PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Augusto Soto (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Gabe Barnard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Barnard has chosen Sunrise Avenue - Hollywood Hills as his entrance music. Rumors backstage are that the fighters have been paid to keep it standing but we know that would never happen in MMA!

Soto
vs
Barnard

181 cm
18
193 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

183 cm
18
185 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

Good takedowns
Counter striker
Inexperienced

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Tends to cut

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Augusto Soto!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Gabe Barnard!
The judges for this bout are Richard Clark, Chris Edwards and Daniel Bishop.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Barnard shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Soto as he jumps to the side.

Soto closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Barnard did well to prevent Soto getting side control.
Soto is thwarting Barnard's attempts to control the position.
Barnard avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Soto.
Soto not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Soto looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Barnard tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Soto has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
Soto raining down shots from the mount!
Soto controlling from mount.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Soto breaks from Barnard's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Soto controlling his opponent.
Soto connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Soto takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Soto has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Soto seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Barnard for as long as he can get away with.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
We may be looking at a referee standup if the pace doesn't pick up soon.
Barnard wants to hold on but Soto pushes him away.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Soto controlling his opponent.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Augusto Soto wasn't doing enough on the ground.

Soto is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in Barnard's half guard.
Soto is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Soto controlling the action here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Soto is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Soto working Barnard over with strikes.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Soto lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Soto controlling the pace.
Soto prevents Barnard from improving his position.
Soto 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.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Soto 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.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Well, if Soto is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Barnard taking some punishment here, with Soto in his half guard.

Barnard is rocked!
Soto has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Barnard looks gassed!
Soto performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Soto landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Barnard is still in real trouble! Can Soto finish him?
Soto trying to control the pace.
Barnard taking some punishment here, with Soto in his half guard.
Soto works his way into side control.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Soto controlling from side mount.
A big shot lands for Soto! That's hurt Barnard! Will he recover? Soto fires away with more strikes and the referee has to step in to stop the fight!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:56 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Augusto Soto!