PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Alvaro Ortaga (ranked 1097 p4p, 145 weight class) and Sam Assad (ranked 22589 p4p, 664 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Ortaga
vs
Assad

187 cm
23
178 lbs
6 - 0 - 0

189 cm
22
186 lbs
4 - 5 - 0

Good wrestling
Solid boxing
Good chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Good gas tank

Organic Nutrition

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 6 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Alvaro Ortaga!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 5 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Sam Assad!
The judges for this bout are Paul Tew, Colin Fotheringham and James Atkins.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Ortaga throws a looping overhand right but Assad ducks down to avoid it.
Assad cracks Ortaga with a hook to the jaw. Both fighters smile at eachother and high-five before getting back down to business.
A punch combination from Assad misses.
Assad bobs and weaves and unloads with a good uppercut.
Assad lands a jab.
Assad throws a body shot but no joy.
Assad misses the jab.
Sam Assad seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Assad lands a jab.
Assad looks to land a right hand but Ortaga moved out of range.
A looping hook to the body misses from Assad. Ortaga does a little dance to reset his feet.
Ortaga fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.

Ortaga closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Assad did well to prevent Ortaga getting side control.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Assad trying to control but Ortaga postures up.
Nice strikes from Ortaga there.
Ortaga prevents Assad from improving his position.
Ortaga is trying to control. Assad wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Assad trying to control here.

Assad looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Ortaga controlling the action here.
Assad is refusing to be controlled, as Ortaga sits in half guard.
Assad is trying to control but can't.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Ortaga prevents Assad from improving his position.
Well, if Ortaga is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Ortaga throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
A jab from Ortaga misses.
A punch combination from Assad misses.
Assad uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Ortaga.
Assad moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
Ortaga throws an overhand right that lands on Assad's shoulder, as Assad tries to avoid the shot.
Nice shot by Assad.
A combination from Assad does no damage.
Ortaga keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Assad.
Assad misses with a straight left.
Assad misses with an uppercut. Ortaga saw that one coming.
A combination from Ortaga does no damage.
No joy there for Assad, who threw a few shots but didn't land.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Assad swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Assad throws a series of punches but Ortaga avoids them all with ease.
Nice shot by Ortaga.
Ortaga throws a right and a left that Assad avoids nicely.
A jab from Ortaga misses.
Ortaga misses the shot to the body.
Assad misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Ortaga.
Ortaga waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Assad.
Ortaga takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
Ortaga walks into a jab.
Assad wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
A jab from Ortaga misses.
Assad is landing a lot of head punches in this opening round! Ortaga had better start moving his head a bit unless he wants his face to turn into pâté.
Assad lands with a hook. Ortaga tried to avoid it but it clipped the top of his head.
Ortaga uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Assad.
Assad lands a jab to the head.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Assad scores with a punch to the head.
Assad will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Ortaga throws out a loose jab but Assad uses good head movement to avoid it.
Assad throws out a counter right but Ortaga avoids it with no problem.
Assad moves out of range as Ortaga strikes.
A little jabbing left from Assad on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Ortaga throws a series of punches but Assad moves out of range.
Ortaga takes a big uppercut there. He seems a bit wobbly but no, he's OK.
Ortaga takes a jab right on the nose. That must have hurt but he shrugs his shoulders and looks to return the favor.
Ortaga slips a jab from Assad.
Ortaga tries to move into range but Assad moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Assad bobs and weaves and throws out a fast jab that snaps Ortaga's head backwards.
Assad uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Ortaga.
Ortaga ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Assad throws a body punch but Ortaga moves out of range.
Ortaga swings for the body but Assad moves out of range.
A jab from Assad finds it's way through Ortaga's defenses.

Ortaga dives in and scores a takedown into Assad's guard.
Ortaga throwing strikes but missing.
Assad pulls Ortaga in to control the position.
Assad trying to control the position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Sam Assad dominated that round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Assad looks to land a combination but Ortaga avoids it well.
Ortaga is looking to counter punch.
Assad might want to mix his strikes up a bit more. He's just going for head shots at the moment and that can become a bit predictable.
A jab from Assad finds it's way through Ortaga's defenses.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!
Assad lands a slapping body shot.
A looping hook to the body misses from Ortaga. Assad does a little dance to reset his feet.
A looping hook to the body misses from Assad. Ortaga does a little dance to reset his feet.
Alvaro Ortaga is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Assad scores with a hook.
Ortaga closes the distance and clinches up with Assad, looking for a takedown. Ortaga pushes Assad against the cage but Assad circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Assad stuns Ortaga with a nice body shot, before stepping back out of range.
Assad has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Assad lands a jab to Ortaga's midsection.
Ortaga takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Ortaga throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
enabling Assad to counter with a crisp jab.
Assad misses with a looping left.
Ortaga drops down looking for a counter takedown but Assad sprawls and moves away.
Ortaga misses with an uppercut.
Assad scores with a sloppy right hand. Ortaga should have avoided that one.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Ortaga uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Assad.
Assad throws a jab but it's blocked by Ortaga.
Ortaga rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Assad moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Ortaga is trying hard to land a takedown here. Assad sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
Assad misses with a wild body shot.
Ortaga throws a big shot that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ortaga looks to score with a jab to the body but Assad is just out of range.
Assad lands a jab.
A jab from Assad finds it's way through Ortaga's defenses.
Assad connects with a single shot there.
Assad keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Assad scores with a shot to the body.
Ortaga looks like he's developed a pretty tasty lump over his left eye. He'll need to avoid taking much more damage to that.
Assad connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Assad dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Assad connects with a crisp jab.
Assad slips a jab and a cross from Ortaga.
Ortaga lands a nice hook to Assad's body. Assad takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Sam Assad seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Ortaga pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Assad throws a shot to the body.
Assad with a nice cross.
Assad throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Ortaga counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Ortaga on the wrong end of a nice hook.
Ortaga ducks right into an uppercut from Assad.
Assad misses with the combination.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A big left from Assad misses.
Assad staying out of range there.
Assad defending well as Ortaga loads up on a big left hand.
Ortaga looks to land a left hand but Assad moved out of range nicely.
Ortaga shoots in for a double leg but Assad sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Alvaro Ortaga. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Assad digs a good hook to Ortaga's body.
Assad throws a lazy right hand but Ortaga sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Ortaga throws out a loose jab but Assad uses good head movement to avoid it.
Assad dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Ortaga jabbing away but nothing is landing.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Assad! But no joy.
Ortaga misses the shot to the body.
Ortaga misses with a double jab.
Assad connects with a crisp jab.
Assad lands with a good body shot.
Ortaga moves out of range of the strikes.
Ortaga cracks Assad with an open hand slap.
Assad lands with a shot to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Assad looks to score with a jab to the body but Ortaga is just out of range.
Sam Assad is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Ortaga bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Ortaga looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Assad throws a couple of head shots and lands with the final one - a decent hook, which struck Ortaga on the side of the head.
Assad throws a body punch but Ortaga moves out of range.
Assad uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Ortaga.
Ortaga slips under a jab.
Assad tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Ortaga was well out of range. Poor timing from Assad.
Assad throws a body punch but Ortaga moves out of range.
Assad scores with the left hand. Ortaga knows he should have avoided that one.
Assad uses good footwork to get in and out and land a nice right hand before Ortaga has time to react.
Assad lands a lovely overhand right.
Ortaga digs a good body shot into Assad's ribs.
Assad uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Ortaga.
Ortaga takes one on the chin but keeps coming.
Assad cracks Ortaga with a right hand to the side of the head.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Assad closes the distance and lands a one-two.
Assad connects with the punch.
Assad ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Ortaga shoots in looking for a takedown. Assad tries to sprawl out of it but Ortaga keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Assad manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Assad is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Ortaga.
Assad stuns Ortaga with a nice body shot, before stepping back out of range.
Assad throws an overhand right that lands on Ortaga's shoulder, as Ortaga tries to avoid the shot.
Ortaga lands three nice shots there - that looked like it hurt!
Assad throws a hook but Ortaga blocks it.
Ortaga throws a nice looking combination but Assad bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Assad lands an overhand right.
Ortaga misses with a two punch combination.
Assad scores with a jab to the body.
Ortaga lands a jab. Then a cross. Then finally a nice hook to the body. Good work there by Ortaga.
Ortaga fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.

A momentary lapse in concentration from Assad enables Ortaga to shoot in and score with a neat double leg. Assad manages to secure a closed guard as the fighters hit the mat.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Ortaga is working Assad over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.

Assad is looking to cinch up a triangle. Ortaga throws the leg off to one side though and gets in tight to Assad's body to avoid the submission. Assad has instead reached around Ortaga's neck and now has a guillotine! Oh, this is biiiig trouble! Assad arches his back and squeezes and forces the tap from his hapless opponent.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:59 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Guillotine). Sam Assad!
Sam Assad made sure to mention his sponsor, KAISER Nutrition - Q160 in his post fight interview.