PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Tony Bova (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Klem Hopper (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Bova comes to the cage accompanied by I came to bring the pain!. Well, the cameraman is lingering on a pretty young lady for a bit too long there. Keep your eyes on the fighters buddy or you'll miss the fighter intros!

Bova
vs
Hopper

175 cm
25
155 lbs
11 - 15 - 0

180 cm
29
150 lbs
15 - 9 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Very strong

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Knockout power

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 11 - 15 - 0, fighting out of London, Tony Bova!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 9 - 0, fighting out of London, Klem Hopper!
The judges for this bout are Paul Tew, William Gold and Daniel Bishop.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hopper misses with a double jab

and Bova counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Bova postures up in Hopper's guard and throws a big left but Hopper blocks it.
Hopper is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Hopper is pulling down on Bova's head. It's preventing any offense from Bova, at least for the moment.
Bova works over Hopper with some ground and pound from guard.
Bova is looking to work some ground and pound but Hopper has wrist control.
Bova in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Bova accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Hopper 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.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Bova accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Bova's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Bova has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Hopper lands a decent punch to the body there.
Bova lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Bova connects with a couple of short punches.
Bova working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Bova throwing strikes but missing.
Hopper is trying to control the position from the bottom.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Bova accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Bova is looking to work some ground and pound but Hopper has wrist control.
Bova is looking to work some ground and pound but Hopper has wrist control.
Bova trying to control but Hopper is working from the bottom.
Bova postures up in Hopper's guard and throws a big left but Hopper blocks it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Bova working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Hopper is avoiding any damage by keeping wrist control.
Bova stands and throws Hopper's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Bova tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.
An elbow from Bova crashes against the mat.
Hopper avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Bova.
Bova scores with punches from side control.

Bova is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Hopper is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Hopper tries to get back to half guard but can't.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bova lands a nice forearm strike.
Bova lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Hopper down.
Bova fails to land a wild elbow strike.
Bova postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.
Bova in side control, throwing shots but Hopper defends.
Hopper looks gassed!
Bova throws a knee to the body but it doesn't do much damage.
Bova working the body and head with strikes.
Bova working the ground and pound.
Bova trying to control the action but Hopper is working from the bottom.
Hopper is sneaking out the side here. He's bucked Bova off and has taken his back!
Bova finds himself mounted whilst avoiding strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Bova working to try and regain half guard.
Bova tries to hold on but Hopper pushes him away.
Bova is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Hopper is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
Bova throws some wild strikes from the bottom.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Bova shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Hopper as he avoids it easily.

Bova shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Hopper's guard.
Bova throws a big right hand that misses.
Bova missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Bova lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Bova is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Bova is looking to work some ground and pound but Hopper has wrist control.
Bova trying to control the position from guard on top but Hopper is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Hopper looking to hit a scissor sweep but Bova is one step ahead there.
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.
Bova throwing strikes but missing.
Hopper looking for a sweep. Not yet Hopper, not yet.
Hopper is breathing heavily.
Bova throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Hopper works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Bova keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Hopper's head.
Hopper working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Bova.
Bova with a flurry of punches that miss.
Hopper avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Bova trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Hopper doesn't do any damage with a couple of strikes from the bottom.
Bova throwing strikes from guard but Hopper blocks nicely.
Bova works over Hopper with some ground and pound from guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Bova is looking to work some ground and pound but Hopper has wrist control.
Bova throws a strike but Hopper rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.
Hopper missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Bova controls Hopper momentarily but Hopper frees himself.

Bova looking for a guillotine here but Hopper defends easily.
Hopper looking to sit in guard and control but Bova gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bova landing some decent shots from guard.
Bova postures up in Hopper's guard and throws a big left but Hopper blocks it.
Hopper wants to sweep but no luck.
Bova distracts Hopper with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Bova wants to control from the top but Hopper keeps moving.
Tony Bova overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Hopper wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Bova is now in half guard.

That's four 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.
Ground and pound from Bova.
Hopper is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Bova scores with a couple of nice shots.
Bova thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Hopper's head.
Hopper on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Bova working the head and body with strikes.
Hopper has hold of Bova's hands but Bova slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Bova thows a huge punch but Hopper dodges it nicely.
Bova lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Bova thows a huge punch but Hopper dodges it nicely.
Bova throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Bova throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Bova sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Hopper defending well though.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Tony Bova dominated that second round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Bova fails to land the takedown.
Bova fails with a takedown attempt.
Hopper misses with a left hand

and Bova counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Bova.
Bova throwing strikes from guard but Hopper blocks nicely.
Hopper utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Hopper working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Bova.
Hopper takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Bova keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Hopper's head.
Bova working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Bova won't allow Hopper to sweep him here.
Bova postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Bova trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Bova throws a big right hand that misses.
Bova throws a big right hand that misses.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Bova accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Hopper throws a couple of shots from the bottom but they don't land.
Bova prevents Hopper from getting back to his feet.
Bova passes into half guard.
Bova throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Bova scores with a couple of good hammerfists.

Bova is trying to work for a kimura but Hopper is defending well.
Bova winds up and cracks Hopper with a swinging punch to the side of the head.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Bova throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Bova is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Bova works his foot free and advances to mount.
Bova lands a big shot there that rocks Hopper but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Bova pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Bova lands with some strikes.
Hopper is bucking up trying to escape but Bova cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Bova cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Bova unloading with bombs!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Bova cracks Hopper with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
BOOM! Bova connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Bova raining down shots from the mount!
Bova lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Hopper hang on?
A nice elbow there by Bova.
Bova punishing his opponent with strikes.
The referee warns Hopper that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Bova raining down shots from the mount!
Bova scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Hopper?
Bova postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Hopper looks a forlorn figure.
Klem Hopper has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Bova working away from the top, dropping strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Bova postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Hopper looks a forlorn figure.
Bova landing strikes from the mount.
Bova pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Hopper is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Bova landing strikes from the mount.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Hopper tries to lock up and control but Bova gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Bova landing strikes, looking to finish!
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Bova working the ground and pound effectively.
Bova is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Hopper can't stay in a position like this for much longer.

And that's the end of the fight!
Tony Bova showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Bova, 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 Paul Tew scores the fight 30:26
Judge William Gold scores the fight 30:26
Judge Daniel Bishop scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Tony Bova!