PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between John Weichanthal (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Vladimir Mikhail (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Vladimir Mikhail has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Weichanthal
vs
Mikhail

188 cm
21
192 lbs
3 - 3 - 0

182 cm
22
198 lbs
7 - 5 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Big heart

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Solid chin

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 3 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, John Weichanthal!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 5 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Vladimir Mikhail!
The judges for this bout are Vladimir Khabensky, Viktor Lagutenko and Konstantin Menshow.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Weichanthal displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Mikhail.
Weichanthal is looking to clinch.
Weichanthal keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
Weichanthal wants to clinch up but Mikhail keeps it at a distance.

Weichanthal moves into the clinch successfully.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Weichanthal scores with a knee to the head.
Weichanthal creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Mikhail's defenses.
Weichanthal misses with a knee strike.
Weichanthal manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Weichanthal comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.

That's one minute gone in the round.
With the fighters up against the cage, Weichanthal throws an elbow but misses.
Weichanthal gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
A knee to the head by Weichanthal.
Mikhail has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Weichanthal is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
John Weichanthal has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Vladimir Mikhail.
Weichanthal leaning his opponent against the cage.
Weichanthal trying to land knees to the body.

Mikhail gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Weichanthal looks like he's trying to stand up.
Mikhail wants to advance to full mount but Weichanthal doesn't think that's going to happen and regains full guard instead.
Mikhail tries to free his leg and advance position but Weichanthal is retaining full guard.
A real slowdown in the pace of the fight for a moment, as Weichanthal holds on and takes a little breather.
Weichanthal wants to stand and escape but Mikhail is having none of it.
Weichanthal trying desperately to get back to his feet here but he's not having any joy at all. He's going to tire himself out if he's not careful.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Weichanthal keeping full guard, as Mikhail tries to pass.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.

Weichanthal has closed the distance and engaged Mikhail in a clinch.
Weichanthal with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Weichanthal is stalling here. The referee will be looking to step in if he doesn't pick up the pace.
Weichanthal lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Weichanthal throws a knee to the head but misses.
Weichanthal tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Weichanthal is pressed up against the cage. Mikhail has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Weichanthal down to the mat. Weichanthal avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
Mikhail circles away from the clinch attempt.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Mikhail shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Mikhail showed some decent athleticism there.
Mikhail is looking to advance position but Weichanthal won't allow it.
Weichanthal tries to kick Mikhail off but Mikhail keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Weichanthal is breathing heavily.
Mikhail is keen to just control but Weichanthal is a slippery customer.
Mikhail stops Weichanthal from getting back to his feet.
Mikhail moves nicely into side control.

Mikhail looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Mikhail wants to lay and pray for a moment but Weichanthal keeps working.
Weichanthal is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Mikhail asserts his dominance and retains side control.
Mikhail laying and praying for a moment but Weichanthal takes advantage and regains half guard.
Weichanthal is staying active underneath Mikhail, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Mikhail stalling away here and it's allowed Weichanthal to slip out his trapped foot and regain full guard.
Weichanthal wants to get back to his feet but Mikhail is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that John Weichanthal will probably get the nod.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Weichanthal tries to clinch up but Mikhail circles away and keeps his distance.
Weichanthal wants to clinch up but Mikhail keeps it at a distance.
Weichanthal is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Weichanthal moves in looking to clinch but Mikhail pushes him off.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Mikhail shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.

Mikhail shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Mikhail was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!

That's one minute gone in the round.

Mikhail looking to secure an arm triangle but Weichanthal defends it well.

Mikhail is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Weichanthal has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Mikhail is breathing heavily.
Weichanthal tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Weichanthal is not a happy chappy… he wants out of there.
Mikhail throws some wild stikes that Weichanthal manages to avoid easily.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Mikhail takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Mikhail wants to control the pace but Weichanthal is squirming around nicely.
Weichanthal avoids a series of strikes thrown by Mikhail.

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.
Weichanthal is looking to get to half guard.

Mikhail jumps to the side looking to secure the arm triangle…. Ooooh, that looks tight… Weichanthal is gargling but he's managed to escape! Nice work there by Weichanthal and Mikhail has given up the dominant position trying to land that submission.
Weichanthal is trying to escape and get back to his feet.
Weichanthal struggling a bit here.
Weichanthal is trying to get back to his feet.

Mikhail tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Mikhail has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mikhail advances to full mount.
Weichanthal really wants to buck Mikhail off and get back to his feet.
Weichanthal is squirming around, avoiding Mikhail's attempts to control the action.
Weichanthal wants to use the cage to get back to his feet here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Weichanthal is wriggling around trying to escape.
Mikhail tries to control but Weichanthal wriggling away.
Weichanthal squirming around on the bottom, looking to escape.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Mikhail sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Mikhail can't control as he wanted to and Weichanthal manages to get the fight back to his half guard.
Weichanthal is looking to escape.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Weichanthal wants to clinch.
Mikhail circles away from the clinch attempt.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Vladimir Mikhail showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Weichanthal closes the distance and pushes Mikhail back into the cage.
Weichanthal lands an elbow that stopped Mikhail in his tracks for a moment.
Mikhail avoids a wild elbow strike from Weichanthal.
Mikhail has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Weichanthal is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
Weichanthal tries to land knees in the clinch but Mikhail avoids the damage to the body.
Weichanthal creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Mikhail's defenses.
Weichanthal landing knees to the head.
Weichanthal scores with a knee to the head.
Weichanthal tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Weichanthal misses with a knee to the head.
Mikhail drops down looking for an ankle pick but Weichanthal pulls his leg out and moves away.
Weichanthal avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Weichanthal tries to clinch but Mikhail moves out of range.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Mikhail.
John Weichanthal has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Vladimir Mikhail.
Weichanthal tries to clinch up but Mikhail circles away and keeps his distance.
Mikhail swats away the attempt to clinch by Weichanthal.

Weichanthal clinches up with Mikhail and pushes him back against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Weichanthal missing with knees to the body.
Weichanthal tries to land knees in the clinch but Mikhail avoids the damage to the body.
Weichanthal misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Mikhail.
Weichanthal throws a knee to the head but misses.

Weichanthal pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
John Weichanthal is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Mikhail shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Weichanthal pinned against the cage. Weichanthal gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.
Mikhail shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Weichanthal tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Weichanthal slaps away a takedown attempt from Mikhail, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Weichanthal wants to clinch.
Weichanthal stuffs the takedown attempt from Mikhail. Mikhail gets slowly back to his feet.
Weichanthal fails in his attempt to clinch.
John Weichanthal seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Mikhail shoots for a takedown but Weichanthal saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Weichanthal tries to clinch up.
Weichanthal wants to clinch.
Weichanthal tries to clinch there but Mikhail circles away.

And that's the end of the fight!
John Weichanthal showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Weichanthal 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 Vladimir Khabensky scores the fight 29:29
Judge Viktor Lagutenko scores the fight 29:28
Judge Konstantin Menshow scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by majority decision... John Weichanthal!