PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Marin Ivanov (ranked 3281 p4p, 391 weight class) and Howard Houls (ranked 7784 p4p, 622 weight class). Marin Ivanov has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Ivanov
vs
Houls

180 cm
24
173 lbs
9 - 9 - 0

177 cm
24
169 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Insanely flexible

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Very confident

UnderGround Supplements

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 9 - 9 - 0, fighting out of New York, Marin Ivanov!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Howard Houls!
The judges for this bout are Patrick Alders, Aafke Stam and Nard Betker.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Houls thuds his right hand into Ivanov's forehead from close range. That could be painful for both fighters.
Houls tries to clinch

and Ivanov counters with a single leg into guard. Houls didn't expect that.
Ivanov lands a couple of decent looking shots.

Ivanov thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Ivanov prevents Houls from getting back to his feet.
Ivanov won't allow Houls to sweep him here.

Ivanov is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Houls can do anything to dispel that myth.

Ivanov thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.

Houls is looking for a triangle but Ivanov pushes his legs off easily.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Ivanov lands a couple of elbows.
Houls really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Ivanov. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Ivanov throwing strikes from guard but Houls blocks nicely.
Houls is trying to control the position from the bottom.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ivanov postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Ivanov's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Ivanov lands a couple of elbows.
Houls is looking to stand up but Ivanov isn't so interested in that idea.

Ivanov drops back looking for a leg! Houls is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and Houls manages to kick Ivanov off! Ivanov jumps back into Houls's guard.
Ivanov throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Houls works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Ivanov advances to half guard.
Ivanov looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Ivanov working the head and body with strikes.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Ivanov lands a nice short elbow.
Ivanov missing with the ground and pound from half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Houls trying to control from the bottom.
Ground and pound from Ivanov.
Ground and pound from Ivanov.
Ivanov is nestled in close to Houls, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Ivanov is looking for a kimura but Houls is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Ivanov to get the leverage.
Ivanov lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.

Houls is rocked!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Ivanov 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.
Houls is still in real trouble! Can Ivanov finish him?
Ivanov is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Ivanov is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Ivanov lands with a punch from half guard.
Ivanov scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Ivanov lands a big elbow - Houls is out of it! He's waving his arms around but his eyes are closed and he's not intelligently defending himself - the ref has no choice but to jump in and stop the fight! This one is in the books! A TKO win for Ivanov!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:55 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Marin Ivanov!
After winning the bout, Marin Ivanov thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.
Howard Houls spoke after the fight, saying 'Loss is part of life. If you don't have loss, you don't grow.'.