PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Renzo Gracie (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Daniel Russel (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Daniel Russel has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Renzo Gracie's chin.

Gracie
vs
Russel

176 cm
25
167 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

188 cm
21
167 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Good takedowns
Counter striker
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Enjoys gardening

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 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Renzo Gracie!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Daniel Russel!
The judges for this bout are Thiago Cunha, Paulo Santos and Alexandre Firmino.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Russel throws a head kick that misses.

Russel moves into the clinch.

Russel jumps guard and drags Gracie to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.
Russel is trying to control the position but Gracie postures up.
Gracie trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Gracie passes easily into side control. Nice work.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Russel is looking for a sweep.
Russel is trying to control Gracie's posture but Gracie avoids it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Gracie scoring with punches and elbows.
Russel managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Gracie.
Gracie working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Russel keeps Gracie under control for a moment.

Gracie wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Russel, who protects the arm well.
Russel struggling a bit here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gracie scores with punches from side control.

Gracie thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Gracie is putting a hurting on Russel here, landing some big shots from side control.
Gracie has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.

Gracie is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Russel has escaped the position, nice work there.
Gracie working the head with strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Russel can't do much from the bottom here.
Gracie throwing strikes but missing, from side control.
Russel is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Gracie cracks Russel with a big elbow.
Gracie landing strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Gracie tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.

Gracie tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Gracie has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Gracie tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Renzo Gracie dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Russel shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Gracie as he avoids it easily.
Russel lands with a two punch combination before moving back out of range.
Russel throws a head kick that looked like it stung.

Russel has closed the distance and engaged Gracie in a clinch.

Russel breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Russel misses the shot to the body.

Russel has taken the fight to the clinch.

Russel breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Daniel Russel seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Russel fails with the takedown

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

That's one minute gone in the round.
Russel keeping moving, preventing Gracie from controlling successfully.
Renzo Gracie overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Gracie throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Russel works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Gracie tries to free his leg and advance position but Russel is retaining full guard.
Gracie won't allow Russel to sweep him here.

Russel has an active guard here but Gracie has managed to pass into half guard.
Russel is breathing heavily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Gracie takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.

Gracie is working for a submission here. He's got hold of the far side arm and he's looking for a kimura. He's cranking on the arm and he's got it! Russel is tapping out! Ouch, that looked like it hurt!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:41 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Renzo Gracie!
Our winner, Renzo Gracie, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.