PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between James Laurent (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lars De Groot (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Laurent comes to the cage accompanied by Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction. This should be a great matchup!

Laurent
vs
De Groot

168 cm
24
142 lbs
5 - 1 - 0

150 cm
20
144 lbs
3 - 1 - 1

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
Very strong

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Powerful

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 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, James Laurent!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 1, fighting out of New York, Lars De Groot!
The judges for this bout are Eddie Farnsworth, Russell Pearce and Bruno Lombardi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
De Groot tries to close the distance and clinch but Laurent swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
De Groot falls off balance throwing a combination
and Laurent cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Laurent blocks a head kick by De Groot.
Laurent avoids the head kick by De Groot.
Laurent misses with a right hand
and De Groot counters with an inside leg kick.
A nice leg kick lands there from De Groot.
A punch combination from De Groot misses.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
De Groot lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.
Laurent avoids a punch combination nicely.
Laurent throws the left hand but De Groot avoids the punch easily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

De Groot clinches with his opponent.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Good body shot from De Groot.
De Groot lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Laurent is trying to break free.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Laurent.
De Groot misses with a knee to the head.
De Groot throws a punch but it's blocked by Laurent.
De Groot lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Laurent working hard to break the clinch.
De Groot stalls.

De Groot manages to break the clinch.
A decent looking cross lands there for Laurent.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Laurent throws a lazy right hand but De Groot sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
A punch combination from Laurent misses.
Laurent throws a left and a right that both miss
and De Groot counters with a nice low kick that buckles Laurent's knee momentarily.
De Groot wants to clinch but Laurent slips to the side
and Laurent counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
De Groot throws a leg kick but Laurent sees it coming and moves out of range.
Laurent showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from De Groot.
Laurent checks the leg kick.
De Groot takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Laurent avoids a punch combination nicely.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Laurent throws a right hand that misses
and De Groot counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Laurent is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Laurent misses with a double jab

and De Groot moves into the clinch.
Laurent wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
De Groot avoiding damage.
De Groot tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Laurent's elbow.
Laurent wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
De Groot is struggling to control the position.
Laurent tries to circle away but De Groot has him pinned against the cage.
Laurent is trying to push De Groot away but De Groot has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.
Laurent dodges an elbow strike from De Groot.
De Groot looks to throw an elbow but misses.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

De Groot pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
De Groot uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Laurent.
A head kick misses from De Groot.
Laurent showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from De Groot.
De Groot closes the distance and lands a one-two.
Laurent lands with a cross.
De Groot wants to clinch up but Laurent keeps it at a distance.
Laurent lands with a nice body punch.
Laurent jabs De Groot right on the nose. De Groot blinks but takes it well.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lars De Groot dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

De Groot fails in his attempt to clinch.
De Groot uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Laurent.
Laurent looks to land a left hand but De Groot moved out of range nicely.
De Groot moves away from the strike by Laurent.
De Groot throws a left and a right that both miss
letting Laurent counter with a right hand.
De Groot lands a two punch combo.
Laurent feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits De Groots jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Laurent cracks De Groot with a good jab.
Laurent scores with a decent looking hook.
De Groot connects with a solid leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Laurent looks to land a right hand but De Groot moved out of range.
Laurent scores with a big left there. The judges will like that one.
De Groot throws a left and a right that both miss
and Laurent counters with a stiff right hand.
De Groot tries to clinch but Laurent moves out of range.
De Groot tries to clinch up but Laurent circles away and keeps his distance.
A jab from Laurent finds it's way through De Groot's defenses.
Laurent jabbing away but nothing is landing.
De Groot defending well as Laurent loads up on a big left hand.
De Groot wants to clinch
letting Laurent counter with a right hand.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
De Groot looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
De Groot misses with a head kick.
Laurent cracks De Groot with a hook to the jaw. Both fighters smile at eachother and high-five before getting back down to business.
De Groot misses with a low kick.
De Groot misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Laurent misses with a series of wild punches.

De Groot has closed the distance and engaged Laurent in a clinch.
De Groot tries to land knees in the clinch but Laurent avoids the damage to the body.
Laurent avoids a wild elbow strike from De Groot.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
De Groot trying to land knees to the body.
Laurent is using his height advantage well here, landing a good percentage of his punches.
De Groot is pushing Laurent up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
De Groot stalling in the clinch but Laurent improves position.
Laurent is trying to break the clinch but De Groot is controlling him.
Laurent is trying to break the clinch but De Groot is controlling him.
Laurent blocking some punches.
De Groot misses with the head strike.
De Groot tries a body shot but Laurent blocks it.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
De Groot working aggressively here.
Laurent wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
De Groot trying to land knees to the body.
Laurent working hard to break the clinch.
De Groot putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Laurent in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
De Groot trying to stall but Laurent improves his position.
De Groot misses with a body punch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
De Groot looking to slow down the pace here.
The fighters are pressed against the cage, as the pace of the fight slows.
De Groot looking to throw knees to the head but Laurent is blocking nicely.
Laurent has had enough of the clinch but De Groot keeps him there for the moment.
De Groot's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
De Groot misses with a hook to the ribs.
De Groot tries a knee to the head but Laurent blocks it.
Laurent is trying to break the clinch but De Groot is controlling him.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
De Groot lands a right hand that snaps the head of Laurent backwards.
De Groot misses with a punch on the inside.
De Groot tries to throw a body punch but Laurent avoids it by throwing De Groot back against the cage.
De Groot has a couple of punches blocked by Laurent.
De Groot is trying to stall.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lars De Groot showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. And we move into the final round!

De Groot doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Laurent bobs and weaves and throws out a fast jab that snaps De Groot's head backwards.
Laurent avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Laurent misses with an uppercut.
De Groot buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
De Groot darts in trying to clinch
and Laurent counters with a straight right hand.
Lars De Groot is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Laurent ducks down and throws a hook to the body but De Groot moves away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Laurent dodges the punch combination from De Groot.
Laurent pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
De Groot throws a sloppy head kick and Laurent moves out of range easily.
Laurent moves into range and connects with a jab.
Laurent's corner calls for a 1,2 combination and Laurent duly obliges.
Laurent throws a series of punches but De Groot moves out of range.
Laurent moves into range and throws a lovely three punch combination.
De Groot misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
James Laurent has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.

De Groot moves into the clinch.
De Groot is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Laurent is keeping busy.
Laurent lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.
De Groot displaying some good clinch control by pressing Laurent up against the cage.
De Groot is looking to control Laurent's arms but Laurent gets an underhook and turns him. Now De Groot has his back to the cage.
Laurent has had enough of the clinch but De Groot keeps him there for the moment.
De Groot creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Laurent's defenses.
Laurent avoids a wild elbow strike from De Groot.
De Groot lands an uppercut.
Come on De Groot - let's have some action - none of this stalling nonsense.
A body shot lands from De Groot.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
De Groot blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
De Groot misses with some punches.
The referee calls for De Groot to work.
De Groot lands an elbow just above Laurent 's eye.
De Groot lands an elbow that stopped Laurent in his tracks for a moment.
Laurent is trying to break the clinch but De Groot has him pressed against the cage.
The referee calls for De Groot to work.
De Groot throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Laurents head.
De Groot is stalling here.
De Groot tries to stall but Laurent uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
De Groot stalling.
The ref breaks the fighters up, due to lack of action by Lars De Groot.
De Groot keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Laurent throws a big shot that misses.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
De Groot misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Laurent will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Laurent missing with a left hand there. De Groot was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
De Groot dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Laurent. That did some damage!
Laurent avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Laurent fails to land with a series of punches.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Laurent swings widly with a right hand
and De Groot counters with an outside leg kick.
Laurent throws a right hand that De Groot ducks under and follows up with a left that De Groot also avoids with ease.

And that's the end of the fight!
Lars De Groot comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well De Groot has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Eddie Farnsworth scores the fight 27:30
Judge Russell Pearce scores the fight 27:30
Judge Bruno Lombardi scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Lars De Groot!