PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Alex Pato (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Burt Angle (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Pato
vs
Angle

189 cm
26
211 lbs
10 - 7 - 1

188 cm
21
220 lbs
7 - 5 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
Very strong

Good wrestler
Decent boxing
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 - 7 - 1, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Alex Pato!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Burt Angle!
The judges for this bout are Felipe Paraventi, Paulo Santos and Emerson Jorge.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pato lands with a nice body punch.
Angle misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Pato keeps Angle at a distance using the push kick.
Angle dodges the punch combination from Pato.
Pato tries to close the distance and clinch but Angle swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Angle on the wrong end of a nice jab.
Angle throws a one two combo.
Pato moves in looking to clinch but Angle pushes him off.
Pato scoring well with a low kick there.
Pato connects with a high kick.
Pato lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Angle looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pato looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
Angle shoots in for a takedown but Pato shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Pato is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Pato pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Pato missing with a left hand there. Angle was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Angle falls off balance throwing a combination
and Pato counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Alex Pato seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Pato throws a nice outside leg kick.
Pato with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
A head kick misses from Pato.
Pato tries to close the distance and clinch but Angle swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Angle is looking to clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Pato thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Angle if he has to take too many more of those.
Angle swinging wildly here.
Pato misses with a combination
and Angle counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Angle avoids the head kick by Pato.
Angle stooping low to avoid any incoming strikes and then lunges in with an uppercut come cross that lands flush.
Pato throws a sloppy body shot
and Angle counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Pato thinking.
Pato tries to close the distance and clinch but Angle swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Pato rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Angle moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Angle tries to check the leg kick but that clearly hurt him.
Pato tries to close the distance and clinch up but Angle swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Pato connects nicely with a jab. Noted by the judges no doubt.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Angle fails with a takedown attempt.
Alex Pato has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Burt Angle.
Pato lands a nice shot that snaps Angle's head back.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Angle.
Angle misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Pato.
Pato tries to clinch
and Angle counters with a left to the body.

Pato has closed the distance and engaged Angle in a clinch.

Pato manages to break the clinch.
Angle shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Pato as he avoids it easily.
Pato connects with a high kick.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Pato getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Pato tries to clinch there but Angle circles away.
Pato throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Angle uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Pato.
Pato throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
A jab from Pato does it's job there.

Pato instigates a clinch.
Angle digs a right hand into Pato's ribs. Those have got to be taking their toll on Pato's gas tank.

Angle breaks the clinch.
Angle drops his hands momentarily and Pato takes advantage with a crisp shot to the head.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Good leg kick by Pato there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Pato scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
Angle swats away the attempt to clinch by Pato.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Alex Pato dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Angle gets the takedown into side control.
Angle looking to control but instead Pato has slipped a leg in, to regain half guard.
Angle prevents Pato from standing back up.
Angle working the head and body with strikes.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Angle throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

Angle is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. Pato doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Angle.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Angle content to control rather than advance.
Angle throwing shots but Pato is blocking nicely.
Angle passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Pato!
Pato wants to get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
The referee warns Pato that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Pato tries to buck Angle off but he can't manage it.
Angle lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Pato hang on?
Angle landing strikes from the mount.
Pato avoids a strike by Angle and manages to complete a very nice reversal in the process, to end up in Angle's guard! Fantastic escape!
Angle manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Angle raining down shots from the mount!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Angle sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Angle scoring with strikes but Pato is staying in there.
Pato's corner are shouting for him to stand up but that's bad cornering - how is he meant to stand up when he's mounted? He should be looking to improve his position on the ground before trying to stand back up.

Angle looking for a guillotine from mount but Pato is having none of it.
Pato is in a horrible position here. Angle smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.

That's four 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.
Angle has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Pato's face.
Angle scoring with strikes but Pato is staying in there.
Angle tries to control but Pato wriggling away.
Angle throwing sloppy strikes here. Perhaps if he tightened up his striking from such a dominant position, he'd be able to finish easier.
Angle misses with a head shot.
Angle throws some wild stikes that Pato manages to avoid easily.
Angle lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Pato hang on?
Angle unloading with bombs!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Burt Angle showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

A nice combination there by Pato.
Angle swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Angle walks into a left hand.
Pato scores with a slapping inside leg kick.
Alex Pato is winning the standup battle so far.
Pato buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Pato bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Angle's head.
Angle's leg has a nasty welt from taking a succession of leg kicks. That must be slowing him down.
Pato bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Angle doesn't manage to clinch there - Pato circles away.
Pato tries to clinch up.
Pato tries to clinch but fails miserably

and Angle counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
Angle missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pato pushes Angle off looking to stand but Angle dives back in and keeps control.
Angle thows a big elbow that misses, also allowing Pato to regain full guard.
Pato wants to stand up but Angle is controlling him.
Angle in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Pato wants to stand up but Angle is controlling him.
Pato utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Angle throwing strikes from guard but Pato blocks nicely.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Pato lands with a kick to the temple. Angle shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Pato throws a sloppy head kick and Angle moves out of range easily.
Pato misses with a shot to the body

and Angle counters with a takedown into side control.
Angle fails to land a wild elbow strike.
Angle in side control lands a decent elbow.
Pato is trying to buck Angle off.
Angle cracks Pato with a big elbow.
Pato parries the strikes from Angle easily there. Angle is wary of posturing up too much because it might enable Pato to escape.
Angle working the head with strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pato is not content to let Angle control the position.

Angle is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Pato knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Angle takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

Angle thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.
Angle in side control, throwing shots but Pato defends.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Angle takes a little break here. Pato wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Pato prevents Angle from improving position.
Angle misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.
Pato parries the strikes from Angle easily there. Angle is wary of posturing up too much because it might enable Pato to escape.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Angle fails with an attempt to clinch.
Angle misses with a body shot.

And that's the end of the fight!
Burt Angle comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Angle has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Felipe Paraventi scores the fight 28:29
Judge Paulo Santos scores the fight 28:29
Judge Emerson Jorge scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Burt Angle!