PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Jimmy Taylor (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Channing Mackenzie (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Taylor
vs
Mackenzie

190 cm
25
214 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

196 cm
25
280 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid Muay Thai
KO power

Good takedowns
Brawler
Can Moonwalk

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Jimmy Taylor!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Channing Mackenzie!
The judges for this bout are Luis Engracia, Daniel Cesar and Matheus Silva.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Taylor lands with a nice body kick.
Mackenzie throws a sloppy head kick
and Taylor makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Mackenzie wants to clinch.
Taylor lands a head kick. Mackenzie smiles back at him and beckons him forward.
Taylor connects with a body shot.
Taylor buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Taylor moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.

Taylor drops his shoulder and cracks Mackenzie with a huge uppercut! Mackenzie goes down! Can Taylor finish him?

Mackenzie is rocked!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Taylor missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Mackenzie is still in real trouble! Can Taylor finish him?
Taylor postures up in Mackenzie's guard and throws a big left but Mackenzie blocks it.
Mackenzie seems to have recovered his senses.
Mackenzie tries to strike from the bottom.
Taylor 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.
Mackenzie controls Taylor momentarily but Taylor frees himself.
Taylor controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Taylor throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Mackenzie really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Taylor. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Mackenzie controlling the position.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.

Mackenzie scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.
Mackenzie trying to control the action but Taylor is working from the bottom.
Taylor struggling a bit here.
Taylor regains half guard.
Mackenzie throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Taylor wants to get back to full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Taylor wants to control but Mackenzie is keeping busy.

Mackenzie seems to be looking for submissions.

Taylor looking for submissions off his back.
Taylor slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Mackenzie stopping the sweep attempt from Taylor.

Taylor throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Taylor looks to be in better condition than last time we saw him fight. Obviously he's been working hard on his cardio.
Mackenzie must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

Taylor is looking for a triangle but Mackenzie pushes his legs off easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mackenzie has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Taylor is proving hard to escape from.
If this pace continues, the referee will definitely step in and force a standup.
Mackenzie controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Taylor explodes with a nice body kick and back out of range. Nice work.

Mackenzie scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.
You can see the frustration on Taylor's face as Mackenzie controls the position.
Mackenzie connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Taylor some visible discomfort.
Taylor tries to improve position but can't.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Mackenzie wants to stand but Taylor is controlling his arm.
Mackenzie staying calm.

Mackenzie tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Mackenzie has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Taylor is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Mackenzie taking a breather here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jimmy Taylor dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Taylor doesn't manage to clinch there - Mackenzie circles away.

Mackenzie shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Taylor's guard.

Taylor is looking for a triangle but Mackenzie pushes his legs off easily.
Mackenzie working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Mackenzie trying to control but Taylor is working from the bottom.
Mackenzie stops Taylor from standing up.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Taylor working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Mackenzie doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Mackenzie manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Mackenzie loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Mackenzie stays in close to Taylor's body and controls the position.
Mackenzie trying to stand up but can't free himself from Taylor's guard.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.

Taylor gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.

Taylor working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Mackenzie doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Mackenzie manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Taylor is trying to keep Mackenzie in close.
Mackenzie lands a couple of elbows.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Mackenzie trying to control but Taylor is working from the bottom.
Mackenzie controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Taylor is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Mackenzie looking to pass the guard.
Taylor manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Mackenzie manages to get himself to full guard.

We've been informed that Mackenzie has been working hard on his conditioning in the buildup to the fight.
Taylor preventing the sweep.
Mackenzie controlling Taylor's posture.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Mackenzie can do anything to dispel that myth.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Taylor wants to control from the top but Mackenzie keeps moving.

Mackenzie is looking for a triangle here but Taylor uses the submission attempt to pass into side control.
Taylor is looking to take a break and control but Mackenzie is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Taylor controls the position from side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Mackenzie tries to escape but Taylor is in control.
Mackenzie struggling a bit here.
Mackenzie tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Taylor looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Mackenzie is avoiding damage well.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
You can see the frustration on Mackenzie's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Taylor lands a leg kick that knocks Mackenzie off balance momentarily.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Channing Mackenzie showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Mackenzie on the wrong end of a decent looking cross there.
Jimmy Taylor seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Mackenzie closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Mackenzie is controlling the pace.
Taylor has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Mackenzie is working away from the top position though.

Mackenzie is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Taylor tries to roll over but Mackenzie keeps him under control.
Mackenzie trying to control from Taylor's half guard. Taylor has other ideas though and has regained full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Taylor is on top in guard.

Taylor throws a big elbow that misses.
Taylor tries to free his leg and advance position but Mackenzie is retaining full guard.
Taylor trying to control the position from guard on top but Mackenzie is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Taylor's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Mackenzie wants to get back to his feet but he's too absorbed in his own little project and Taylor manages to pass to side control.
Taylor thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Mackenzie's head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Mackenzie trying to hold on to Taylor's head to control him but Taylor postures up.
Mackenzie tries to get to full guard but Taylor has control of the leg.
Taylor throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Taylor is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!
Taylor thowing shots but they're missing.
Taylor controlling the pace for now.
Poor strikes thrown by Taylor there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mackenzie tries to hold on but Taylor pushes him away.
Taylor is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Mackenzie really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
BOOM! Taylor connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Mackenzie wants to control but Taylor is having none of it.
Taylor landing strikes from the mount and Mackenzie is in trouble!
Mackenzie can't escape the position.
Mackenzie blocking the ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Taylor trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Mackenzie can't escape the position.
Taylor avoids the attempt from Mackenzie to control.
Taylor tries to control but Mackenzie wriggling away.
Taylor avoids the attempt from Mackenzie to control.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Mackenzie is trying to avoid being dragged into an even worse position than he's already in but Taylor is staying active.

And that's the end of the fight!
Jimmy Taylor showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Taylor has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Luis Engracia scores the fight 29:28
Judge Daniel Cesar scores the fight 29:28
Judge Matheus Silva scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Jimmy Taylor!
Jimmy Taylor decided to hype himself up post fight. It was going well but he went on about it a bit too long and the crowd turned on him a little.