PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Abdul Rahman (ranked 1432 p4p, 1551 weight class) and Lou Valentine (ranked 194 p4p, 207 weight class). Both fighter's entrance songs getting the crowd jumping here.

Rahman
vs
Valentine

182 cm
32
184
20 - 16 - 0

174 cm
28
172
9 - 8 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Olympic wrestler
World class boxer
Granite chin

Bondi MMA ðŸï¸
Brooklyn Apothecary

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 20 - 16 - 0, fighting out of New York, Abdul Rahman!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 9 - 8 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Lou Valentine!
The judges for this bout are Timothy Bukovac, Jack Bonds and Percy O'Donnell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Valentine uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Rahman.
We can't be sure of the tactics at this early stage but we have heard that Valentine has been working on his takedowns a lot in the buildup to the fight and we can only assume he's going to look to take this to the mat.
Valentine misses with a hook to the body
and Rahman counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Some wild striking there from Rahman.
Valentine looks like he wanted to counter with a high kick but didn't throw it.
Rahman connects with a looping left hand that seems like it dazed Valentine momentarily.
Rahman lands a right hook to the body.
Rahman darts in and out, connecting with a jab.
Valentine tries to score with a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Rahman looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Rahman rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and Valentine counters with a slapping leg kick.
Rahman misses with a straight right.
Valentine throws a shot to the body.
Rahman connects with a looping left hand that seems like it dazed Valentine momentarily.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Rahman misses the shot to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rahman jabs Valentine to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Valentine slips a jab from Rahman.
Valentine misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Rahman throws a jab when Valentine was well out of range.
Valentine feints a counter leg kick.
Rahman swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Valentine! But no joy.
Valentine ducks under a wild hook from Rahman.
Nice defenses there by Valentine.
Abdul Rahman is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Jab by Rahman.
Valentine scores with a leg kick.
Rahman misses with a hook. Valentine ducked under it nicely.
Valentine cracks Rahman with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Rahman throws a body shot but no joy.
Rahman slips in close and lands a nice hook before moving back out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Valentine avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Rahman looks to land a left hand but Valentine moved out of range nicely.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Valentine moves into range and clinches up with Rahman.
Rahman lands with a good tight uppercut to the head.
Valentine controlling the action here for a moment.
Valentine misses with the head strike.
Valentine tries to score a body lock takedown but Rahman shows good agility there to stay on his feet.
Valentine blocking some punches.
Rahman throws a punch but it's blocked by Valentine.
Valentine has a couple of punches blocked by Rahman.
Valentine misses with the head strike.
Valentine tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Valentine misses with the head strike.
Rahman blocks a body shot from Valentine.
Rahman wants to get back to striking at distance but Valentine won't allow it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rahman tries to work over Valentine's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
A head punch on the inside from Rahman fails to land.
Rahman wants to break free but Valentine has control.
Rahman lands a right hand.
Valentine tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Rahman scores with a nice hook to the head.

Rahman breaks the clinch.
Rahman misses with a looping left.
Valentine slips a straight right by Rahman.
Rahman scores with a jab to the jaw.
Rahman moves forwards but Valentine connects with a nice, crisp jab.
Valentine uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Rahman.
Valentine uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Rahman.
Valentine slips a jab from Rahman.
Valentine shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Rahman was looking to counter that move with a punch but didn't quite pull the trigger.
Valentine uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Rahman.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rahman misses with a wild body shot.
Valentine bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Valentine shoots in but no luck this time.
Abdul Rahman has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Lou Valentine.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Rahman lands a nice hook to Valentine's body. Valentine takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Rahman thows a left - swing and a miss!
Valentine tries to counter by closing the distance.
Valentine closes this distance looking for a takedown but Rahman circles away.
Valentine buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Rahman lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
Rahman throws a jab when Valentine was well out of range.
Valentine staying out of range there.
Valentine let fly with a counter punch to the body but it didn't land.
Valentine misses with a body shot.
Rahman misses with a hook
and Valentine counters with a lovely shot to the body.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Abdul Rahman dominated that round.
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.

Nice jab there from Rahman.
Rahman looks to land a left hand but Valentine moved out of range nicely.
Rahman looks to land a right hand but Valentine moved out of range.
Rahman throws a jab but it's blocked by Valentine.
Valentine moves away from the strike by Rahman.
Valentine feints a counter leg kick.
Rahman throws a hook but Valentine blocks it.
Rahman throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Valentine ducks under a wild hook from Rahman.
Rahman pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Valentine raises up his leg as if looking to counter with a high kick.
Abdul Rahman is winning the standup battle so far.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Rahman lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.
Valentine throws a head kick but Rahman moves out of range.
Rahman throws an off balance right hand
and Valentine counters with a nice body kick.
Rahman lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
Valentine is throwing a lot of body shots here, looking to wear down Rahman rather than just go for the knockout.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rahman connects with a slap. Keep your fist closed son.
Rahman throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Rahman misses with a wild body shot.
Rahman is moving around nicely and scores here with a single head shot.
Rahman misses with a left hand
and Valentine counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Rahman with a hook.
Rahman is really head hunting here, hardly looking to strike to the body at all.
Valentine pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Abdul Rahman seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Rahman thows a left - swing and a miss!
Rahman steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Valentine.
Rahman misses with an uppercut.
Rahman throws a big shot that misses.
Valentine tries to clinch up.
Valentine misses with a hook.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rahman throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Valentine swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Danga de danga de dang - Rahman scores with a four punch combination!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Valentine comes forward and lands a shot to the body, then darts back out of range.
Valentine misses with a wild body shot.
Rahman lands three nice shots there - that looked like it hurt!
Rahman ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Rahman was looking to counter that move with a punch but didn't quite pull the trigger.
Valentine cracks a nice hook into Rahman's ribs.
Rahman works the jab nicely.
Rahman misses the shot to the body.
Rahman throws a poor cross that misses
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.
Rahman takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Rahman throws a hook to the side of Valentine's head but Valentine sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rahman loads up on a big right hand but Valentine slips the punch.
Nice defenses there by Valentine.
Valentine swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Rahman misses with a left hand
enabling Valentine to counter with a crisp jab.

It looks like Abdul Rahman has been cut.
Valentine moves out of range as Rahman strikes.
The fighters circling - Valentine throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Rahman misses with a body shot
and Valentine counters with a nice uppercut.
Valentine with a nice cross.
Rahman stuffs the takedown attempt from Valentine. Valentine gets slowly back to his feet.
An attempted straight right counter from Rahman misses the target.
Rahman throws a hook to the side of Valentine's head but Valentine sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Rahman throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Rahman backing away here, and Valentine unleashes a leg kick that just misses.
Rahman throws a hard body shot but it just misses.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Valentine moves out of range of the strikes.
Rahman throws a poor cross that misses
enabling Valentine to counter with a crisp jab.
Rahman keeps his opponent at a distance with a nice jab.
A cross from Valentine lands.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Rahman misses with a body shot.
Rahman throws a jab when Valentine was well out of range.
Rahman is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Valentine can do to turn this around?
A slow jab from Rahman misses its intended target.
Rahman throws an ugly left hook that misses

and Valentine holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.

Valentine has picked Rahman up - he's going for a ride! Valentine dumps his opponent to the mat with a thud and settles into half guard.
Valentine throws a strike but Rahman avoids it easily and moves to full guard.
Valentine postures up in Rahman's guard and throws a big left but Rahman blocks it.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Valentine in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Abdul Rahman will probably get the nod.
The cut man is working on Abdul Rahman's cut.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Rahman misses with a telegraphed body shot
and Valentine counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Rahman slips under a jab from Valentine.
Rahman throws a big shot that misses.
A nice side step and Valentine releases a counter shot to the body, but it doesn't find it's home.
Rahman misses with a hook to the body
and Valentine connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Rahman misses with a left hand

and Valentine counters with a nice double leg into half guard.

Rahman is rocked!

Valentine is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.
Oh Rahman is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!

Valentine is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.

Valentine is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.
Rahman seems to have got his legs back now.
Valentine sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Rahman defending well though.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Valentine is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

Valentine is looking for a kimura here.
Rahman controlling the leg, holding on to half guard.

Valentine is working for a kimura but Rahman is defending it quite comfortably.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.

Valentine is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Rahman has managed to free his arm - good work.

Valentine is looking for a kimura. It's pretty deep but Rahman still has the half guard so he's probably OK. Oh, Rahman has exploded into a beautiful escape there and after a quick scramble, he's ended up in side control on top! Nice work!
Valentine manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.
Lou Valentine has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Valentine wants to control but Rahman is keeping busy.
Valentine has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Valentine wants to improve his position but Rahman is controlling well.
Abdul Rahman is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Rahman keeping composed on the top, looking to control the action.
Valentine works his way to full guard. Good work.

Rahman got a little sloppy there for a moment and Valentine has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Rahman has managed to get both his arms back between Valentine's legs - danger averted.

Rahman avoids a guillotine attempt easily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Valentine being controlled here, momentarily.
Valentine wants to stand but Rahman is controlling the position.
Valentine wants to improve his position but instead Rahman has moved into half guard.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!

Valentine is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Rahman pulls his head out easily.

And that's the end of the fight!
Lou Valentine comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Rahman has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Timothy Bukovac scores the fight 29:28
Judge Jack Bonds scores the fight 29:28
Judge Percy O'Donnell scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Abdul Rahman!