PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rickson Safra (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and John Silver (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Silver is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: Pirate Song. The key to victory for Rickson Safra has got to be keeping the fight on the feet.

Safra
vs
Silver

190 cm
19
273 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

197 cm
21
238 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Intelligent

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Rickson Safra!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, John Silver!
The judges for this bout are Tiny Johnson, Wesley Smith and Gwen Towbar.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Safra clinches up with Silver and pushes him back against the cage.
Silver lands a knee to the head.
Safra wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Silver unloads a knee to the mid-section. Safra lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Silver using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Safra has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Silver looking to throw knees to the head but Safra is blocking nicely.
Silver missing with knees to the body.
Safra looking to stall.
Safra wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Safra tries to score a body lock takedown but Silver shows good agility there to stay on his feet.

Silver has picked Safra up - he's going for a ride! Silver dumps his opponent to the mat with a thud and settles into half guard.

Safra is looking to sinch up a gullotine here but Silver pulls his head out easily.
Safra avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Silver.

Silver escapes and gets back to his feet.

Safra moves into the clinch.
Silver lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Safra.
Safra is breathing heavily.

Silver tightens his grip and picks Safra up, before dumping him to the ground. Safra manages to land in guard.
Silver passes into half guard.
Safra blocking the ground and pound attempt from Silver.
Silver sitting and controlling from the half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Safra is staying active underneath Silver, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Silver missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Silver is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.

Silver gets to his feet - back to striking we go!
Safra could do with loosing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Safra avoids the head kick by Silver.
Silver lands a jab to the head.
Silver avoids the head kick by Safra.

Silver has closed the distance and engaged Safra in a clinch.

Silver lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Silver throwing shots but Safra is blocking nicely.
Silver has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Silver passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Safra!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Silver landing shots from mount.
Safra is squirming around, avoiding Silver's attempts to control the action.
Silver cracks Safra with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Silver dominating with strikes here.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Silver unloading with bombs!
The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Silver fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Safra can't escape the position.
Safra is really trying hard to get back to his feet.
Safra is in all sorts of trouble here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Safra blocking the ground and pound.
Safra is trying desperately to improve position.
Safra manages to regain half guard. Good work.
Safra wants to get back to his feet.
Safra tries to get to full guard but Silver has control of the leg.
Safra avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Silver.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Silver not landing any meaningful shots this time.

Silver seems to be working for a kimura but Safra defends the submission attempt.
Safra gets back to full guard.
Silver stands and throws Safra's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Safra is letting Silver control him for a moment.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Safra is trying to improve his position.
Silver works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Silver dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Silver lands a slapping body shot.
Some wild striking there from Silver.
Silver throws a quick head kick that skims the top of Safra's head.
Safra tries to close the distance and clinch up but Silver swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Silver pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Silver fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Safra is looking to clinch.
Silver shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Safra as he jumps to the side.

Safra rushes Silver and presses him up against the cage.
Silver tries for a takedown. No joy.
Rickson Safra has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of John Silver.
Safra with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Silver lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Silver unloads a knee to the mid-section. Safra lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Safra throws an elbow but it misses.
Safra prevents the takedown attempt.
Silver landing knees to the head.
Silver tries to land knees in the clinch but Safra avoids the damage to the body.
Safra wants to break free but Silver has control.
Silver misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Safra.
Silver lands a nice knee to the body.
Silver tries to stall but Safra uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
Silver unloads a knee to the mid-section. Safra lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Silver tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Safra gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.

Silver turns his hips and lands a very nice judo throw into side control!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Silver wants to take a breather but Safra manages to regain guard - a lesson learnt for Silver.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silver slips nicely into half guard.
Silver working Safra over with strikes.
Silver throwing shots but Safra is blocking nicely.
Ground and pound from Silver.
Silver sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Safra defending well though.

Silver decides to return to a standing position.
Safra closes the distance looking to clinch
and Silver connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Safra tries to shoot in for a takedown. He's got hold of a leg but Silver swivels and escapes.

Silver takes the fight into the clinch.
Safra gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Silver.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Silver misses with a hook to the ribs.

Safra manages to break the clinch.
Safra tries to clinch up
and Silver counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Safra is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Safra lands a with a good body shot.
Safra wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
Silver misses with a straight right.
The step up in weight doesn't seem to be a problem for Silver. He's performing admirably here against the bigger man.
Some wild striking there from Silver.
Safra doesn't manage to clinch there - Silver circles away.
Silver throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Safra.
Safra tries to clinch but Silver is having none of it.
Safra fails in his attempt to clinch.
Safra shoots for a takedown but Silver saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Safra tries to close the distance and clinch but Silver swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Silver throws a head kick that misses.

Silver gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Silver goes for a takedown in the clinch but Safra prevents it.
Safra with a knee to the head.

It looks like John Silver has been cut.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for leaving it all in the cage!

Silver decides to pull guard.
Silver looking for a sweep. Not yet Silver, not yet.
Silver is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Safra won't allow Silver to pass to mount.
Safra is staying active underneath Silver, who seems content to just control the action from this position.

Silver is looking for a kimura here.
John Silver has got the better of the ground game so far.
Silver throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Silver is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.

Silver postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Safra to stand up.

Silver has closed the distance and engaged Safra in a clinch.
Silver connects with a nasty looking knee right to Safra's face.
Safra misses with a knee to the head.

Silver jumps into guard, dragging Safra to the mat.
Silver trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Silver looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Silver is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Safra wants to get up but he can't break Silver's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
Safra has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

Silver looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.

Silver kicks Safra off and gets to his feet.
Safra looks to clinch
and Silver counters with a head kick. That will keep Safra thinking before he tries any more sloppy attacks!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Safra tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Silver paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Silver swats away the attempt to clinch by Safra.
John Silver is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Silver stuffs the takedown attempt from Safra. Safra gets slowly back to his feet.
No luck for Silver with that takedown attempt.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Safra tries to clinch up but Silver circles away and keeps his distance.

Silver decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Silver is taking a breather. Safra says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.
Silver is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Safra!
Safra is wriggling around trying to escape.
Silver landing punches.
Silver lands a big elbow.

Safra is rocked!

Silver is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Safra can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.
Silver unloading with bombs!
Oh Safra is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Safra takes a big shot to the dome and his eyes have rolled back in his head! Silver's killer instinct has kicked in as he finishes the fight with more strikes. Impressive finish.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:05 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). John Silver!