PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Philemon Christou (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Will Messinger (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Christou comes to the cage accompanied by Slipknot - Disasterpiece. The atmosphere really building for this one as we go over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Christou
vs
Messinger

168 cm
24
144 lbs
5 - 3 - 0

170 cm
23
133 lbs
4 - 3 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
Experienced

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Solid chin

ENDLESS 152

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Philemon Christou!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Will Messinger!
The judges for this bout are John Mangel, Winston Howard and Steve Erwin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Christou shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Messinger but Messinger pushes him off and we're back to square one.

Messinger gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Christou is trying to break the clinch but Messinger has him pressed against the cage.

Christou escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Messinger tries to close the distance and clinch but Christou swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Christou misses with a series of wild punches.
Christou misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Christou fails to land with a series of punches.
Messinger has a takedown stuffed.
Messinger looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Christou is fending him off so far but Messinger persists. Nope, Christou circles away and we're back to standing.
Messinger tries for a takedown but Christou circles away easily
and Christou counters with a three punch combo that has Messinger backing up. Messinger nods at Christou to acknowledge the strikes.
Philemon Christou has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Will Messinger.
Messinger moves his head to the side to avoid a jab but walks straight into a cross.

Christou darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Christou thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Messinger's head.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Christou is pressing down on Messinger's thigh, looking to free his foot. Messinger is holding on for now.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Christou prevents Messinger from standing back up.

Christou wants to work for an arm triangle but Messinger is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.
Christou is thwarting Messinger's attempts to control the position.
Messinger is trying to avoid being dragged into an even worse position than he's already in but Christou is staying active.
Messinger is trying to get back to full guard.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Messinger shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Christou pinned against the cage. Christou gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.

Christou looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Messinger looks gassed!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Messinger keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Christou is keen to just control but Messinger is a slippery customer.
Christou tries to pass to full mount but Messinger defends it.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Christou lands a nice short elbow.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Christou controlling the action here.
Messinger is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Christou scores with a couple of nice shots.
Messinger gets full guard.
Christou looking to pass the guard.

The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Christou decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Christou keeps the fight on the outside.
Messinger is looking to clinch but Christou is avoiding it.
Christou swings for the body but Messinger moves out of range.
Messinger tries to clinch up.

Christou shoots in for a takedown and gets it.
Christou lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Messinger has hold of Christou's hands but Christou slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Messinger wants to get back to his feet.
Christou looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Messinger taking some punishment here, with Christou in his half guard.
Christou working over Messinger with some ground and pound. Messinger looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Christou controlling the pace.

Messinger is defending against the submission attempts here by Christou.
Messinger wants to get back to full guard.
Christou is trying to control the action in half guard but Messinger is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Philemon Christou dominated that round.
That's time! Christou's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

The fight stays on the outside here - Messinger looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Messinger shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Christou counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Christou working over Messinger with some ground and pound. Messinger looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Christou is thwarting Messinger's attempts to control the position.

Christou is working for a submission of some sort.
Christou throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Messinger is refusing to be controlled, as Christou sits in half guard.
Christou landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Christou working to pass to mount. He's got his hand pressing down on Messinger's thigh. Messinger counters though and makes it back to full guard.
Christou throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Messinger works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Christou postures up in Messinger's guard and throws a big left but Messinger blocks it.
Christou postures up in Messinger's guard and throws a big left but Messinger blocks it.
Christou looking to pass the guard.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Messinger tries to score with an inside leg kick but telegraphs it and Christou is able to avoid easily.
Messinger scoring well with a low kick there.

Christou decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.

Messinger is defending against the submission attempts here by Christou.
Messinger wants to control but Christou is keeping busy and won't allow it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Christou looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Messinger with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Messinger keeping hold of Christou's head, controlling as best he can.
Ground and pound from Christou.
Messinger is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Christou thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Christou thows a big elbow that misses, also allowing Messinger to regain full guard.
Christou's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Messinger utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Christou trying to control the position from guard on top but Messinger is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Christou is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Christou is looking to work some ground and pound but Messinger has wrist control.
Messinger has momentary wrist control but Christou slips an elbow through the middle.
Christou stops Messinger from standing up.
Christou wants to pass the guard but Messinger is keeping the position.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Christou with a nice cross.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Messinger dodges the punch combination from Christou.
Christou throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Messinger.
Messinger tries to move into range but Christou moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Messinger slips a jab from Christou.
Christou ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Messinger moves away.
Messinger throws a head kick that looked like it stung.
Nice sprawl there from Messinger as Christou shoots in.
A solid leg kick lands there for Messinger.
Christou lands a nice hook to Messinger's body. Messinger takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Messinger comes forward and lands a shot to the body, then darts back out of range.
Messinger with a lazy takedown attempt
letting Christou counter with a right hand.
Christou misses with a hook.
Christou throws the left hand but Messinger avoids the punch easily.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!
Messinger fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Philemon Christou has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Will Messinger.
Christou swats away the attempt to clinch by Messinger.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Philemon Christou dominated that second round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. And we move into the final round!

Christou scores with a jab. Messinger acknowledges it with a nod of the head.
Messinger wants to clinch up but Christou keeps it at a distance.
A punch combination from Christou misses.
Christou misses with a takedown attempt

and Messinger counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Messinger won't allow Christou to sweep him here.
Messinger trying to control but Christou is working from the bottom.

Christou looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Christou trying to punch from his back but it's not doing any damage.
Christou is trying to control the position but Messinger postures up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Christou trying to punch from his back but it's not doing any damage.
Christou keeping full guard, as Messinger tries to pass.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Messinger staying out of range there.
Messinger tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Christou throws a series of punches but Messinger avoids them all with ease.
Philemon Christou is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Messinger throws a series of punches but Christou avoids them all with ease.

Messinger pushes Christou up against the cage in a clinch.

Christou breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Messinger swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Christou throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Messinger counters with a three punch combo that has Christou backing up. Christou nods at Messinger to acknowledge the strikes.
Christou throws a hook to the side of Messinger's head but Messinger sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.

Christou feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Messinger wants to sweep here but Christou controlling him for the moment.
Messinger utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Christou postures up in Messinger's guard and throws a big left but Messinger blocks it.
Messinger is pulling down on Christou's head. It's preventing any offense from Christou, at least for the moment.
Christou content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Christou has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Christou's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Christou working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Messinger's head.
Messinger is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.

Christou gets to his feet - Messinger follows without any prompting.

Christou fakes an overhand right and shoots for a takedown. Messinger sprawls well initially but Christou persists and gets the takedown into half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Christou wants to control but Messinger is keeping him busy.
Christou wants to pass to mount but Messinger is defending the position.
Christou winds up and cracks Messinger with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Messinger is trying to maintain the position but Christou is very close to passing his half guard.
Philemon Christou is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Christou blocks the strikes from Messinger.
Christou tries to pass to full mount but Messinger defends it.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Philemon Christou overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Christou throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Christou fails to land with a series of punches.
Messinger throws a left and a right that both miss

and Christou counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Christou seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
Messinger is trying to control but can't.
Will Messinger has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Christou is taking a breather. Messinger says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.

And that's the end of the fight!
Philemon Christou showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Christou, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 John Mangel scores the fight 30:27
Judge Winston Howard scores the fight 30:27
Judge Steve Erwin scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Philemon Christou!