PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Iheb Aribiiii (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Zalmai Qazi (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Qazi is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: "Arab Americans" by Jim Johnston. Well, I have no idea who's going to take this one!

Aribiiii
vs
Qazi

160 cm
22
130 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

172 cm
26
130 lbs
0 - 5 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
KO power

BJJ Purple Belt
Good kicks
Granite 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 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Iheb Aribiiii!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Zalmai Qazi!
The judges for this bout are Elvis Blanc, Robert Douchet and Alec Ball.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Aribiiii pushes Qazi away with a front kick.
Qazi looks really tired already! That doesn't bode well for a good, competitive fight!

Aribiiii gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Aribiiii gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Qazi.
Aribiiii is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Qazi letting Aribiiii take a breather here.
Aribiiii misses with a shot to the kidneys.

Aribiiii decides to pull guard.
Aribiiii bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Qazi's guard.
Aribiiii passes Qazi's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Aribiiii trying to pass the guard but Qazi defending well.
Aribiiii takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Aribiiii scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Aribiiii moves into full mount! Qazi won't be happy about that!
Aribiiii putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Aribiiii tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Aribiiii's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Aribiiii looking to control but Qazi is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Aribiiii has hold of Qazi's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Qazi manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
Aribiiii tries to control but Qazi wriggling away.

Aribiiii is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Qazi can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Aribiiii working for a guillotine from mount but Qazi is in no mood to give up.
Qazi takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Aribiiii unloading with bombs!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Iheb Aribiiii dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Qazi gets tackled into the cage by Aribiiii. Aribiiii maintains the clinch.

Aribiiii works for the underhooks and manages to get a trip takedown into guard.
Aribiiii pushes down on Qazi's leg and manages to get into half guard.

Aribiiii is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Qazi has managed to free his arm - good work.
Aribiiii sitting and controlling from the half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Aribiiii working Qazi over with strikes.
Qazi is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Aribiiii looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Aribiiii sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Qazi defending well though.
Aribiiii lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
It looks like Aribiiii is going to stand back up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Qazi wants to improve his position but Aribiiii is controlling well.

Aribiiii decides to stand up and try his luck on the feet.

Aribiiii closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Aribiiii works his way into side control.

Aribiiii is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Qazi has escaped the position, nice work there.
Iheb Aribiiii overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Aribiiii wants to lay and pray for a moment but Qazi keeps working.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Aribiiii advances to mount.
Aribiiii working away from the top, dropping strikes.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Qazi is bucking up trying to escape but Aribiiii cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Iheb Aribiiii dominated that second round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Aribiiii shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Aribiiii working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Aribiiii controlling the action here.
Aribiiii works his way into full mount!
Qazi is trying to escape the mount.
Qazi takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Aribiiii takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Aribiiii landing strikes, looking to finish!
Aribiiii controlling from mount.
Aribiiii looking to control but Qazi is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Aribiiii landing punches.
Aribiiii looking to finish Qazi with some ground and pound. This is bad for Qazi!
Aribiiii controlling the pace for now.
Aribiiii is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Qazi can do to turn this around?
Aribiiii fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Aribiiii landing strikes, looking to finish!
Aribiiii controlling the position easily from mount.
Aribiiii wants to control the pace but Qazi is squirming around nicely.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Aribiiii content just to control the position here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

And that's the end of the fight!
Iheb Aribiiii showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Aribiiii has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Elvis Blanc scores the fight 30:25
Judge Robert Douchet scores the fight 30:25
Judge Alec Ball scores the fight 30:25

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Iheb Aribiiii!