PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Blake Phoenix (ranked 2460 p4p, 310 weight class) and King Rico (ranked 1963 p4p, 257 weight class). Both these guys have solid standup skills and neither is particularly fantastic on the ground, so let's hope for a nice standup war!

Phoenix
vs
Rico

189 cm
19
210 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

189 cm
19
209 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid boxing
Very strong

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Powerful

Brooklyn Apothecary
Urban Fighter

Urban Fighter
Condemned

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Blake Phoenix!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, King Rico!
The judges for this bout are Phil Schofield, James Glass and Steven Brown.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Phoenix moves into the clinch.
Phoenix lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Rico lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Nice body punch from Phoenix.
Rico blocks a body shot from Phoenix.
Phoenix lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Phoenix lands a right hand that snaps the head of Rico backwards.
Phoenix working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Rico goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Rico swings wildly with an uppercut but Phoenix uses good head movement to avoid it.
Phoenix tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Phoenix lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Rico prevents a body shot from Phoenix.
Phoenix working some nice short punches in the clinch.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Phoenix misses with some punches.
Phoenix throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
I was talking to Phoenix's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Phoenix lands a right hand.
Phoenix lands a left hand.
Phoenix lands a shoulder strike.
Rico looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Phoenix misses with a body punch.
Phoenix tries to work over Rico's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
Phoenix lands with a left to the head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Phoenix tries a body shot but Rico blocks it.
Nice body punch from Phoenix.
Rico lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Rico fails to pull the fight into his guard.
Rico goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Phoenix tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.

Rico breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Rico just misses with a punch to the body.
Phoenix uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Rico.
Phoenix throws a hook to the side of Rico's head but Rico sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
A nice side step and Rico releases a counter shot to the body, but it doesn't find it's home.
Phoenix connects with a single shot there.
Phoenix throws a looping overhand right but Rico ducks down to avoid it.
Rico walks into a jab.
Rico avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Rico swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Phoenix jabbing away but nothing is landing.
Phoenix scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Rico doesn't seem bothered though.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Phoenix throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Rico stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Rico throws a jab when Phoenix was well out of range.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Phoenix throws a body punch but Rico moves out of range.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Rico! But no joy.
Rico lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Phoenix circles away quickly and effectively.
Phoenix misses with a looping right.
Phoenix cracks Rico with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Phoenix dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Phoenix throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Rico is loading up here, looking for a big counter of his own.
Rico throws a right and a left that Phoenix avoids nicely.
Phoenix avoids a lazy jab quite easily.

Phoenix drives through and clinches with Rico against the cage.
Rico has been looking to improve his clinch game in recent weeks. Phoenix seems to have the measure of him in the clinch so far, so let's see if Rico can turn it around.
A quick uppercut on the inside from Phoenix.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Phoenix lands an uppercut.
Rico tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Phoenix's elbow.
Phoenix prevents a body shot from Rico.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Phoenix.
Rico is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
A head punch on the inside from Phoenix fails to land.

Rico breaks the clinch.
Rico stalks Phoenix and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Phoenix's face. Phoenix staggers backwards, shaken.

It looks like Blake Phoenix has been cut.
Phoenix misses with a wild body shot.
Rico blocks a jab.
Phoenix swings widly with a right hand
enabling Rico to counter with a crisp jab.
Phoenix uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Rico.
Phoenix is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Rico.
Phoenix takes a really solid shot there but just smiles back and shrugs his shoulders.
Phoenix misses with an uppercut. Rico saw that one coming.

Phoenix has Rico up against the cage in a clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Rico.
Rico is trying to pull guard but Phoenix turns him against the cage and we stay in the clinch.
A head punch on the inside from Phoenix fails to land.
Phoenix lands with a short punch from the clinch.

Rico manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.

Phoenix postures up as if he's going to throw some strikes but drops back for an ankle! Rico is in big trouble! He looks ready to tap! But no, he's escaped and dives on top of Phoenix, into his guard.

Rico trying to control the position from guard on top but Phoenix is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Rico pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Phoenix is keeping the position for now.

Phoenix is working actively from the bottom, looking for submissions. He's escaped his hips to the side and he's going for an armbar! Rico has his hands clasped together but Phoenix extends and breaks Rico's desperate grasp, forcing a tap out due to armbar! Nice BJJ displayed there by Phoenix.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:57 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Blake Phoenix!