PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Rob Salek (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Robert Graves (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Rob Salek could well score a knockout today. He has the power to get to Robert Graves's chin.

Salek
vs
Graves

160 cm
24
137 lbs
10 - 22 - 0

155 cm
18
140 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Basic striking
Granite chin

BJJ Brown Belt
Counter striker
Enjoys gardening

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 10 - 22 - 0, fighting out of London, Rob Salek!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Robert Graves!
The judges for this bout are Donald Grub, Colin Fotheringham and Paul Tew.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Salek gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Salek throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Graves blocks it with crossed arms.
Graves tries to pull guard but Salek won't allow it.
Salek swings wildly with an uppercut but Graves uses good head movement to avoid it.
Salek landing knees to the head.
Graves changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Salek fights it off and pushes away nicely.
A head kick misses from Salek.

Salek rushes Graves and presses him up against the cage.
Graves tries to pull guard but Salek holds him up against the cage and eventually Graves drops back down to his feet.
Rob Salek has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Robert Graves.
Salek stalling the fight.

Salek breaks the clinch.
Graves is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Oooooooooooh, not good. A low kick from Salek lands where it shouldn't have, right in the... well, you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis. He's injured, injured bad. The referee sends both fighters to their corners and Graves has 5 minutes to recover. He's OK now though... a thumbs up from Graves and we're back underway with a touch of gloves.
Rob Salek seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

That's one minute gone in the round.

The fight moves into the clinch position.

Salek breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

Salek forces Graves back against the cage and clinches.
Salek tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Salek comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Graves goes for a takedown in the clinch but Salek prevents it.
Graves jumps guard but Salek stands there with Graves around his waist. Graves gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Graves fails to pull the fight into his guard.
Salek stops a takedown attempt from Graves.

Graves pulls guard.
Salek has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Graves is proving hard to escape from.

Graves escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Salek gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Salek has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Graves 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.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Graves controls Salek momentarily but Salek frees himself.
Graves looking to hit a scissor sweep but Salek is one step ahead there.

Graves throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Salek wants to get up but he can't break Graves's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Graves 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.
Graves is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Graves wants to take a breather but Salek is having none of it.

Graves is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Salek has managed to free his arm - good work.
Salek is not content to let Graves control the position.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Graves is looking for a kimura but Salek is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Graves to get the leverage.
Salek is breathing heavily.

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.
Graves prevents Salek from standing back up.
Graves has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Graves trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Graves fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Salek knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Graves on the ground.
Salek blocking the ground and pound.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Graves is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Salek can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Graves throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Salek because Graves loaded up on that one.
Graves misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
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 Rob Salek will probably get the nod.
That's time! Salek's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Graves misses with a wild combination.
Graves throws a poor cross that misses
enabling Salek to counter with a crisp jab.

Salek closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Graves tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Graves tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Salek just stands there and leans against the cage.
Graves fails to pull guard.
Rob Salek has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Robert Graves.

Graves jumps guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Graves wants to control here, rather than go for any submissions from the bottom. At least for now.
Graves has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Salek won't allow Graves to sweep him here.
Graves bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Salek's guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Graves trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Graves throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Salek keeping moving, preventing Graves from controlling successfully.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Graves thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Graves slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.
Graves passes easily into side control. Nice work.
Graves throwing shots but missing, from side control.
Graves throws a knee to the body but it doesn't do much damage.
Graves tries to score with some ground and pound. Salek controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.

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

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Graves trying to control the position but Salek is working away.
Graves fails to land a wild elbow strike.

Graves is trying to get an arm triangle but Salek is defending well.
Graves throws an elbow but Salek slips to the side and avoids it well.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The strikes coming from Graves are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Salek gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Graves takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Graves looking to finish with strikes here!
Graves thowing shots but they're missing.
Graves throws some wild stikes that Salek manages to avoid easily.
Graves misses with a head shot.
Graves thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!

That's four 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.
Salek wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Graves.

Graves looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.

Graves looking to secure an arm triangle but Salek defends it well.

Graves looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Robert Graves showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's time! Salek's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight. This is the final round!

Salek uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Graves.
Graves looks for a takedown but Salek sprawls well.
Graves rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and Salek counters with a good, hard body kick but Graves shrugs it off.
Salek misses with a few strikes there.

Salek closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
A battle for position here, against the cage.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

Salek gets control of Graves's arms and successfully pulls guard. Salek will no doubt be looking for submissions off his back.
Graves chips away with some ground and pound.
Graves passes easily into side control. Nice work.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Graves lands a decent elbow from side control.
Graves working the head with strikes.
Graves has knee on belly and now moves to full mount! Trouble for Salek!
Graves misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Graves content just to control the position here.
Graves landing strikes from the mount.
Graves thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Graves thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Graves should think about turning a few of those tyres round his middle into muscle if he wants people to take him seriously as an athlete.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Graves trying to control but he's not successful this time.

Graves looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
Graves looking to ground and pound but Salek is blocking nicely.
Graves punching from mount but Salek doing a good job of avoiding damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Graves scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Graves trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Salek blocking the ground and pound.

Graves has control of Salek's right arm, working for a kimura. It's a bit of a token attempt though and Salek regains control of the situation pretty easily.

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.

Graves looking to secure an arm triangle but Salek defends it well.
Graves thowing shots but they're missing.
Poor strikes thrown by Graves there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Salek holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Graves tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.

Graves looking for an armbar but decides to keep the dominant position instead.

Graves is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Salek can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.

And that's the end of the fight!
Robert Graves comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Graves 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 Donald Grub scores the fight 28:29
Judge Colin Fotheringham scores the fight 28:29
Judge Paul Tew scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Robert Graves!