PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Chris Cooper (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Tom Taylor (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Cooper
vs
Taylor

180 cm
25
205 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

188 cm
23
202 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Determined

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Chris Cooper!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Tom Taylor!
The judges for this bout are Ivan Kurochkin, Dmitry Maklakov and Vladimir Khabensky.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Taylor throws a right and a left that Cooper avoids nicely.

Cooper instigates a clinch.
Taylor gets underhooks to prevent Cooper's takedown attempt.
Cooper has Taylor pressed up against the cage and is working for takedown. Taylor manages to improve position though and keeps the fight standing.
Taylor tries to circle away but Cooper has him pinned against the cage.
Taylor prevents a takedown attempt there.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Chris Cooper. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Cooper throws a head punch that misses.
Cooper wants a takedown but no success here.

Cooper breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Cooper dodges the punch combination from Taylor.
Taylor changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Cooper dives in and grabs Taylor's left leg, looking for a takedown. Taylor pushes down on Cooper's head and hops out.
Cooper takes an uppercut right on the jaw but it doesn't phase him.
A combination from Taylor does no damage.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Cooper goes for a takedown in the clinch but Taylor prevents it.
Cooper is trying to work for a single leg takedown but Taylor pulls him back up using the underhooks.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Cooper breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Cooper tries to shoot in for a takedown. He's got hold of a leg but Taylor swivels and escapes.
Taylor swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Taylor scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Cooper is breathing heavily.
Taylor connects with a hook to the side of his opponent's head.
Taylor swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Cooper.

It looks like Chris Cooper has been cut.
Cooper slips a jab and a cross from Taylor.

Cooper drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Cooper wants to control for a moment but Taylor uses the opportunity to move back to half guard.
Cooper is looking to take a break and control but Taylor is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Taylor wants to get back to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Cooper is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
Taylor wants to get back to his feet.

Taylor pushes Cooper off and gets back to his feet.
Tom Taylor seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Taylor scores with a nice strike.
Cooper has his head slapped from side to side by a 3 punch combination. That must have hurt him.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Taylor cracks Cooper with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Taylor misses with a series of wild punches.
Cooper closes this distance looking for a takedown but Taylor circles away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Taylor stuffs the takedown attempt from Cooper. Cooper gets slowly back to his feet.
Taylor misses with a double jab.
Cooper tries to move into range but Taylor moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Taylor lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Cooper circles away quickly and effectively.
Taylor throws a series of punches but Cooper moves out of range.
Cooper fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Cooper misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Taylor has used his reach advantage pretty well so far tonight.
Taylor lands a jab-cross combination.
Cooper changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Taylor tries to avoid it but Cooper manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Taylor to the ground. Taylor escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
A decent looking cross lands there for Taylor.
Taylor scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Taylor looks to throw the jab but Cooper is out of range.
A left lands for Cooper.
Cooper swings wildly with a couple of big hooks
and Taylor counters with a one-two to the body.
Cooper shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Taylor sprawls well. Taylor wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Cooper gets slowly back to his feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Taylor lands three nice shots there - that looked like it hurt!
Taylor is working the combinations to good effect here.
Horrible takedown by Cooper or perhaps it was just good defense by Taylor which made him look bad.
Taylor looks to land a combination. Cooper sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.
Cooper looks for a takedown but Taylor sprawls well.
Taylor connects with a jab.

Cooper gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Cooper is trying to drag Taylor to the mat but Taylor just about manages to keep his footing. He used the cage to his advantage there.
Taylor wants to break free but Cooper has control.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Cooper jumps guard but Taylor stands there with Cooper around his waist. Cooper gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Cooper tries to pull guard but Taylor won't allow it.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Tom Taylor dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Chris Cooper's cut.
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.

Taylor defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Cooper.
Taylor stalks Cooper and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Cooper's face. Cooper staggers backwards, shaken.
Taylor sizes up Cooper with a pawing jab and scores with a straight right down the middle.
Cooper throws a couple of head shots and lands with the final one - a decent hook, which struck Taylor on the side of the head.
Taylor throws a series of punches but Cooper avoids them all with ease.

Cooper shoots in with a lovely double leg takedown. Taylor manages to land in full guard to minimise the damage.

Cooper is holding a leg here, probably looking for an ankle lock - he drops back and goes for it! Taylor is in trouble! Is it all over??? No! Taylor has escaped and now he's on top!
Taylor trying to control the position from guard on top but Cooper is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Taylor stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Cooper swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cooper is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Taylor is controlling him.
Taylor throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Cooper works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Taylor accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

Cooper is working an open guard so Taylor takes the opportunity to get back to his feet.
Cooper has his head slapped from side to side by a 3 punch combination. That must have hurt him.
Taylor throws a right and a left that both miss.
No joy there for Taylor, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Cooper tries to close the distance and clinch up but Taylor swats him away and circles back towards the center.
A punch combination from Taylor misses.

Cooper darts in and clinches Taylor up against the cage.
Cooper jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Taylor walks away with a smile on his face. Cooper gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Cooper.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Chris Cooper. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Taylor throws a combination that misses

and Cooper counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Cooper wants to control from the top but Taylor keeps moving.
Cooper is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Taylor is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.

Cooper drops back for a leg here. A bit of a high risk move... He's looking for a kneebar by the looks of things. Now both of them are looking for submissions. Cooper seems to have locked his on tight now - Taylor screams in pain and taps out furiously! It certainly was a high risk move but it's paid off for Cooper, as he picks up the win!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:43 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kneebar). Chris Cooper!