PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Anton Gromov (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Dan Love (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Anton Gromov looks tired to me. Hopefully he has got enough gas left in the tank to put in a good performance.

Gromov
vs
Love

177 cm
18
131 lbs
0 - 4 - 0

177 cm
25
137 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Cuts easily

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Powerful

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 0 - 4 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Anton Gromov!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Dan Love!
The judges for this bout are Konstantin Menshow, Aleksei Zolotukhin and Dmitry Maklakov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Love has his takedown stuffed

so Gromov counters with a double leg into guard. Good agility.
Gromov looks exhausted already! Oh dear, he should have come in in better shape than this!
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Love is looking to stand up but Gromov isn't so interested in that idea.
Gromov really does look like a pencil wearing a pair of gloves. Let's hope he has a gameplan to suit that ridiculous body shape.

Love scrambles and gets back to his feet.
Love fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Gromov avoids it really well and circles away.
Love shoots in looking for a takedown but Gromov manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Love's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Anton Gromov has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Dan Love.
Love shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Gromov defends it nicely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Love looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Gromov is fending him off so far but Love persists. Nope, Gromov circles away and we're back to standing.
Love looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Gromov is fending him off so far but Love persists. Nope, Gromov circles away and we're back to standing.
Gromov dives in and grabs Love's left leg, looking for a takedown. Love pushes down on Gromov's head and hops out.
Gromov shoots for a double leg takedown but Love sprawls well. He's pushed Gromov's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.

Love shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Love showed some decent athleticism there.
Gromov wants to improve his position but Love is controlling well.
Love sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Gromov defending well though.
Love thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Gromov's head.

Love is looking for a kimura here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Love looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Love trying to pass the guard but Gromov defending well.
Love is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Love throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Love trying to control the pace.
It looks like the ref is thinking about a standup.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Dan Love.
Love misses with a takedown attempt - Gromov sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Love shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Love closes the distance and clinches up with Gromov, looking for a takedown. Love pushes Gromov against the cage but Gromov circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Love shoots in looking for a takedown. Gromov tries to sprawl out of it but Love keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Gromov manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

Gromov manages to get an easy takedown there - catching Love on his heels. He'll look to pass Love's guard now, I'm sure.
Love is looking to stand up but Gromov isn't so interested in that idea.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Love scrambles and gets back to his feet.
Love misses with a takedown attempt - Gromov sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.

Gromov changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Love looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
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!
Gromov misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.

Love explodes and escapes back to his feet! Nice escape there!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Gromov is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in Love's half guard.
Gromov sitting and controlling from the half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Dan Love will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Love shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Gromov defends it nicely.

Gromov tries to sprawl but Love drives through with a takedown into half guard.
Love is looking to stall here but Gromov recovers full guard.
Gromov trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!
Love postures up.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Love postures up and lands a big shot to Gromov's brow.
Love wants to control from the top but Gromov keeps moving.
Love might have to switch it up a bit here because his efforts to control Gromov kaven't been going to plan, at least at the current moment in time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Love postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Love trying to control but Gromov is working from the bottom.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Love is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Love trying to control but Gromov is working from the bottom.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Dan Love was stalling too much, according to the referee.

Love looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Gromov!
Love raining down hammerfists from mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gromov is squirming around, avoiding Love's attempts to control the action.
Love controlling his opponent.
Gromov knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Love on the ground.
Gromov is trying to escape the mount.
Gromov taking shots to the head.
Love punishing his opponent with strikes.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Love sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Love can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Gromov is looking to escape.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Gromov is in a horrible position here. Love smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Love lands a big elbow.
Love sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Love landing strikes from the mount.
Love looking to control and managing it successfully.
Love has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Love postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Gromov looks a forlorn figure.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Gromov wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Love.
Love controlling his opponent.
Love pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Love looking to control but Gromov is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Love lands with some strikes.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dan Love showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Love darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Love sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Gromov defending well though.
Love not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Love trying to control the pace.
Love looks to land a strike but Gromov avoids it nicely and regains full guard.
Love working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Gromov utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Love is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Love forces his way into half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Love is keen to just control but Gromov is a slippery customer.
Gromov avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Love.
Love missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Gromov keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Love passes the guard and advances to mount!
Gromov is bucking up trying to escape but Love cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Love unloading with bombs!
Gromov is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Love cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Gromov taking shots to the head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Love with the ground and pound from mount.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Love dominating with strikes here.

Gromov is rocked!
Gromov takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Oh Gromov is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Gromov taking shots to the head.
Love putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Love controlling his opponent.
Love breaks from Gromov's wrist control and lands an elbow.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Love loads up on a couple of big shots to the head that have Gromov scrambling to escape. He can't get free though and several more unanswered shots from Love land to the head. The referee has no choice but to stop the fight. Love stands and salutes the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:59 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Dan Love!