PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Murat Kahaladze (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Harland Sanders (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Kahaladze comes to the cage accompanied by ты кто такой. Harland Sanders has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Murat Kahaladze's chin.

Kahaladze
vs
Sanders

170 cm
19
160 lbs
2 - 3 - 0

188 cm
20
155 lbs
0 - 5 - 0

Decent wrestler
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Determined

Untouchable Fight Nutrition

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Murat Kahaladze!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 5 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Harland Sanders!
The judges for this bout are Aleksei Zolotukhin, Vladimir Khabensky and Igor Prikhodko.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sanders cracks Kahaladze with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Sanders!
Sanders fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Kahaladze avoids it really well and circles away.
A looping hook to the body misses from Sanders. Kahaladze does a little dance to reset his feet.
Sanders comes forward and lands a shot to the body, then darts back out of range.
Kahaladze misses with the combination.
Sanders is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Sanders connects with a good right hand that stumbles Kahaladze. Kahaladze circles away out of range and recomposes himself.
Kahaladze fails with a takedown attempt.
Sanders slaps away a takedown attempt from Kahaladze, before circling back to the center of the mat.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sanders doesn't manage to clinch there - Kahaladze circles away.
Sanders lands three nice shots there - that looked like it hurt!
Sanders punishes Kahaladze's body with a nice straight punch.
Kahaladze chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Sanders can pounce on him.
Sanders shoots and misses

and Kahaladze counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
A short right hand to the side of the head by Sanders.
Kahaladze wants to break free but Sanders has control.

Sanders pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Sanders lands a jab to the head.

Sanders fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Kahaladze, pushing him back against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sanders presses Kahaladze against the cage and delivers a mid-strength body shot.
Kahaladze is looking to break free of the clinch but Sanders has double underhooks.
Sanders is pushing Kahaladze up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.

Sanders pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Sanders throws the kick towards the body but Kahaladze avoids it.
Sanders stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Sanders wants it to stay on the feet.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Murat Kahaladze. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Kahaladze is breathing heavily.
Kahaladze shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Sanders but Sanders pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Sanders doesn't manage to clinch there - Kahaladze circles away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Kahaladze misses with a few strikes there.
Sanders feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Kahaladzes jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Sanders connects with a lovely jab that went straight through the gap between Kahaladze's hands.
Sanders scores with a crisp jab that stopped Kahaladze in his tracks.
Sanders dives in and grabs Kahaladze's left leg, looking for a takedown. Kahaladze pushes down on Sanders's head and hops out.
Sanders is using his reach advantage to land shots from outside his opponent's range.
Sanders dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Kahaladze. That did some damage!
Sanders fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Kahaladze takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Kahaladze throws out a loose jab but Sanders uses good head movement to avoid it.
Harland Sanders seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Sanders lands with a good body shot.

Sanders clinches.

Sanders breaks from the clinch.
Sanders digs a good body shot into Kahaladze's ribs.
Sanders lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.
Kahaladze shoots in for a double leg but Sanders sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
A jab lands there for Sanders.
Sanders lands with a nice body punch.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Kahaladze leaves Sanders with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Kahaladze needs to keep his hands up - Sanders had a free shot at his head there.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Harland Sanders dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Kahaladze gets his head snapped back by a nice shot there.
Sanders lands a nice leg kick that just misses Kahaladze's sensitive parts.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Sanders.
Kahaladze shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Sanders eats them both and turns towards Kahaladze to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Sanders shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Kahaladze sprawls well. Kahaladze wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Sanders gets slowly back to his feet.

Kahaladze closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Sanders to the mat! Sanders manages to get full guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Kahaladze accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Kahaladze lands a couple of digs.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kahaladze is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Sanders is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Sanders stops Kahaladze from getting back to his feet.

Kahaladze manages to escape and get back to his feet!
Sanders jabs at Kahaladze's body.
Kahaladze closes the distance and clinches up with Sanders, looking for a takedown. Kahaladze pushes Sanders against the cage but Sanders circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Murat Kahaladze is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Sanders fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Kahaladze.
Sanders lands with a cross.
Sanders connects with a body shot.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Kahaladze takes a body punch but keeps moving.
Sanders lands a jab to the nose.
Sanders fails in his attempt to clinch.
Harland Sanders seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Sanders feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Kahaladzes jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
A combination from Kahaladze does no damage.
Jab from Sanders.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Sanders shoots in but Kahaladze avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Sanders uses good footwork to get in and out and land a nice right hand before Kahaladze has time to react.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Kahaladze takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
Kahaladze shoots in for a takedown but Sanders shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Sanders shoots in looking for a takedown. Kahaladze tries to sprawl out of it but Sanders keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Kahaladze manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Murat Kahaladze has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Harland Sanders.
Kahaladze stuffs the takedown.
Sanders jabbing away but nothing is landing.

Kahaladze shoots in and gets a takedown into Sanders's guard.

Sanders scrambles and gets back to his feet.

Kahaladze changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Sanders looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Kahaladze scores with a couple of short elbows.
Sanders tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Kahaladze creates a bit of distance and throws down some hard shots.
Kahaladze scores with punches from side control.
Kahaladze working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Kahaladze tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Kahaladze lands an elbow.
Kahaladze is putting a hurting on Sanders here, landing some big shots from side control.
Kahaladze lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Sanders down.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Murat Kahaladze dominated that second round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

Kahaladze swats away the attempt to clinch by Sanders.
Kahaladze fails to land the takedown.
Sanders has used his reach advantage pretty well so far tonight.
Kahaladze shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Sanders but Sanders pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Sanders throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Kahaladze takes an uppercut right on the jaw but it doesn't phase him.
Kahaladze misses with a combination
and Sanders makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sanders shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Kahaladze but Kahaladze pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Sanders throws a leg kick which misses Kahaladze's front leg but catches the back leg as Kahaladze tries to avoid it.
Kahaladze takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
Sanders plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
Sanders cracks Kahaladze with an open hand slap.
Sanders cracks Kahaladze with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Sanders lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.
Kahaladze has his front leg slapped to the side - a nice low kick landing there from Sanders.
Kahaladze looks like he's developed a pretty tasty lump over his left eye. He'll need to avoid taking much more damage to that.
Kahaladze moves forwards but Sanders connects with a nice, crisp jab.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sanders jabs Kahaladze to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Kahaladze stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Kahaladze wants it to stay on the feet.

Kahaladze shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Kahaladze takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Kahaladze 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.
Kahaladze looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Kahaladze looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Sanders with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Kahaladze sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Sanders defending well though.
Kahaladze lands strikes from half guard.
Murat Kahaladze overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sanders is trying to stand up here but Kahaladze is controlling him well.
Sanders is looking for a sweep. Kahaladze is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Kahaladze seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Nice strikes from Kahaladze there.
Kahaladze missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Kahaladze looks to land a strike but Sanders avoids it nicely and regains full guard.

Kahaladze got a little sloppy there for a moment and Sanders has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Kahaladze has managed to get both his arms back between Sanders's legs - danger averted.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Sanders 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.
Kahaladze keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Sanders's head.
Sanders is looking to stand up but Kahaladze isn't so interested in that idea.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Kahaladze stands up over Sanders, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Kahaladze throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Sanders works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Kahaladze working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Kahaladze keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Sanders's head.
Kahaladze is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Kahaladze with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
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!
Kahaladze throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Kahaladze stops Sanders from standing up.
Kahaladze working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Kahaladze lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Murat Kahaladze showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Kahaladze has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 29:28
Judge Vladimir Khabensky scores the fight 29:28
Judge Igor Prikhodko scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Murat Kahaladze!
Post fight, Murat Kahaladze took to the microphone: 'No one is born a champion, one can only become a champion'.