PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Renato Gracie (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ilir The Finisher (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Ilir The Finisher struggled to make weight for this fight. He only made it down to 206.5lbs at the first attempt and had to take the additional two hours to make the official bout weight. Let's see how much it's taken out of him. Ilir The Finisher will no doubt be looking to use his reach advantage to good effect.

Gracie
vs
The Finisher

181 cm
26
205 lbs
10 - 5 - 0

205 cm
26
226 lbs
10 - 4 - 0

Powerful takedowns
Counter striker
Very strong

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 10 - 5 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Renato Gracie!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 10 - 4 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Ilir The Finisher!
The judges for this bout are Igor Prikhodko, Vladimir Khabensky and Illya Tyunina.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Gracie dives in and grabs The Finisher's left leg, looking for a takedown. The Finisher pushes down on Gracie's head and hops out.
Gracie shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Gracie takes a shot to the body in his stride.
Gracie uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from The Finisher.
Nice takedown defense from The Finisher. No joy for Gracie on that attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Renato Gracie. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Gracie shoots in but The Finisher avoids the takedown attempt easily.
The Finisher scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
The Finisher defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Gracie.
The Finisher misses with a hook.
The Finisher cracks Gracie with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Gracie uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from The Finisher.
The Finisher scores with a jab to the head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gracie closes the distance and clinches up with The Finisher, looking for a takedown. Gracie pushes The Finisher against the cage but The Finisher circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Gracie uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from The Finisher.
Gracie ducks under a wild hook from The Finisher.
Gracie is trying hard to land a takedown here. The Finisher sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
The Finisher circles and sees the opportunity to plant his feet and throw a really nice straight left hand that drops Gracie to the canvas! Gracie doesn't know where he is but he's trying to survive - The Finisher keeps piling on the pressure and forces the referee to step in! This one is aaaaaall over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:30 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Ilir The Finisher!