton is pushing down on Sylvia's leg trying to pass to half guard. Sylvia is fighting to maintain full guard but Burton has managed to sneak the leg through.
Burton is stalling here. Sylvia is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Burton seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Sylvia has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Burton manages to work his way to half guard, despite Sylvia's best efforts.
Burton manages to get to full guard.
Burton working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Sylvia.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sylvia has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Burton is proving hard to escape from.
Burton manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Burton trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Sylvia really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Burton with shots to the head and body - Sylvia looks very uncomfortable down there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sylvia is trying to escape the mount.

Burton is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Sylvia has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Sylvia is in all sorts of trouble here.
Burton pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Burton dominating with strikes here.
Burton lands with some strikes.
Sylvia is breathing heavily.
Burton lands a nice shot to the head.
Sylvia is squirming around, avoiding Burton's attempts to control the action.
Burton is in the full mount, landing strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Burton prevents Sylvia from getting the reversal.
Burton with shots to the head and body - Sylvia looks very uncomfortable down there.
Sylvia is bucking up trying to escape but Burton cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Burton wants to control the pace but Sylvia is squirming around nicely.
Sylvia working to try and regain half guard.
Burton dominating with strikes here.
Sylvia is wriggling around trying to escape.
Burton looking to finish Sylvia with some ground and pound. This is bad for Sylvia!
Burton lands with some strikes.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Burton pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Shawn Burton dominated that second round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! And we move into the final round!

Burton keeps the fight on the outside.
Burton fails with the takedown.
Burton takes a nasty kick to the mid section... That should keep him thinking. Does he try and block and risk a head kick landing?
Sylvia fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Sylvia doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Burton counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Sylvia is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Sylvia shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Burton but Burton pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Shawn Burton has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Alistar Sylvia.
Burton shoots in but no luck this time.

Burton fakes an overhand right and shoots for a takedown. Sylvia sprawls well initially but Burton persists and gets the takedown into half guard.
Sylvia is trying to get back to full guard.
Burton slips a nice elbow through Sylvia's hands, connecting with Sylvia's forehead.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Sylvia wants to control but Burton is keeping busy.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Burton trying to control from half guard but Sylvia is working away.
Sylvia tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Burton has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
Burton punishing his opponent with strikes.
Burton working Sylvia over with strikes here.
Burton cracks Sylvia with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Burton landing shots from mount.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Burton cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Burton putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Burton lands a big shot there that rocks Sylvia but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.

Burton is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Sylvia has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Sylvia tries to reverse the position but Burton maintains control.
Burton scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Sylvia?
Burton working Sylvia over with strikes here.
Burton lands a heavy elbow.
Burton working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Sylvia wants to hold on but Burton pushes him away.
Sylvia is squirming around, avoiding Burton's attempts to control the action.
Shawn Burton overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sylvia is looking to improve his position but Burton isn't that keen on the idea.
Burton controlling the position easily from mount.

Burton looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Sylvia wants to control but Burton is having none of it.
Burton tries to control but Sylvia wriggling away.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Burton postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Sylvia looks a forlorn figure.
Sylvia is working to get back to half guard.
Burton in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Burton landing punches.
Sylvia squirming around on the bottom, looking to escape.
Burton content just to control the position here.

And that's the end of the fight!
Shawn Burton showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Burton 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 Wagner Zegers scores the fight 30:27
Judge Nard Betker scores the fight 30:27
Judge Radbod Blank scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Shawn Burton!