PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Grim Reaper (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Jason Crawford (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Reaper
vs
Crawford

200 cm
22
250 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

200 cm
23
250 lbs
4 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Grim Reaper!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Jason Crawford!
The judges for this bout are Sam Margolis, Donald Grub and James Ackerman.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A head kick from Crawford lands but Reaper takes it in his stride.

It looks like Grim Reaper has been cut.
Reaper looks exhausted already! Oh dear, he should have come in in better shape than this!
Crawford throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Reaper is looking to land body kicks.

Crawford shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Reaper's guard.

Reaper escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Crawford gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Crawford scoring with some ground and pound.
Reaper keeping moving, preventing Crawford from controlling successfully.
Crawford stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Reaper swivels though and keeps the full guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Crawford passes into half guard.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Crawford decides to stand up and try his luck on the feet.
Reaper on the wrong end of a kick to the body.

Crawford closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Crawford stands up from half guard.
Crawford misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Crawford looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Reaper is fending him off so far but Crawford persists. Nope, Reaper circles away and we're back to standing.

Crawford gets a takedown into half guard.
Crawford passes to side control.

Crawford has had enough of the ground for now and decides to stand.
Crawford throws a nice head kick!
Crawford throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Crawford shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Reaper as he avoids it easily.
Grim Reaper has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Jason Crawford.
Crawford throws a jab when Reaper was well out of range.

Reaper decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.

Reaper is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Crawford is looking for a sweep. Reaper is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Reaper is stalling here. Crawford is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Reaper seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Crawford has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Crawford trying to control the position but Reaper is working away.
Crawford working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Reaper is trying to control Crawford's posture but Crawford avoids it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Reaper is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Reaper holds on to Crawford's head and controls the position momentarily.
Reaper tries to slip a leg under to move to half guard but Crawford presses down on the leg and jumps into full mount!
Reaper tries to get back to half guard but can't.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Reaper is working hard here to advance position.
Crawford manages to capitalize on a mistake by Reaper to take his back!
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Reaper showing good submission defense here.
Reaper tries to escape the position - he's now mounted. Is that better or worse? Hard to tell!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jason Crawford dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Grim Reaper's cut.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Reaper sizes up Crawford with a pawing jab and scores with a straight right down the middle.
Crawford tries to close the distance and clinch but Reaper swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

Crawford shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
Crawford wants to control the pace but Reaper is squirming around nicely.
Crawford tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Reaper tries to reverse the position but Crawford maintains control.
Crawford landing strikes, looking to finish!
Crawford can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Reaper is looking to escape.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Crawford in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Reaper keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Jason Crawford has got the better of the ground game so far.

Crawford with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Reaper regains half guard.
Reaper makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Reaper.

Reaper throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Reaper manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Crawford manages to get himself to full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Crawford is working an open guard so Reaper takes the opportunity to get back to his feet.
Reaper stuffs the takedown attempt from Crawford. Crawford gets slowly back to his feet.
Crawford misses with a head kick.
Reaper misses with the combination.

Reaper gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.

Crawford gets to his feet. Reaper looking to butt scoot but the ref puts an end to that. On your feet son!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Crawford gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Reaper counters with a head kick.
Crawford fails with a takedown attempt.
Grim Reaper has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Jason Crawford.
Reaper scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
Crawford shoots in but no luck this time.
Crawford misses with a takedown

and Reaper counters with a takedown into side control.
Crawford is trying to stand back up. He's worked his way up against the cage but Reaper has just dragged him back down to the mat.
Crawford manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.
Reaper wants to control but Crawford is keeping him busy.
Reaper tries to stand but his arm is trapped.
Reaper wants to pass to mount but Crawford is defending the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Crawford is trying to stand.
Reaper seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.

Reaper stands up and beckons Crawford to join him on the feet.
A head kick by Crawford misses

and Reaper counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Reaper.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Reaper trying to control but Crawford is working from the bottom.

Crawford has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Reaper can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Reaper sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Crawford's guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Grim Reaper dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Grim Reaper's cut.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Crawford doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Reaper makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Crawford shoots for a double leg takedown but Reaper sprawls well. He's pushed Crawford's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.

Reaper decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Crawford is trying to stand.
Reaper wants to pass to mount but Crawford is defending the position.
Crawford is trying to maintain the position but Reaper is very close to passing his half guard.

Reaper is working for a submission of some sort.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Crawford slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Crawford looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.

Reaper stands up from Crawford's guard - Reaper perhaps looking for a knockout.
Crawford misses with a wild combination.

Reaper shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Reaper was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Crawford is desperately trying to improve his position but Reaper has a good base and remains in mount.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Reaper gets to his feet and calls his opponent to stand. Here come the fireworks!
Crawford gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Crawford throws a sloppy head kick and Reaper moves out of range easily.
Crawford throws a head kick but Reaper moves out of range.

Crawford darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Reaper wants to control but Crawford passes into side.
Reaper isn't going anywhere.
Reaper sneaks a leg under to get back to half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Crawford tries to stand and escape but Reaper is controlling the position.
Reaper wants to improve his position but Crawford is controlling well.
Crawford looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Reaper blocking the ground and pound attempt from Crawford.
Reaper is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Crawford wants to stand but Reaper has hold of a leg and an arm, so he's trapped for now.

Reaper actively working from the bottom here.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Reaper lands with an overhand left.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Crawford lands a right hook to the body.
Horrible takedown by Crawford or perhaps it was just good defense by Reaper which made him look bad.
Grim Reaper has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Jason Crawford.
Reaper misses with the body kick

and Crawford counters with a shoot takedown. Reaper fights it but they end up in guard.
Crawford tries to stand but Reaper is controlling from the bottom.
Reaper trying to control the position.
Reaper will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.

Crawford avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Crawford throwing strikes from guard but Reaper blocks nicely.

And that's the end of the fight!
That was a close round. You could make an argument for either fighter but I would give it to Grim Reaper.
I think Reaper 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 Sam Margolis scores the fight for Jason Crawford!
Judge Donald Grub scores the fight for Jason Crawford!
Judge James Ackerman scores the fight for Jason Crawford!

Jason Crawford wins by unanimous decision!