PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Zack Garner (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Hwai Ja (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). I don't know about you partner, but I'm pumped for this one!

Garner
vs
Ja

156 cm
18
177 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

180 cm
21
170 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Good kicks
Likes musicals

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 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Zack Garner!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Hwai Ja!
The judges for this bout are Ren Mimura, Yukihiro Shimada and Sosuke Kotani.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Ja scores with a jab to the jaw.
Sloppy strikes from Ja. Those never looked like landing.
Garner is looking for a counter combo.

Garner gets tackled into the cage by Ja. Ja maintains the clinch.

Garner jumps into guard, dragging Ja to the mat.
Garner looking for a sweep. Not yet Garner, not yet.
Ja wants to stand but Garner has a closed guard, so he can't escape.
Garner wants to sweep here but Ja controlling him for the moment.
Garner wants to stand but Ja is controlling the position.

Ja drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Garner manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Ja has Garner in his guard.

We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Garner drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and Ja dives on top into guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ja wanted to stand there but Garner had control of the position.
Garner pulls Ja in close to prevent any damage.
Ja preventing the sweep.
Ja looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
Ja tries to stand but Garner is controlling from the bottom.
Garner is adopting a defensive guard.
Ja wants to control from the top but Garner keeps moving.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Ja pushes down on Garner's leg and manages to get into half guard.
Garner is holding on to half guard well.
Garner tries to strike from the bottom but it doesn't land.
Ja is trying to control. Garner wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

Garner pushes Ja off and gets back to his feet.

Garner feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Garner scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Garner stays in close to Ja's body and controls the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Ja has managed to wall walk up one of the corner posts to get back to his feet. Garner is pushing him up against the cage, looking to control the position.
Garner has dropped down and is looking to force the takedown but it's defended by Ja after a bit of a struggle.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Garner turns his hips and lands a very nice judo throw into side control!
Garner controlling the position.
Garner landing a few strikes.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Garner controlling from side mount.

Garner stands up.
Ja looks winded!
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

Ja shoots in and gets a takedown into Garner's guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Hwai Ja will probably get the nod.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Ja misses with a double jab

and Garner counters with a nice double leg into side control. Ja won't be happy with that.
Garner landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.
Garner lands some shots froms side control.
Ja is putting a lot of effort into getting back to his feet here.
Garner slows the pace down.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Ja takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Garner is staying tight to Ja's torso, preventing him from escaping.
Ja tries to get back to his feet but has found himself mounted instead. Damn, that's gotta suck.
Ja is breathing heavily.
Ja is looking to get back to his feet - it's going to be hard from this position.
Garner could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Garner controlling from the full mount.
Garner working away from the top, dropping strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Garner controlling his opponent.

Garner wants to finish this one by submission but Ja is holding onto his waist, trying to prevent any attacks from Garner.
Garner landing strikes, looking to finish!
Garner looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Garner sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Garner has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Ja is looking to get back to his feet - it's going to be hard from this position.

Garner wants to finish this one by submission but Ja is holding onto his waist, trying to prevent any attacks from Garner.
Garner looking to control and managing it successfully.
Ja's corner are shouting for him to stand up but that's bad cornering - how is he meant to stand up when he's mounted? He should be looking to improve his position on the ground before trying to stand back up.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Garner lands a big elbow.

Garner wants to finish this one by submission but Ja is holding onto his waist, trying to prevent any attacks from Garner.
Garner controlling the position easily from mount.
Garner with good strikes from the mount here!
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Garner landing strikes from the mount.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Zack Garner dominated that second round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

Ja closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Ja is trying to get back to his feet now but his leg is trapped.
Ja sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Garner defending well though.
It looks like Ja is going to stand back up.
Garner controlling the position for now.

Garner makes some distance and scrambles quickly back to his feet. Nice work!
Ja scores with a three punch combo!
Ja misses with a jab, cross combination.
Ja takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Ja keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Ja! But no joy.
Garner is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Ja can do to turn this around?

Garner dives in and scores a takedown into Ja's guard.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Garner drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Garner jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Garner lands a couple of digs.
Garner is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.
Zack Garner overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Hwai Ja seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Garner shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Let's see what he's got on the mat.
Garner is stalling in the full guard.
This is a sustained period of stalling by Garner.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Garner'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.

Ja pushes Garner off and gets back to his feet.

Ja scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Garner is looking for a sweep.
Garner sneaks a leg under to get back to half guard.
Garner preventing any damage for now, controlling his opponent's head.
Garner is trying to maintain the position but Ja is very close to passing his half guard.
Garner striking from the bottom.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Ja wants to stand but Garner has hold of a leg and an arm, so he's trapped for now.
Garner trying to control here.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Hwai Ja.
I think Ja has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Ren Mimura scores the fight 28:29
Judge Yukihiro Shimada scores the fight 30:27
Judge Sosuke Kotani scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by split decision... Hwai Ja!