PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight kickboxing rules bout between Torkel Bystrom (ranked 1624 p4p, 172 weight class) and Brian Upchurch (ranked 23949 p4p, 446 weight class). Upchurch comes into a darkened arena with his song building. Quit Lyin kicks in, the lights come on and the crowd goes wild! What a showman! Both these guys have really solid chins. Will we see a standup war or will they both decide that a knockout is unlikely and try to win the fight elsewhere?

Bystrom
vs
Upchurch

206 cm
28
285 lbs
3 - 3 - 1

187 cm
29
235 lbs
3 - 0 - 1

World class boxer
Insanely flexible

World class MT
Good gas tank

HELLBENT

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 - 3 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Torkel Bystrom!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 1, fighting out of Tokyo, Brian Upchurch!
The judges for this bout are Frank Dennis, Tiny Johnson and George Francis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Upchurch throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Upchurch throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Bystrom scores with a head kick. Upchurch tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.

It looks like Brian Upchurch has been cut.
Upchurch throws the left hand but Bystrom avoids the punch easily.
Upchurch misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Bystrom checks a leg kick.

Upchurch closes the distance and clinches.
Upchurch blocking some punches.
A short right hand to the side of the head by Bystrom.
Bystrom blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Upchurch tries to land knees in the clinch but Bystrom avoids the damage to the body.
Upchurch misses with a body punch.

Bystrom escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Upchurch misses with a right hand
and Bystrom counters with a head kick. That will keep Upchurch thinking before he tries any more sloppy attacks!
Bystrom misses with a head kick.
Upchurch thinks about the counter body kick.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Upchurch wants to clinch.
Bystrom lands with a straight right. Upchurch didn't see that one coming.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bystrom slips a jab and a cross from Upchurch.
Upchurch avoids a punch combination nicely.
Bystrom's jab looks to have found its range, popping Upchurch under the eye.
Bystrom lands a nice leg kick that just misses Upchurch's sensitive parts.

Upchurch gets in close and instigates a clinch.

Bystrom escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Bystrom circles away from the clinch attempt.
Upchurch looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Upchurch throws a hook but Bystrom avoids it easily.
Bystrom throws a head kick that misses.
Upchurch pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Left hook, right uppercut from Upchurch.

It looks like Torkel Bystrom has been cut.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Upchurch forces Bystrom back against the ropes and clinches.
Upchurch misses with some punches.
Upchurch keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Bystrom's efforts to push away.
Bystrom avoiding damage as Upchurch throws knees to the body.

Bystrom's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Bystrom misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Bystrom looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Bystrom scores with a head kick. Upchurch tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.
Upchurch swinging wildly here.
Bystrom lands a two punch combo.
Bystrom looks to land a combination. Upchurch sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.
Bystrom moves out of range of the strikes.
Bystrom scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Upchurch tests Bystrom's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Upchurch blocks a head kick by Bystrom.
Some wild striking there from Bystrom.
Brian Upchurch seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Bystrom swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Upchurch wants to counter the offense by Bystrom and move into the clinch position.
Upchurch displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
A shot to the liver by Bystrom. Beautiful body shot.

Upchurch clinches.

Bystrom breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.

Bystrom tries to keep at a distance but Upchurch has taken the fight into the clinch.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Torkel Bystrom will probably get the nod.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Bystrom uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Upchurch.
Upchurch scores with a one two! Bystrom had his feet all tangled up there and couldn't avoid the strikes.
Upchurch looks to throw the jab but Bystrom is out of range.
Upchurch is looking to score with low kicks.
Bystrom misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Upchurch lands a front kick.
Upchurch is really struggling to land any decent head shots against his taller opponent.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Upchurch, right into the meat.
Bystrom moves out of range of the body kick.
Upchurch throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Bystrom throws out a leg kick but Upchurch moves out of range and Bystrom only half commits.
Upchurch tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Upchurch walks forward and throws out a flicking leg kick. Bystrom checks it nicely though, as he moves to the side.
Bystrom is looking to counter punch.
Upchurch wants to land a leg kick but Bystrom is out of range.
Bystrom thinks about countering with a head kick.
Upchurch tries to clinch up.

Upchurch clinches up against the ropes.
Bystrom takes a knee right on the jaw!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Bystrom misses with some punches.
A short body shot lands from Upchurch as the two fighters clinch.
A short left from Upchurch.
Upchurch tries to land knees in the clinch but Bystrom avoids the damage to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bystrom tries a body shot but Upchurch blocks it.
Bystrom blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Upchurch trying to land knees to the body.
Upchurch tries a knee to the head but Bystrom blocks it.
Upchurch putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Bystrom in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
The referee is keeping an eye on Upchurch - much more stalling and he will separate the fighters.
Bystrom misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Upchurch gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Bystrom managing to block the knees to the body from Upchurch.
Bystrom prevents a body shot from Upchurch.
Bystrom managing to block the knees to the body from Upchurch.
Good body shot from Upchurch.
Bystrom lands a hook that snaps the head of Upchurch backwards.
Upchurch unloads a knee to the mid-section.
With the fighters clinched against the ropes, Upchurch creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Upchurch is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Bystrom is defending well for now.

Bystrom's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Bystrom 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.
Upchurch fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Upchurch throws a couple of head shots and lands with the final one - a decent hook, which struck Bystrom on the side of the head.

Torkel Bystrom's cut is getting worse.
Bystrom displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Upchurch throws out the jab.
Upchurch on the wrong end of a kick to the body.
Bystrom swinging wildly here.

Upchurch closes the distance and clinches.
Upchurch blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Bystrom misses with a short punch on the inside.
Upchurch is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Bystrom is defending well for now.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Upchurch.
Bystrom softening up his opponent with strikes, against the ropes.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Upchurch tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Bystrom avoids it.
Knees to the body from Upchurch.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Upchurch scores a nice knee to the body.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Upchurch lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Bystrom avoiding damage as Upchurch throws knees to the body.
Bystrom lands a hook to the side of the head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Brian Upchurch showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Upchurch moves in looking to clinch but Bystrom pushes him off.
Bystrom lands with a kick to the temple. Upchurch shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
Bystrom doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Bystrom uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Upchurch.
Bystrom on the wrong end of a nice jab.

Upchurch closes the distance and clinches.

Bystrom manages to break the clinch.

Upchurch gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Upchurch tries to land knees in the clinch but Bystrom avoids the damage to the body.
Bystrom lands a right hand.
The step up in weight doesn't seem to be a problem for Upchurch. He's performing admirably here against the bigger man.
Bystrom lands a hook that snaps the head of Upchurch backwards.
Upchurch lands a right hand.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from Bystrom.
Upchurch tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Bystrom pushes Upchurch back against the ropes and lands a hook to the side of the head.

Bystrom breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Bystrom misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Upchurch.
A head kick from Bystrom lands but Upchurch takes it in his stride.
Bystrom displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Upchurch throws a right and a left that Bystrom avoids nicely.
Upchurch throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Bystrom sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Upchurch throws an off balance right hand
and Bystrom counters with a nice body shot.
Upchurch takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Bystrom misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Bystrom scores with a big left there. The judges will like that one.
Upchurch walks forward and throws out a flicking leg kick. Bystrom checks it nicely though, as he moves to the side.
A big left from Upchurch misses.
Upchurch is looking to clinch but Bystrom is avoiding it.
Upchurch lands a jab to Bystrom's midsection.
Upchurch throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Upchurch takes an uppercut right on the jaw but it doesn't phase him.
Bystrom misses with a head kick.
Bystrom pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Nice defenses there by Bystrom.
A head kick misses from Bystrom.
Upchurch tries a head kick but it misses.
An inside leg kick lands from Upchurch.
Torkel Bystrom is winning the standup battle so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Upchurch closes the distance and pushes Bystrom back into the ropes.
Upchurch pushes Bystrom back against the ropes and unloads with a body punch.
Bystrom doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Upchurch lands a body shot.
Upchurch keeps control of Bystrom as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.

Bystrom breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Bystrom blocks a head kick by Upchurch.
Bystrom has his hands up protecting his head but a hook from Upchurch finds it's way round the side to connect with Bystrom's head.
A swing and a miss from Upchurch.
Bystrom swings for the body but Upchurch moves out of range.
Upchurch connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Bystrom throws a lazy head kick
and Upchurch counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Bystrom has a nice red mark on his side after a thudding body kick by Upchurch.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Upchurch dodges the punch combination from Bystrom.
Upchurch misses with a head kick.
Upchurch throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Bystrom lifts his leg as if looking to counter with a high kick.

Upchurch moves into the clinch.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Brian Upchurch.
I think Upchurch 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 Frank Dennis scores the fight 28:29
Judge Tiny Johnson scores the fight 28:29
Judge George Francis scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Brian Upchurch!