PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Ariel Pérez (ranked 1671 p4p, 2944 weight class) and Jhonny Sparks (ranked 153 p4p, 246 weight class). Jhonny Sparks struggled to make weight for this fight. He only made it down to 146.2lbs 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. Both fighters look pumped up here. Let's hope this is a good fight!

Pérez
vs
Sparks

165 cm
22
145
7 - 4 - 0

170 cm
27
155
4 - 3 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent MT
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
Basic striking
Powerful

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 7 - 4 - 0, fighting out of New York, Ariel Pérez!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Jhonny Sparks!
The judges for this bout are Jack Bonds, Don Winkell and Percy O'Donnell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pérez bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Sparks's head.
Jab, jab by Pérez - just one landing.
Pérez lands with an uppercut that bounces Sparks off the cage and back into range.
Sparks shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Pérez sprawls well. Pérez wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Sparks gets slowly back to his feet.
Pérez looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.

Sparks shoots in and bounces Pérez off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.

Sparks is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Pérez wants to stand up but Sparks is controlling him.
Sparks in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sparks throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Sparks has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.

Pérez pushes Sparks off and scrambles back to his feet.
Ariel Pérez seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Left hook, right uppercut from Pérez.
Ariel Pérez is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Pérez displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Sparks.
Pérez lands a nice shot that snaps Sparks's head back.

Sparks is rocked!
Pérez connects with a nice cross there... Sparks is looking wobbly and Pérez recognises it - he's rushed in and lands two more brutal shots that send Sparks to the canvas, out cold! A brutal finish to the fight - Pérez jumps onto the cage to celebrate with the crowd!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:39 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Punches). Ariel Pérez!
A very excited looking Ariel Pérez made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.