PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Sandy McSouthers (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Tito Henry (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). McSouthers's entrance music is VNV Nation - Anthem. A fine choice. The atmosphere really building for this one as we go over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

McSouthers
vs
Henry

183 cm
27
200 lbs
8 - 5 - 0

188 cm
20
193 lbs
7 - 2 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Very quick

Good wrestler
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 8 - 5 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Sandy McSouthers!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Tito Henry!
The judges for this bout are Dmitry Maklakov, Konstantin Menshow and Ivan Kurochkin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

McSouthers shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
McSouthers throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Henry tries to hold on but McSouthers pushes him away.
Henry tries to get back to half guard but can't.
McSouthers throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Henry because McSouthers loaded up on that one.
McSouthers controlling the position easily from mount.
Henry wants to control but McSouthers is having none of it.
McSouthers pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Henry gets back to half guard.
Henry regains full guard. Nicely done.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as McSouthers accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henry controlling the position.
Henry 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.
Henry managing to control the position.
McSouthers showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
Henry lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for McSouthers!
Henry misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Henry thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Henry scoring with strikes but McSouthers is staying in there.
McSouthers is trying to escape the mount.
McSouthers wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Henry.
Henry trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Henry dominating with strikes here.
Henry misses with a head shot.
McSouthers in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Henry landing strikes from the mount and McSouthers is in trouble!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Henry sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Henry with the ground and pound from mount.
BOOM! Henry connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Henry breaks from McSouthers's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Henry trying to control but McSouthers is having none of it.
Henry throws some wild stikes that McSouthers manages to avoid easily.
Henry cracks McSouthers with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Henry throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Henry lands a heavy elbow.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
McSouthers takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Henry misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Poor strikes thrown by Henry there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
McSouthers avoids a series of strikes thrown by Henry.
Henry wants to control the pace but McSouthers is squirming around nicely.
Henry lands a big elbow.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Henry thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
McSouthers is in a horrible position here. Henry smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Henry with good strikes from the mount here!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Tito Henry dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Henry gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and McSouthers counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
McSouthers circles away from the clinch attempt
and McSouthers counters with a nice body shot.
Henry misses with a double jab

and McSouthers counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by McSouthers.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Henry.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Henry.
Henry goes for a takedown in the clinch but McSouthers prevents it.
McSouthers lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
McSouthers stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
McSouthers tries to work over Henry's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.

McSouthers gets a trip takedown into half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henry regains full guard. Nicely done.
Henry has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
McSouthers throwing strikes but missing.
McSouthers trying to control but Henry is working from the bottom.

That's two 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.
Henry tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Henry keeping moving, preventing McSouthers from controlling successfully.
Henry tries to land a sweep but no joy.
McSouthers distracts Henry with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
McSouthers wants to control from the top but Henry keeps moving.
McSouthers content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Henry has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Henry keeping moving, preventing McSouthers from controlling successfully.
Henry looking to hit a scissor sweep but McSouthers is one step ahead there.
McSouthers lands a couple of elbows.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Henry trying to control the position here.
McSouthers throwing strikes but missing.
McSouthers looking to sit in guard and control but Henry gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Henry trying to control but McSouthers is working from the bottom.
McSouthers avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Henry trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Henry postures up.
Henry is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Henry wants to control from the top but McSouthers keeps moving.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Henry just misses with a punch to the body.
McSouthers misses with a hook to the body

and Henry counters by clinching up.
Henry changes levels and goes for a takedown here. McSouthers fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Sandy McSouthers has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Tito Henry.
Henry uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from McSouthers.
Tito Henry seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Henry tries to move into range but McSouthers moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Henry wants to clinch
and McSouthers counters with a left to the body.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Sandy McSouthers dominated that second round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Henry tries to clinch up
and McSouthers counters with a left to the body.
Henry ducks under a wild hook from McSouthers.
McSouthers scores with a nice strike.
Tito Henry is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

Henry looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
McSouthers trying to control here.
Henry wants to control but McSouthers is keeping him busy.
McSouthers is looking for a sweep. Henry is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
McSouthers regains full guard. Nicely done.
McSouthers is trying to keep Henry in close.
Tito Henry has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henry throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Henry trying to control the position from guard on top but McSouthers is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Henry postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Henry trying to control but McSouthers is working from the bottom.
Henry postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Henry wants to control from the top but McSouthers keeps moving.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Henry working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Henry thows a big elbow that misses.
Henry throwing strikes but missing.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Henry accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Henry.
Henry swings and misses with a shot to the body

and McSouthers counters with a shoot takedown. Henry fights it but they end up in guard.
Henry wants to sweep here but McSouthers controlling him for the moment.
McSouthers is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Henry is adopting a defensive guard.
Henry wants to sweep here but McSouthers controlling him for the moment.
Henry lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for McSouthers!
McSouthers wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Henry.
Henry looking to finish with strikes here!

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.
McSouthers is wriggling around trying to escape.
The referee warns McSouthers that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Henry dominating with strikes here.
Henry lands a big shot there that rocks McSouthers but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
McSouthers in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Henry is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. McSouthers can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Henry lands a big elbow.
Henry landing strikes, looking to finish!
Henry is in the full mount, landing strikes.

And that's the end of the fight!
Tito Henry comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Henry has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Dmitry Maklakov scores the fight 28:29
Judge Konstantin Menshow scores the fight 28:29
Judge Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Tito Henry!