PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Jimmy Riley (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Steve Roberts (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Steve Roberts has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Riley
vs
Roberts

170 cm
22
160 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

185 cm
21
163 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Self confident

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 2 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Jimmy Riley!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Steve Roberts!
The judges for this bout are William Peck, Elvis Blanc and Yves DeLean.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Riley goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Roberts throws a feint and then finishes with a kick to the body.
Roberts misses with a body shot.

Roberts looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into side control! Oh, that's bad for Riley!

Roberts is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Riley has escaped the position, nice work there.
Roberts throwing strikes but Riley manages to buck up and roll into a nice reversal - now he's on top in side control!
Roberts can't do much from the bottom here.
Roberts is looking for a sweep.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Roberts gets back to half guard.

Riley is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Riley is thwarting Roberts's attempts to control the position.
Riley 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.

Roberts looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Roberts works his way to full guard. Good work.
Riley lands a couple of decent looking shots.

Roberts looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Roberts is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Riley is looking to stand up but Roberts won't let him.
Riley might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.

Riley stands up and waves to Roberts to follow him.
Roberts misses the shot to the body.
Roberts throws a body kick that digs right into the meat.
Jab by Riley.
Roberts fails with an attempt to clinch.
Roberts blocks a head kick by Riley.
Riley is breathing heavily.
Riley tries to close the distance and clinch but Roberts swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Riley shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Roberts eats them both and turns towards Riley to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Roberts avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Roberts fails in his attempt to clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Riley avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Riley misses with a head kick.
Jimmy Riley seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Roberts lands a two punch combo.
Roberts throws a right hand that Riley ducks under and follows up with a left that Riley also avoids with ease.
Roberts is looking to slow Riley down with leg kicks.
Roberts lands a front kick.

The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Roberts closes the distance and clinches.
Roberts's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Roberts scores with a knee to the head.
Both fighters working to control the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Riley wants to break free but Roberts has control.
Riley jumps guard but Roberts stands there with Riley around his waist. Riley gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.

Roberts breaks from the clinch.

Roberts darts in and clinches Riley up against the ropes.
Riley throws a knee to the head but misses.
Roberts tries to jump guard but he falls flat on his backside. Riley smiles and moves away.
Riley takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.

Riley feints and as Roberts raises his hands in defense, Riley changes levels and drives through with a takedown into guard.

That's five minutes gone in the round.
Roberts has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
Riley trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Riley wants to stand but Roberts has a closed guard, so he can't escape.

Roberts looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Roberts tries to strike from the bottom.
Riley has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Roberts controls Riley momentarily but Riley frees himself.
Roberts controlling the position.

That's six minutes gone in the round.

Roberts has his foot on Riley's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Riley works his way back into a safe position though.
Roberts is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Riley wants to stand but Roberts is controlling his posture from full guard.
Riley tries to free his leg and advance position but Roberts is retaining full guard.
Riley postures up in Roberts's guard and throws a big left but Roberts blocks it.
Riley postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.

Roberts escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Riley gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.

That's seven minutes gone in the round.
Riley wants to control from the top but Roberts keeps moving.
Roberts wants to sweep here but Riley controlling him for the moment.
Riley is looking to stand up but Roberts won't let him.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Riley accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Roberts keeping moving, preventing Riley from controlling successfully.
Roberts is trying to control the position but Riley postures up.
Riley trying to control the position from guard on top but Roberts is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's eight minutes gone in the round.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Jimmy Riley.

Roberts gets a clinch.
Riley is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the ropes.
Roberts tries for a takedown but Riley manages to get underhooks.
Roberts is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Riley is keeping busy.
Roberts looking to throw knees to the head but Riley is blocking nicely.
With the two fighters working up against the ropes, Riley just misses with a elbow thrown towards Roberts's brow.
Roberts tries to land knees in the clinch but Riley avoids the damage to the body.
Roberts unloads a knee to the mid-section. Riley lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.

That's nine minutes gone in the round.

Roberts's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Riley misses with a head kick.

Roberts gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Roberts misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Riley.
Roberts missing with knees to the body.
Riley wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Roberts tries to land knees in the clinch but Riley avoids the damage to the body.

Roberts successfully pulls guard.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Roberts preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Riley trying to stand up but can't free himself from Roberts's guard.
Riley with a nice head shot there.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Steve Roberts dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

Riley takes a shot to the body in his stride.
Left hook, right uppercut from Riley.
Roberts is looking to clinch.
Roberts swings and misses with a shot to the body

and Riley counters with a single leg into guard. Roberts didn't expect that.
Roberts looking to control.
Roberts is in a good position here but he's just trying to control... And he's not even managing to do that successfully.

Roberts is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Riley defends well.
Roberts looking to hit a scissor sweep but Riley is one step ahead there.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Riley would like to get this fight back to the feet but can't get free from the closed guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Roberts not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Riley won't allow Roberts to sweep him here.
Roberts is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Roberts controls Riley momentarily but Riley frees himself.
It looks like the ref is thinking about a standup.
Roberts pulls Riley in close to prevent any damage.

Steve Roberts has forced the referee to step in and restart the fight on the feet.
Riley connects with a nice looking jab.
Riley pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Roberts tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Roberts tries to close the distance and clinch but Riley swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Riley fails with an attempt to clinch.
Riley misses with a head kick.
Riley wants to clinch up but Roberts keeps it at a distance.
Roberts stuffs the takedown.

Roberts moves into the clinch successfully.

Roberts gets control of Riley's arms and successfully pulls guard. Roberts will no doubt be looking for submissions off his back.
Riley trying to control but Roberts is working from the bottom.

Roberts kicks Riley off and gets to his feet.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Roberts scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Roberts is looking to clinch but Riley is avoiding it.
Roberts throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Riley is looking to clinch.
Riley slaps away a takedown attempt from Roberts, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Roberts looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Roberts tries to close the distance and clinch but Riley swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
A right-left combo lands from Riley.
Riley throws the kick towards the body but Roberts avoids it.
Roberts throws a head kick but Riley moves out of range.
Riley shoots in for a takedown but Roberts shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.

Roberts closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Riley quickly recovers to half guard.

Riley is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Roberts pulls his head out easily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Roberts seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Riley does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Roberts is just content to waste time from the top position. Riley takes advantage of the situation and regains full guard.
Roberts won't allow Riley to get back to his feet.
Roberts sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Roberts trying to control but Riley is working from the bottom.

That's five minutes gone in the round.
Roberts is stalling in the full guard.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Steve Roberts was stalling too much, according to the referee.

Riley clinches up against the ropes.
Riley tries to break free but Roberts pushes him back against the ropes.

Roberts breaks the clinch.
Riley throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Roberts finishes the little exchange by landing a big kick to the body.
Riley moves out of range of the body kick from Roberts.
Roberts fails with an attempt to clinch.

Riley closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Roberts to the mat! Roberts manages to get full guard.

That's six minutes gone in the round.
Roberts is trying to control the position but Riley postures up.
Riley trying to stand up but can't free himself from Roberts's guard.
Roberts wants to stand and escape but Riley is having none of it.
Riley stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Roberts swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Riley wants to stand and escape but instead Roberts has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.
Roberts seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

That's seven minutes gone in the round.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Steve Roberts.
Riley fails with an attempt to clinch.
Riley pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Roberts tries to clinch up but Riley circles away and keeps his distance.
Riley shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Roberts as he avoids it easily.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jimmy Riley. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Riley is on the wrong end of a nice combination from Roberts.
Roberts tries to clinch but Riley moves out of range.
Roberts is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Roberts throws the kick towards the body but Riley avoids it.

That's eight minutes gone in the round.
Roberts will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.

Roberts bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Riley is trying to stand back up. He's worked his way up against the ropes but Roberts has just dragged him back down to the mat.
An elbow from Roberts crashes against the mat.
Steve Roberts has got the better of the ground game so far.
Riley is pushing Roberts's head away, looking to escape. Roberts manages to hold on to the position though.
Roberts wants to control for a moment but Riley uses the opportunity to move back to half guard.
Roberts is trying to control. Riley wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

That's nine minutes gone in the round.
Riley missing with punches from the bottom.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Roberts in particular looking to stall.
Roberts wants to pass to mount but Riley is defending the position.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
If this pace continues, the referee will definitely step in and force a standup.
Roberts is trying to control the action in half guard but Riley is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Steve Roberts comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Roberts has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.

Judge William Peck scores the fight for Steve Roberts!
Judge Elvis Blanc scores the fight for Steve Roberts!
Judge Yves DeLean scores the fight for Steve Roberts!

Steve Roberts wins by unanimous decision!