PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Floyd Lawton (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Axel Rose (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Axel Rose struggled to make weight for this fight. He only made it down to 171.9lbs at the first attempt and had to take the additional two hours to make the official bout weight. Let's see how much it's taken out of him. Axel Rose looks lathargic as he enters the arena. Wake up son, you're about to have a fight!

Lawton
vs
Rose

178 cm
22
170 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

180 cm
21
180 lbs
4 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Intelligent

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Tends to cut

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Floyd Lawton!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Axel Rose!
The judges for this bout are Mauricio Rocha, Paulo Santos and Felipe Paraventi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Rose looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.

Rose seems to be looking for submissions.
Lawton tries to roll over but Rose keeps him under control.
Rose wants to control but Lawton is keeping him busy.
Lawton tries to get to full guard but Rose has control of the leg.

Rose is looking for a kimura but Lawton is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Rose to get the leverage.
Lawton is looking to improve his position.
Rose wants to control but Lawton is keeping him busy.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Lawton fails with the takedown

and Rose counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Rose looks gassed!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Lawton is trying to stand up here but Rose is controlling him well.

Rose is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and Lawton defends it well.
Lawton is trying to stand up here but Rose is controlling him well.

Rose seems to be looking for submissions.
Lawton looks like he's trying to stand up.
Lawton trying to control from the bottom.
Rose with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Lawton keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
Lawton fails with the takedown

and Rose counters by clinching up.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.

Lawton breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Lawton.
Rose manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.
Lawton working to pass to mount. He's got his hand pressing down on Rose's thigh. Rose counters though and makes it back to full guard.
Lawton tries to stand but Rose is controlling from the bottom.
Rose lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Lawton!
Lawton is in all sorts of trouble here.
Lawton doing his best to control the position. Can he escape?
Rose prevents Lawton from getting the reversal.
Lawton knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Rose on the ground.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Lawton wants to hold on but Rose pushes him away.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Lawton flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Lawton is wriggling around trying to escape.

Rose with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Lawton really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Lawton tries to hold on but Rose postures up.
Lawton tries to reverse the position but Rose maintains control.
Rose trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Lawton can't escape the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Lawton slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
Lawton is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.

Lawton looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Rose is thwarting Lawton's attempts to control the position.

Rose is looking for a kimura here.
Rose wants to take a breather but Lawton is having none of it.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Axel Rose dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Lawton closes the distance and clinches.
Rose is trying to stall.
Lawton holding his opponent close, against the cage.

Lawton escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Lawton clinches but Rose breaks the clinch

and Rose counters with a nice double leg into guard.
Lawton looking to control.
Rose wants to control from the top but Lawton keeps moving.
Lawton trying to control the position.
Lawton working a defensive guard but Rose passes into half guard.
Lawton is trying to get back to full guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Lawton has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Rose is working away from the top position though.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rose is keen to just control but Lawton is a slippery customer.

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

Rose decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Lawton tries to roll over but Rose keeps him under control.
Rose performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Lawton wants to get back to full guard.
Lawton keeps control of the position for the meantime.
Lawton manages to get to full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rose controlling from the top position.
Lawton looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Rose pushing down on Lawton's thigh, trying to pass to half guard. He's managed it... Nice work.
Rose moves nicely into side control.

Rose tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Rose has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Rose tries to score with some ground and pound. Lawton controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Lawton can't do much from the bottom here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Lawton manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.
Lawton is refusing to be controlled, as Rose sits in half guard.
Lawton pushes Rose off looking to stand but Rose dives back in and keeps control.
Rose is keen to just control but Lawton is a slippery customer.
Rose prevents Lawton from improving his position.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
Lawton tries a head kick but it misses.
Floyd Lawton seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Rose is looking to clinch.
Rose darts in trying to clinch

and Lawton decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Rose's guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rose keeping moving, preventing Lawton from controlling successfully.
Rose utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Rose keeping moving, preventing Lawton from controlling successfully.
Lawton 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.
Lawton with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.

Lawton decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Rose, up you get!
Rose takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
Lawton with a lazy takedown attempt

and Rose counters with a nice double leg into side control. Lawton won't be happy with that.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Lawton is looking to reverse the position.

Rose is in a dominant position here, looking for a kimura. Lawton looks calm but he's in trouble here. Rose gets his head over his opponent's head and yanks on the arm. Lawton is tapping like a morse code operator on the titanic! SOS! SOS! Rose lets go of the hold and Lawton can pop his arm back in it's socket.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:58 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Axel Rose!