PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Richie Wheeler (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and tito ortiz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Wheeler
vs
ortiz

174 cm
18
185 lbs
1 - 3 - 0

180 cm
22
195 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Prefers ground

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

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 1 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Richie Wheeler!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, tito ortiz!
The judges for this bout are Cecil Peabody, Wesley Smith and George Francis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
ortiz keeps the fight on the outside.

Wheeler closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
ortiz tries to improve position but can't.
Wheeler is looking to take a break and control but ortiz is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Wheeler postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.
Wheeler scoring with punches and elbows.
ortiz manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.
ortiz moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
ortiz looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Wheeler puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.
ortiz wants to get back to full guard.
Wheeler wants to take a breather but ortiz is having none of it.
ortiz tries to get to full guard but Wheeler has control of the leg.

That's one minute gone in the round.
ortiz moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Wheeler has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
ortiz trying to control the position here.
Wheeler knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for ortiz on the ground.
ortiz throwing strikes off his back to little effect.
Wheeler connects with a couple of short punches.

Wheeler avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Wheeler working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Wheeler would like to get this fight back to the feet but can't get free from the closed guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Wheeler tries to free his leg and advance position but ortiz is retaining full guard.
ortiz keeping moving, preventing Wheeler from controlling successfully.
Wheeler chips away with some ground and pound.
Wheeler wants to get up but he can't break ortiz's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
ortiz keeping moving, preventing Wheeler from controlling successfully.

Wheeler avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
ortiz looks gassed!
Wheeler scores with a decent looking elbow strike.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Wheeler landing with the ground and pound.
ortiz 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.
Wheeler lands a couple of digs.
Wheeler has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of ortiz is proving hard to escape from.
Wheeler trying to control the position from guard on top but ortiz is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
ortiz bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Wheeler's guard.
Wheeler will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
ortiz preventing the sweep.
Wheeler throwing strikes off his back to little effect.
Wheeler is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells ortiz's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
ortiz missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
ortiz preventing the sweep.
Wheeler wants to stand but ortiz is controlling the position.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
Wheeler shoots in for a takedown but ortiz shows good takedown defense.
Richie Wheeler seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Wheeler moves into the clinch successfully.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Wheeler throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.
Wheeler misses with the combination.
Wheeler throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Wheeler throws a right and a left that ortiz avoids nicely.
Wheeler misses with a wild combination.
Wheeler fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Richie Wheeler is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

ortiz gets in close and instigates a clinch.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
ortiz scores with an uppercut up the middle.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
ortiz with a knee to the head.

It looks like Richie Wheeler has been cut.
ortiz lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Wheeler.

ortiz breaks from the clinch.
Wheeler fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
tito ortiz is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

That's one minute gone in the round.
ortiz avoids a punch combination nicely.
ortiz throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Wheeler.
ortiz circles away from the clinch attempt

and ortiz counters by clinching up.
ortiz avoiding damage as Wheeler throws knees to the body.

ortiz drags the fight down to the ground.
Wheeler has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of ortiz is proving hard to escape from.

ortiz has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes Wheeler off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.
Wheeler throws a series of punches but ortiz moves out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Wheeler seems to be squinting his left eye. Perhaps he got a poke in that previous exchange. ortiz shows no mercy and swarms him with a barage of strikes! Wheeler is backing up but ortiz catches him with a final right hook that drops him! Wheeler covers up and the referee steps in to end the fight! ortiz Jumps to his feet and flashes his guns to the crowd. Oh yeah, baby! How'd you like them apples?!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:15 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). tito ortiz!