PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Joe Reeves (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joseph Sterling (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!

Reeves
vs
Sterling

183 cm
23
177 lbs
2 - 0 - 1

182 cm
18
180 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Counter striker
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 1, fighting out of New York, Joe Reeves!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Joseph Sterling!
The judges for this bout are Anthony Taglia, David Schapiro and Dean Styles.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Reeves looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Sterling is fending him off so far but Reeves persists. Nope, Sterling circles away and we're back to standing.
Reeves misses with a shot to the body
and Sterling counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Reeves shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Sterling sprawls well. Sterling wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Reeves gets slowly back to his feet.
Reeves uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Sterling.
Sterling scores with a hook.
Sterling throws a right and a left that Reeves avoids nicely.
Reeves tries to close the distance and clinch but Sterling swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Reeves.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Joe Reeves. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Sterling throws an overhand right that lands on Reeves's shoulder, as Reeves tries to avoid the shot.
Sterling throws a series of punches but Reeves moves out of range.
A combination from Sterling does no damage.
Reeves scores with a head kick. Sterling tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.
Sterling misses with a looping right.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Reeves swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.

Reeves has closed the distance and engaged Sterling in a clinch.
Reeves unloads a knee to the mid-section. Sterling lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Sterling is pressed up against the cage. Reeves has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Sterling down to the mat. Sterling avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
Sterling feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Reevess jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Reeves with a lazy takedown attempt
and Sterling cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Reeves lands a slapping body shot.
Sterling swinging wildly here.

Reeves clinches with his opponent.

Reeves's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Reeves on the wrong end of an overhand right that came out of nowhere.
Reeves will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sterling displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
Reeves shoots in for a takedown but Sterling shows good takedown defense.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
A decent looking body kick lands there for Reeves.
Sterling throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Reeves.
Reeves throws a shot to the body.
Sterling moves into range and throws a combination. A nice jab followed by a hook to the body.
Sterling getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Reeves with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
Reeves tries to clinch up.
Reeves throws a left and a right that both miss
and Sterling counters with a nice body shot.
Reeves swings and misses with a shot to the body
and Sterling counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Reeves fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sterling looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Reeves misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Sterling connects nicely with a jab. Noted by the judges no doubt.
Sterling takes a head kick and shrugs it off.
Joe Reeves seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Sterling has a nice red mark on his side after a thudding body kick by Reeves.
Sterling takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Reeves is looking to clinch.
Reeves throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Sterling moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
Sterling might want to mix his strikes up a bit more. He's just going for head shots at the moment and that can become a bit predictable.
Sloppy strikes from Sterling. Those never looked like landing.
Sterling looks gassed!

Reeves moves into the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Sterling has had enough of the clinch but Reeves keeps him there for the moment.
Sterling manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Sterling is trying to break free.
Reeves jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Sterling walks away with a smile on his face. Reeves gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Reeves moves away from the strike by Sterling.
Reeves is looking to wear down Sterling with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.
Reeves fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
This has been an exciting period of action!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Sterling doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Reeves lets loose with a powerful body kick. Sterling will feel that in the morning.
Joseph Sterling is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Sterling slaps away a takedown attempt from Reeves, before circling back to the center of the mat.
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 Joe Reeves will probably get the nod.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Sterling stuffs the takedown attempt from Reeves. Reeves gets slowly back to his feet.
Reeves misses with a low kick.
A jab from Sterling does it's job there.
Sterling loads up on a big right hand but Reeves slips the punch.
Sterling lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Reeves circles away quickly and effectively.
Reeves throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Reeves throws a series of punches but Sterling avoids them all with ease.
Sterling scores with a nice looking left hook and follows it up with an uppercut!
Reeves throws a quick head kick that skims the top of Sterling's head.
Sterling getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Joseph Sterling seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Sterling with a hook.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Reeves moves into range and lands a nice body kick.
Reeves misses with a body shot.
Reeves misses with a wild body shot.
Reeves fails with a takedown attempt.

Reeves closes the distance and pushes Sterling back into the cage.
Sterling tries to break the clinch but Reeves is controlling the position.

Reeves jumps into guard, dragging Sterling to the mat.
Sterling wants to control from the top but Reeves keeps moving.
Reeves is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Sterling is controlling him.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Reeves working a defensive guard here.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Reeves blocks a jab.
Sterling rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Reeves moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Sterling throws a poor cross that misses
and Reeves counters with a three punch combination, finished off with a leg kick. Nice work.
Sterling smiles there as he lands a nice right hand right on the button.
No luck for Reeves with that takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Joe Reeves. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Sterling misses with a hook.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Reeves shoots for a takedown but Sterling saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Sterling lands a jab-cross combination.
Reeves changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Sterling tries to avoid it but Reeves manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Sterling to the ground. Sterling escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Reeves connects with an inside leg kick.
Sterling throws a combination. Reeves tries to block but a couple of punches get through.

It looks like Joe Reeves has been cut.
Reeves tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Sterling paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Reeves throws the kick towards the body but Sterling avoids it.
Reeves fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Reeves tries to clinch but Sterling is having none of it.
Sterling keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
Sterling misses with a few strikes there.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Sterling moves out of range of the body kick.
Sterling scores with a sloppy right hand. Reeves should have avoided that one.
Sterling takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Reeves throws a head kick that misses.
The fighters circling - Sterling throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Reeves takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Sterling misses with a jab, cross combination.
Sterling lands an overhand right.
Reeves takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Sterling throws a combination that misses
and Reeves counters with an inside leg kick.
Sterling throws a two punch combo that lands nicely.
Joe Reeves is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Reeves throws a one two combo.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Joseph Sterling will probably get the nod - 10:9.
The cut man is working on Joe Reeves's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Reeves fails with an attempt to clinch.
Sterling misses with a looping left.
Reeves lands a jab, followed by a cross and another cross, as Sterling backs up against the cage.
Reeves walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
Sterling fails to land with a series of punches.
Reeves looks like he's developed a pretty tasty lump over his left eye. He'll need to avoid taking much more damage to that.
Reeves looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Sterling is fending him off so far but Reeves persists. Nope, Sterling circles away and we're back to standing.
A looping hook to the body misses from Reeves. Sterling does a little dance to reset his feet.
Reeves shoots for a double leg takedown but Sterling sprawls well. He's pushed Reeves's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Sterling jabs Reeves right on the nose. Reeves blinks but takes it well.

Reeves rushes Sterling and presses him up against the cage.
Sterling is trying to push Reeves away but Reeves has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.

Reeves pulls guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sterling stays in close to Reeves's body and controls the position.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Sterling won't allow Reeves to get back to his feet.

Joseph Sterling has forced the referee to step in and restart the fight on the feet.
Reeves fails to land the takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Joe Reeves. That's going to take a lot out of him.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Reeves.
Sterling displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Reeves.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Reeves takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
A combination from Sterling does no damage.
Reeves shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Sterling as he avoids it easily.
Sterling misses with a double jab.
Sterling lands with a nice combination. Reeves backs away looking to recover.
Sterling goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Reeves is looking to clinch but Sterling is avoiding it.
Left hook, right uppercut from Sterling.
Reeves misses with the combination.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Sterling throws a hook but Reeves avoids it easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sterling is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Reeves.
No luck for Reeves with that takedown attempt.
Reeves shoots for a double leg takedown but Sterling sprawls well. He's pushed Reeves's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Reeves shakes his hands off, looking to compose himself, but takes a jab to the jaw whilst he does it.
Reeves throws a right and a left that both miss.
Reeves slips under a jab.
Reeves takes a jab right on the nose. That must have hurt but he shrugs his shoulders and looks to return the favor.
Sterling throws an overhand right that lands on Reeves's shoulder, as Reeves tries to avoid the shot.
Reeves lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Sterling circles away quickly and effectively.
A combination from Sterling does no damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Reeves misses with a combination
and Sterling connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
A punch combination from Sterling misses.
Sterling circles away from the clinch attempt.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Reeves.
Sterling throws a shot from downtown. Reeves moves away and avoids it.
Sterling closes the distance and lands a one-two.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Sterling throws out a loose jab but Reeves uses good head movement to avoid it.
Reeves throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Sterling's waist but Sterling gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Reeves off to one side.
Sterling's jab looks to have found its range, popping Reeves under the eye.

And that's the end of the fight!
Joseph Sterling comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Sterling 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 Anthony Taglia scores the fight 28:29
Judge David Schapiro scores the fight 28:29
Judge Dean Styles scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Joseph Sterling!
Joseph Sterling bigged himself up after the win. The crowd seemed to love it.