PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Maxwell Woodward (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Thiery Chabal (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Thiery Chabal will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Woodward
vs
Chabal

182 cm
22
215 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

190 cm
25
205 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Maxwell Woodward!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Thiery Chabal!
The judges for this bout are Dillan Fox, Trevor Gratis and Gregory Folan.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Woodward has a takedown stuffed.
Woodward is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Chabal scores with a head kick. Woodward tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.

It looks like Maxwell Woodward has been cut.
Woodward wants to clinch.

Chabal has Woodward up against the cage in a clinch.

Chabal escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Woodward avoids the head kick by Chabal.

Chabal rushes Woodward and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.

Chabal breaks from the clinch.
Chabal misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Chabal pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Chabal throws a head kick but Woodward moves out of range.
That kick from Chabal tenderised Woodward's leg. Woodward is trying to keep his angry face on.
Chabal throws a head kick that misses
and Woodward counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Chabal lands a head kick!

Chabal clinches with his opponent.
Woodward tries to pull guard but Chabal won't allow it.

Chabal breaks the clinch.

Chabal pushes Woodward up against the cage in a clinch.
Woodward is trying to break the clinch but Chabal is controlling him.

Chabal escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Chabal lands with a kick to the temple. Woodward shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
Woodward looks for a takedown but Chabal sprawls well.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Maxwell Woodward. That's going to take a lot out of him.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Nice takedown defense from Chabal. No joy for Woodward on that attempt.
Chabal throws a head kick but Woodward moves out of range.
Chabal tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.

Chabal gets a clinch.
Chabal lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Woodward tries to pull guard but Chabal forces him back to his feet, against the cage.

Chabal escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Woodward fails to land the takedown.
Woodward avoids the head kick by Chabal.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Chabal goes for a high kick. It partially lands.

Chabal drives through and clinches with Woodward against the cage.

Chabal's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Chabal throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Chabal throws a sloppy head kick

and Woodward counters with a nice double leg into guard.
Woodward content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Woodward working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Woodward trying to control but Chabal is working from the bottom.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Woodward makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Woodward working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Woodward wants to stand but Chabal has a closed guard, so he can't escape.

Chabal working for a triangle but Woodward defends it easily.
Chabal looks winded!
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Woodward's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Chabal is trying to control the position but Woodward postures up.

Chabal has an active guard here but Woodward has managed to pass into half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thiery Chabal dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Maxwell Woodward's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Chabal shoots in and bounces Woodward off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Chabal wants to control from the top but Woodward keeps moving.
Woodward wants to control here, rather than go for any submissions from the bottom. At least for now.
Woodward bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Chabal's guard.
Woodward missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Woodward stands up over Chabal, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Chabal pulls Woodward in close to his closed guard and prevents Woodward from doing any damage or advancing position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Let's hope that Chabal has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.
Woodward content to stall in guard here.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
Woodward stopping the sweep attempt from Chabal.
Chabal can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Woodward controls the pace.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

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

A momentary lapse in concentration from Woodward enables Chabal to shoot in and score with a neat double leg. Woodward manages to secure a closed guard as the fighters hit the mat.
Woodward not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Chabal must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Woodward wants to sweep here but Chabal controlling him for the moment.

Chabal decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Woodward, up you get!

Chabal closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Woodward did well to prevent Chabal getting side control.
Woodward moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Woodward could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Woodward pulls Chabal in to control the position.
Woodward looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Woodward 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 three minutes gone in the round.
Woodward is adopting a defensive guard.
Maxwell Woodward overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Woodward looking to control.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.

Woodward looking for a guillotine here but Chabal defends easily.
Woodward is controlling Chabal's posture.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

We're going to have a standup here because Maxwell Woodward wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.
Chabal throws a head kick but Woodward moves out of range.

Woodward scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Chabal flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.

Chabal is defending against the submission attempts here by Woodward.

Chabal looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Maxwell Woodward will probably get the nod.
The cut man is working on Maxwell Woodward's cut.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Woodward is looking to take this fight into the clinch.

Woodward shoots in for a takedown and gets it.
Nice strikes from Woodward there.
Woodward tries to stand but can't do so whilst Chabal controls his leg.

Woodward is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
Chabal has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Woodward is working away from the top position though.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Chabal wants to improve his position but Woodward is controlling well.
Woodward is thwarting Chabal's attempts to control the position.
Chabal is staying active underneath Woodward, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Woodward with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
Woodward throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.

Chabal pushes Woodward up against the cage in a clinch.

Chabal breaks from the clinch.
Woodward fails with a takedown attempt.
Chabal throws a head kick that misses.
Woodward fails with a takedown attempt.
Woodward takes a kick to the side of the head.
Woodward blocks a head kick by Chabal.
Chabal lands with a head kick! That's gotta hurt.
Thiery Chabal is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Chabal closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Woodward tries to pull guard but Chabal won't allow it.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Maxwell Woodward. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Chabal escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Chabal misses with a head kick.
Chabal pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Chabal tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Chabal takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Chabal dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Woodward. That did some damage!
Chabal throws a head kick but Woodward moves out of range.
Woodward avoids the head kick by Chabal.
Chabal avoids the clinch attempt nicely.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A head kick misses from Chabal.
Woodward shoots for a takedown but Chabal saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Woodward tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Chabal manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Chabal.
Chabal trying to control the action but Woodward is working from the bottom.
Woodward is trying to improve his position.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Woodward sneaks back into half guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Thiery Chabal comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Chabal 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 Dillan Fox scores the fight 28:29
Judge Trevor Gratis scores the fight 28:29
Judge Gregory Folan scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Thiery Chabal!