PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rico Suarez (ranked 2977 p4p, 308 weight class) and Butch Vandergnaw (ranked 3062 p4p, 316 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Vandergnaw's choice of entrance music: I've Been Everywhere. 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.

Suarez
vs
Vandergnaw

188 cm
20
245 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

195 cm
27
260 lbs
5 - 4 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Cardio machine

BJJ Brown Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

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 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Rico Suarez!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Butch Vandergnaw!
The judges for this bout are Franklyn Lucas, Bruno Lombardi and Dean Styles.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Vandergnaw dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Butch Vandergnaw seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Vandergnaw misses with a telegraphed body shot
and Suarez connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
We've been informed that Vandergnaw has been sparring a lot of Muay Thai in the buildup to this fight so let's see if that has an impact on the result.
Vandergnaw lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Suarez at a distance.
Vandergnaw works his jab well there, keeping his opponent at a distance.

It looks like Rico Suarez has been cut.

Vandergnaw looking for a takedown here - he's got it.
Vandergnaw wants to stand and escape but instead Suarez has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.

Vandergnaw pulls Suarez in close to prevent any damage.

Vandergnaw had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Suarez defends it easily.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Suarez is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Vandergnaw is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

Suarez is refusing to be controlled, as Vandergnaw sits in half guard.

Vandergnaw is working for a kimura but Suarez is defending it quite comfortably.
Vandergnaw wants to stand but Suarez has hold of a leg and an arm, so he's trapped for now.
Suarez wants to control but Vandergnaw is keeping busy.

Vandergnaw is looking for a kimura here.

Vandergnaw seems to be working for a kimura but Suarez defends the submission attempt.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Suarez has his hands clasped together around Vandergnaw's back. He's all about the action.
Suarez is looking for a sweep. Vandergnaw is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.

Vandergnaw seems to be working for a kimura but Suarez defends the submission attempt.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Vandergnaw is looking for a kimura but Suarez is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Vandergnaw to get the leverage.

Vandergnaw seems to be looking for submissions.
Vandergnaw passes to side control.

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

Vandergnaw tries for a kimura but Suarez is defending well.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Vandergnaw tries for a kimura but Suarez is defending well.

Vandergnaw goes for an armbar here - this could be all over! But no, Suarez has escaped beautifully and is now on top in side control! Oh, that's unlucky for Vandergnaw but great work by Suarez.
Suarez tries to cartwheel into mount but he doesn't manage it.
Vandergnaw tries to improve position but can't.
Suarez is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Vandergnaw will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.
Suarez working away.
A lull in the action here.
Suarez'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.
Suarez knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Vandergnaw on the ground.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Vandergnaw can't do much from the bottom here.
Vandergnaw being controlled for a moment.
Vandergnaw is looking to regain half guard here but Suarez keeps moving and retains side control.
Vandergnaw trying to remain calm as Suarez controls from the top position.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Vandergnaw can't do much from the bottom here.
Vandergnaw is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Suarez content to control the pace. The referee will try and keep them active though.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Butch Vandergnaw dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Rico Suarez's cut.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Suarez lands with a shot to the body.
Suarez avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Suarez throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Vandergnaw misses with a right hand
enabling Suarez to counter with a crisp jab.
Suarez looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Vandergnaw just misses with a punch to the body.
It looked like Suarez was trying to counter with a body shot coming off that last attack from Vandergnaw.
Suarez defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Vandergnaw.
Suarez jinks towards his opponent looking like he wants to counter with a mid kick but doesn't commit.
Vandergnaw misses with a hook
and Suarez cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Suarez keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Suarez seem to be loading up, looking for a big counter.
Vandergnaw changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Suarez loads up on a big right hand but Vandergnaw slips the punch.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Vandergnaw! But no joy.
Vandergnaw throws a poor cross that misses
and Suarez counters with a low kick, right behind Vandergnaw 's knee.
Vandergnaw scores with a nice head shot.
Suarez scores with a jab to the body.
A decent looking cross lands there for Suarez.

It looks like Butch Vandergnaw has been cut.
Suarez throws a shot from downtown. Vandergnaw moves away and avoids it.
Vandergnaw looks to score with a jab to the body but Suarez is just out of range.
It looked like Suarez was looking amped, ready to throw a big counter but didn't commit.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Vandergnaw misses with a body shot.
Rico Suarez is winning the standup battle so far.
Vandergnaw misses with a lunging right hand
and Suarez counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Vandergnaw lands a glancing blow to the side of Suarez's head.
Vandergnaw digs a good body shot into Suarez's ribs.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Ooooh, nice body kick lands from Suarez. Vandergnaw shrugs it off though.
Vandergnaw with a lazy takedown attempt
and Suarez connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.

Vandergnaw is rocked!
Vandergnaw is breathing heavily.
Vandergnaw gets tagged by a hook that puts him to sleep! Suarez points and yells something to his unconcious foe before strutting off. Vandergnaw wakes up just in time to hear Suarez thank his coaches in the post fight interview.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Punch). Rico Suarez!
A very excited looking Rico Suarez rambled incoherently for about 5 minutes post fight about how awesome he is. It was kinda funny for a while but then everyone got annoyed.