PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Slava Mne (ranked 2915 p4p, 158 weight class) and Cedrick Diggery (ranked 3691 p4p, 188 weight class). Slava Mne has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Mne
vs
Diggery

150 cm
25
135 lbs
5 - 1 - 0

176 cm
25
140 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

Good takedowns
Brawler
Experienced

Good wrestler
Counter fighter
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Slava Mne!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Cedrick Diggery!
The judges for this bout are Yukihiro Yamamoto, Yasuomi Hirokawa and Sosuke Kotani.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Mne shoots in for a double leg but Diggery sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Slava Mne seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Mne tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Diggery! But no joy.

Diggery has Mne up against the cage in a clinch.
Mne could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.

Mne pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Mne takes one to the chin there.
Diggery looks to land a right hand but Mne moved out of range.

Diggery fakes an overhand right and shoots for a takedown. Mne sprawls well initially but Diggery persists and gets the takedown into half guard.
Diggery trying to mount his opponent but Mne defends it.
Diggery throwing shots but Mne is blocking nicely.
Diggery tries to pass the half guard into mount. Mne knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Diggery throwing shots but Mne is blocking nicely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The fighters are battling for position here. Mne manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Diggery tries to free his leg and advance position but Mne is retaining full guard.
Diggery loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Mne 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.
Mne wants to stand but Diggery is controlling the position.
Diggery stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Mne swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Mne working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Diggery.
Mne might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.

Diggery is holding a leg here, probably looking for an ankle lock - he drops back and goes for it! Mne is in trouble! Is it all over??? No! Mne has escaped and now he's on top!

Diggery really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Mne. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Mne preventing the sweep.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Diggery will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.

Diggery looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Mne passes into side control.
Mne controlling the position.
Diggery tries to improve position but can't.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diggery sneaks back into half guard.

Mne seems to be looking for submissions.
Mne lands with a punch from half guard.
Mne is controlling the pace.
Mne uses his free foot to push down on Diggery's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Diggery.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Mne controlling from mount.
Mne landing shots from mount.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Diggery can do anything to dispel that myth.
Diggery working to try and regain half guard.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Slava Mne will probably get the nod.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Mne slips under a jab from Diggery.
Mne appears to be looking for a counter takedown.
Mne wants to clinch up but Diggery keeps it at a distance.

Mne closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Diggery did well to prevent Mne getting side control.
Mne tries to stand but his arm is trapped.
Diggery wants to control the action here but instead Mne manages to pass to full mount!
Diggery slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Mne prevents Diggery from improving his position.
Diggery wants to control but Mne is keeping busy and won't allow it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Mne takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Diggery wants to improve his position but Mne is controlling well.
Mne wants to control but Diggery is keeping him busy.
Mne looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
Mne is working hard here to advance position.

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.
Diggery is refusing to be controlled, as Mne sits in half guard.
Mne landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Mne is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Diggery has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Mne is working away from the top position though.

The referee has motioned to the fighters to stand back up. He just wasn't happy with the level of activity.
Diggery closes this distance looking for a takedown but Mne circles away.
Mne shoots in but no luck this time.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mne fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Mne throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Mne swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Diggery displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Mne.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Slava Mne. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Mne swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Diggery throws a counter combo.
Mne uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Diggery.

Mne closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Mne seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Diggery does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Diggery regains full guard. Nicely done.

Diggery is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Mne is aware though and is defending well.
Diggery looking to control.
Diggery can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Mne controls the pace.
Mne stopping the sweep attempt from Diggery.
Diggery is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Diggery looking to control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Slava Mne dominated that second round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Mne wants to clinch up but Diggery keeps it at a distance.
Mne throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Diggery.
Mne is looking to clinch.
Diggery waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Mne.

Mne scores with a takedown into Diggery's guard.
Mne loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Mne is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Diggery throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Diggery is looking to sweep but instead, Mne has passed into half guard.
Diggery is looking to improve his position.
Mne wants to control but Diggery is keeping him busy.
Diggery wants to get back to full guard.
Mne tries to pass the half guard into mount. Diggery knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Mne trying to control the action but Diggery is working from the bottom.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.
Mne looks to score some points with some ground and pound.

That's two 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.

Diggery actively working from the bottom here.
Diggery is refusing to be controlled, as Mne sits in half guard.
Diggery is trying to maintain the position but Mne is very close to passing his half guard.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Mne will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

Diggery moves into the clinch.
Diggery throws a punch but it's blocked by Mne.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diggery is defending well against a takedown attempt.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Diggery.
Mne is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Slava Mne. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Diggery just leaning against Mne, taking a breather.
Mne fails to pull guard.
Diggery displaying some good clinch control by pressing Mne up against the cage.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Mne.
Diggery tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.

Diggery gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Diggery missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

Diggery looking for a submission but Mne manages to get full guard, putting an end to that submission attempt.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Diggery throws a strike but Mne rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.

Mne missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Mne throwing strikes from guard but Diggery blocks nicely.
Diggery keeping moving, preventing Mne from controlling successfully.
Mne in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Cedrick Diggery has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Slava Mne is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Diggery throws a couple of shots from the bottom but they don't land.

And that's the end of the fight!
That was a close round. You could make an argument for either fighter but I would give it to Slava Mne.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Mne, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Yukihiro Yamamoto scores the fight 30:27
Judge Yasuomi Hirokawa scores the fight 30:27
Judge Sosuke Kotani scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Slava Mne!
Slava Mne got down on his knees post fight and begged the management for a title shot. 'Please, I want that title shot so bad! Give it to me!'