PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Johny Watson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Anderson Silva (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Johny Watson has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Watson
vs
Silva

170 cm
26
148 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

225 cm
18
150 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

Good wrestling
Brawler
Experienced

BJJ White Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of London, Johny Watson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Anderson Silva!
The judges for this bout are Donald Grub, Colin Fotheringham and Paul Tew.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Silva tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Watson manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Watson closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Silva did well to prevent Watson getting side control.
Watson thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Watson throwing shots but Silva is blocking nicely.
Watson missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Watson lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Watson winds up and cracks Silva with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Watson throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Silva is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Watson scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Watson working over Silva with some ground and pound. Silva looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Watson thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Silva's head.
Silva is not content to let Watson control the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silva trying to hold on to Watson's head to control him but Watson postures up.
Watson missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Silva has hold of Watson's hands but Watson slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Watson prevents Silva from standing back up.
Watson throws a strike but Silva avoids it easily and moves to full guard.
Watson trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Watson with a flurry of punches that miss.
Silva not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Watson throwing strikes from guard but Silva blocks nicely.

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.
Watson missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Silva manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Watson manages to get himself to full guard.
Silva trying to control the position from guard on top but Watson is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Silva preventing the sweep.
Watson keeping moving, preventing Silva from controlling successfully.
Silva being controlled here momentarily.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silva tries to free his leg and advance position but Watson is retaining full guard.
Silva wants to get up but he can't break Watson's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.

The ref calls for a clean break and stands the fighters back up. Anderson Silva wasn't active enough on the ground.

Silva gets caught on his heels momentarily as he allows Watson to score an easy takedown into full guard.
Silva controls Watson momentarily but Watson frees himself.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Watson trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Watson trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Watson with a flurry of punches that miss.
Watson looking to sit in guard and control but Silva gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Watson wants to get back to his feet but Silva is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Watson keeping moving, preventing Silva from controlling successfully.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Johny Watson dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Watson misses with a left hand

and Silva counters by clinching up.
Watson tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Watson fails to pull guard.
Silva is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Watson is keeping busy.
Silva content to slow the pace in the clinch.
Silva gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Watson.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Johny Watson. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Silva is looking to control Watson's arms but Watson gets an underhook and turns him. Now Silva has his back to the cage.
Silva seems frustrated at his inability to get double underhooks.
Watson drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Silva gets the underhooks and prevents it.
Watson has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Silva avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
Silva will no doubt start fighting again in a minute but for now he's just having a little rest, leaning Watson up against the cage.
Silva gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Watson.
Watson has Silva pressed up against the cage and is working for takedown. Silva manages to improve position though and keeps the fight standing.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Silva lands an elbow that stopped Watson in his tracks for a moment.
A knee to the head by Silva.
Silva looking to stall.
Silva unloads a knee to the mid-section. Watson lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Silva is trying to wear down his opponent with knees to the body.
Knees in the clinch landing for Silva.
Silva looking to stall.
Nice elbow from Silva.
Silva is trying to maintain a safe position but Watson gets an underhook and turns Silva into the cage.
The ref breaks the fighters up, due to lack of action by Anderson Silva.
The fight stays on the outside here - Silva looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Silva shoots in looking for a takedown. Watson tries to sprawl out of it but Silva keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Watson manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Anderson Silva is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
The fight stays on the outside here - Silva looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Silva throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Watson's waist but Watson gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Silva off to one side.
Silva shoots in but Watson avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Silva fails with a takedown attempt.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Watson closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Silva looks like he's trying to stand up.
Silva regains full guard, whilst avoiding punches from Watson.
Silva wants to stand and escape but Watson is having none of it.
Silva controls Watson momentarily but Watson frees himself.
Watson has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Silva utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Watson stops Silva from standing up.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Watson accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Watson prevents Silva from getting back to his feet.
Watson working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Watson postures up in Silva's guard and throws a big left but Silva blocks it.
Watson throwing strikes from guard but Silva blocks nicely.
Watson with a flurry of punches that miss.

That's four 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.
Silva not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Watson distracts Silva with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Watson is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Watson cracks Silva with a solid left hand.
Silva preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Silva not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Watson throws and elbow that misses. Silva uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Watson's guard. Nice move by Silva!
Silva pushes down on Watson's leg and manages to get into half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Anderson Silva showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Watson avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Watson throws a combination that misses
and Silva counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Watson is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Silva uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Watson.
The fight stays on the outside here - Silva looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Watson fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Watson tries to score a power double leg takedown but Silva sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Watson somewhat.
Silva tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Watson paws at him with a jab and circles away.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Watson closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Silva quickly recovers to half guard.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Silva is trying to stand back up but Watson is controlling him
Watson thows a big elbow that misses, also allowing Silva to regain full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Watson accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Silva is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Watson is controlling him.
Johny Watson overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Watson postures up in Silva's guard and throws a big left but Silva blocks it.
Watson throwing strikes but missing.

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.
Silva is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Watson wants to control from the top but Silva keeps moving.
Silva is looking to stand up but Watson isn't so interested in that idea.
Watson tries to free his leg and advance position but Silva is retaining full guard.
Silva trying to control the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Watson throws a big right hand that misses.
Watson throwing strikes from guard but Silva blocks nicely.
Silva manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Silva avoids the attempt from Watson to control.
Silva wants to control the pace but Watson is squirming around nicely.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Anderson Silva.
I think Silva 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... Anderson Silva!