PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Mateus Santiago (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and GAB SABANGAN (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Fingers crossed for an exciting fight - I'm sure both fighters are looking for a nice under the table bonus!

Santiago
vs
SABANGAN

188 cm
24
185 lbs
4 - 3 - 0

185 cm
25
185 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Good chin

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Enjoys gardening

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 4 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Mateus Santiago!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, GAB SABANGAN!
The judges for this bout are Konstantin Menshow, Aleksei Zolotukhin and Viktor Lagutenko.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
SABANGAN misses with a takedown attempt - Santiago sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
SABANGAN shoots for a takedown but Santiago saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
SABANGAN circles away from the clinch attempt.
Santiago tries to clinch up.
Santiago throws a two punch combo that lands nicely.

Santiago darts in and clinches SABANGAN up against the cage.

SABANGAN has moved round to his opponent's back and is looking for a suplex! Oh snap! He's tossed Santiago clear over his head and slammed him to the mat!
We could do with one of the fighters taking the initiative a bit more on the ground - they're both waiting to capitalize on a mistake.
Santiago wants to control his opponent's hands but SABANGAN gets his hands free.
SABANGAN tries to get the hooks in deep but Santiago pushed the leg off.
Santiago tries to roll but SABANGAN sticks to his back.
A lull in the action here.
SABANGAN is hanging on to Santiago's back as he tries to escape.
Santiago prevents SABANGAN from getting a body triangle.

That's one minute gone in the round.
You can see the frustration on Santiago's face… He knows he is in trouble unless he improves his position sooner rather than later.
SABANGAN thows a huge left but connects with the canvas and not his opponent.
SABANGAN wants to control the position but Santiago frees himself and scrambles - SABANGAN manages to regain control in side control.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Santiago cracks SABANGAN with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
The fight stays on the outside here - Santiago looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Santiago tries to clinch up.
Santiago blocks a head kick by SABANGAN.
Santiago tries to clinch but SABANGAN is having none of it.
Santiago moves out of range of the leg kick from SABANGAN.
SABANGAN swats away the attempt to clinch by Santiago.
Santiago is looking to take this fight into the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.

Santiago has SABANGAN up against the cage in a clinch.

SABANGAN successfully pulls guard.
SABANGAN is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Santiago is breathing heavily.
SABANGAN prevents Santiago from improving his position.
SABANGAN passes the guard and advances to mount!
SABANGAN working Santiago over with strikes here.
Santiago tries to hold on but SABANGAN pushes him away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

SABANGAN has hold of Santiago's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Santiago manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
SABANGAN lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
SABANGAN unloading with bombs!
Santiago is bucking up trying to escape but SABANGAN cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
SABANGAN prevents Santiago from getting the reversal.
Santiago swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Santiago can't escape the position.
SABANGAN takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
SABANGAN cracks Santiago with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
SABANGAN takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
SABANGAN landing punches.
Santiago is squirming around, avoiding SABANGAN's attempts to control the action.
SABANGAN with a couple of short strikes.
Santiago tries to hold on but SABANGAN postures up.
SABANGAN lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Santiago hang on?
Santiago wants to control but SABANGAN is having none of it.

SABANGAN looking for an armbar but decides to keep the dominant position instead.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

GAB SABANGAN dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

SABANGAN shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than SABANGAN was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
SABANGAN controlling the pace for now.
SABANGAN has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Santiago wants to control but SABANGAN is having none of it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
SABANGAN with good strikes from the mount here!
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

SABANGAN jumps to side control looking for an arm triangle but Santiago manages to avoid the submission attempt.
Santiago is looking for a sweep.
SABANGAN is working Santiago over with some ground and pound from side control.

SABANGAN has had enough of the ground for now and decides to stand.
Santiago leaves SABANGAN with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
The fight stays on the outside here - Santiago looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Santiago tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
SABANGAN has a takedown stuffed.
SABANGAN throws out a loose jab but Santiago uses good head movement to avoid it.
The fight stays on the outside here - Santiago looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Mateus Santiago is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Santiago avoids the body shot from SABANGAN.

Santiago closes the distance and clinches.
SABANGAN unloads a knee to the mid-section.
Santiago is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
SABANGAN keeps control of Santiago as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.

SABANGAN breaks from the clinch.

SABANGAN looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Santiago!
SABANGAN thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santiago is trying desperately to improve position.
Santiago is bucking up trying to escape but SABANGAN cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
SABANGAN pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
SABANGAN looking to control but Santiago is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

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.
Santiago wants to control but SABANGAN is having none of it.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, SABANGAN cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
SABANGAN takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
SABANGAN working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Santiago wants to control but SABANGAN is having none of it.
Santiago is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

GAB SABANGAN 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!

Santiago uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from SABANGAN.
Santiago moves in looking to clinch but SABANGAN pushes him off.
Santiago wants to clinch up but SABANGAN keeps it at a distance.

SABANGAN forces Santiago back against the cage and clinches.
Santiago is working SABANGAN over against the cage.
Santiago is looking to break free of the clinch but SABANGAN has double underhooks.
Santiago tries to break the clinch but SABANGAN is controlling the position.
SABANGAN tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
SABANGAN is working for takedown but Santiago is calmly controlling the position for now.
Santiago is pressed up against the cage. SABANGAN has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Santiago down to the mat. Santiago avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
Mateus Santiago has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of GAB SABANGAN.

SABANGAN closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Santiago lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of SABANGAN backwards.
SABANGAN has Santiago pressed against the cage, preventing Santiago from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Santiago softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
Santiago lands a left hand.

SABANGAN manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Santiago accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Santiago postures up.

SABANGAN is looking for a triangle but Santiago pushes his legs off easily.

SABANGAN is working an open guard so Santiago takes the opportunity to get back to his feet.
Santiago tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and SABANGAN counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Santiago is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Santiago digs a good hook to SABANGAN's body.
SABANGAN throws a feint and then finishes with a kick to the body.
Santiago looks to clinch

and SABANGAN counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Santiago's guard now.
SABANGAN stands and throws Santiago's legs to the side, diving into side control.
SABANGAN trying to control the position but Santiago is working away.
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.
SABANGAN scoring with punches and elbows.
SABANGAN postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.
Santiago takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Santiago manages to get back to half guard.
Santiago gets back to full guard.
Santiago looking to control but SABANGAN passes into half guard.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
SABANGAN wants to lay and pray for a moment but Santiago keeps working.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santiago wants to control but SABANGAN is keeping busy.
SABANGAN working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Santiago is looking for a sweep. SABANGAN is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Santiago is refusing to be controlled, as SABANGAN sits in half guard.
SABANGAN is pressing down on Santiago's thigh, looking to free his foot. Santiago is holding on for now.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Santiago darts in trying to clinch
and SABANGAN finishes the little exchange by landing a big kick to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
SABANGAN takes a body punch but keeps moving.

Santiago has SABANGAN up against the cage in a clinch.

SABANGAN's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
SABANGAN tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Santiago darts in trying to clinch

and SABANGAN counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by SABANGAN.
SABANGAN tries to pull guard but Santiago holds him up against the cage and eventually SABANGAN drops back down to his feet.
SABANGAN tries to stall but Santiago uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
Santiago lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Santiago stalling in the clinch but SABANGAN improves position.

SABANGAN breaks from the clinch.
Santiago tries to clinch but SABANGAN moves away
and SABANGAN counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Mateus Santiago has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
GAB SABANGAN is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
SABANGAN swats away the attempt to clinch by Santiago.

And that's the end of the fight!
GAB SABANGAN comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got SABANGAN winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Konstantin Menshow scores the fight 27:30
Judge Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 27:30
Judge Viktor Lagutenko scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... GAB SABANGAN!