PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Royce Grace (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Shane Taylor (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Grace comes to the cage accompanied by Go To Sleep - Eminem. I'm sure you'll be fascinated to know that I was talking to some pointless Z list celebrity before the fight and he thought that Shane Taylor was going to win. Let's see if he was right.

Grace
vs
Taylor

182 cm
26
178 lbs
7 - 6 - 0

185 cm
30
202 lbs
27 - 16 - 0

BJJ Red Belt
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Heavy handed

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 7 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Royce Grace!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 27 - 16 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Shane Taylor!
The judges for this bout are Ian Loll, Yves DeLean and Gregory Folan.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Taylor takes a swing at Grace's ribcage but misses.

Grace shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Grace fails to take his opponent's back.

Grace looking for an armbar but decides to keep the dominant position instead.
Grace looking to finish Taylor with some ground and pound. This is bad for Taylor!
Poor strikes thrown by Grace there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Grace punching from mount but Taylor doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Grace takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Grace trying to control but he's not successful this time.

Grace looking to secure an arm triangle but Taylor defends it well.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Taylor is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Grace 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.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Grace 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.
Taylor is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Taylor is wriggling around trying to escape.
Grace trying to control but Taylor is having none of it.

Grace is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Taylor has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Taylor wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Grace.
Grace can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Taylor is looking to escape.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Grace in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Grace unloads with some shots from mount but Taylor bucks and avoids them well.
Taylor prevents Grace from taking his back.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Taylor blocking the ground and pound.

Grace is in full mount, looking to secure a guillotine but Taylor is surviving well by controlling Grace's body position as best he can.
Grace wants to control the pace but Taylor is squirming around nicely.
Grace fails to advance to Taylor's back.
Taylor is working to get back to half guard.
Grace looking to control but Taylor is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Taylor is in all sorts of trouble here.
Grace moves to take his opponent's back.
A lull in the action here.
Grace biding his time, controlling Taylor.

Grace looking for the choke from the back.

Grace has his hand under the chin of his opponent looking for the choke. He's nearly got it! This one could be all over! But no, Taylor has freed his hand and lives to survive another… well, another couple of seconds at least!

Taylor preventing the rear naked choke attempt from Grace.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Taylor staying busy and making it hard for Grace to control.

Taylor is displaying good submission defense - not really looking in danger of submitting to the rear naked choke at the moment. That could change in an instant of course if Grace gets his way!

Taylor is displaying good submission defense - not really looking in danger of submitting to the rear naked choke at the moment. That could change in an instant of course if Grace gets his way!
Grace throws a big right hand but he misses and hits the mat. Ouch.

Grace has managed to slip his arm under Taylor's chin. This could be all over... yep, Taylor is tapping out! Submission win for Grace.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:56 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Royce Grace!
After winning the bout, Royce Grace thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.