PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Paul Mullen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Dan Hardly (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Hardly has chosen I made it as his entrance music. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Mullen
vs
Hardly

178 cm
21
162 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

177 cm
19
170 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Basic striking
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Paul Mullen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Dan Hardly !
The judges for this bout are Russell Pearce, Lou da Vinci and Dean Styles.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Mullen clobbers Hardly with an overhand right that has the crowd gasping. That made a horrendous noise.
Hardly fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Mullen misses with a body shot.
Mullen cracks Hardly with a good jab.
Hardly looks to clinch
and Mullen counters with a nice body shot.
Mullen ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Hardly moves away.
Hardly just misses with a punch to the body.
Hardly fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Mullen looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.
Mullen lands a jab. Then a cross. Then finally a nice hook to the body. Good work there by Mullen.
Hardly is looking to land body kicks.
Mullen feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Hardly s jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Mullen avoids a punch combination nicely.
Mullen circles away from the clinch attempt.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Mullen throws a right and a left that Hardly avoids nicely.
Mullen throws a leg kick but Hardly moved away.
Mullen bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Hardly 's head.
Hardly looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Mullen is fending him off so far but Hardly persists. Nope, Mullen circles away and we're back to standing.
Paul Mullen has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Dan Hardly .

Hardly shoots in looking for a single leg takedown. Mullen is trying to defend but Hardly finishes it well and ends up in half guard. Let's see if he can advance position further.
Hardly not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Hardly is trying to control. Mullen wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Mullen trying to control from the bottom.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Mullen wants to get back to his feet.
Mullen blocking the ground and pound attempt from Hardly .

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Hardly looking to land some kicks to the body here.
Hardly just misses with a punch to the body.
Hardly shoots in looking for a takedown but Mullen manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Hardly 's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Mullen scores with a nice right hand.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Mullen misses with the combination.
Hardly avoids a punch combination nicely.
Mullen dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Hardly looks gassed!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hardly wants to clinch but Mullen slips to the side
letting Mullen counter with a right hand.
Mullen slaps away a takedown attempt from Hardly , before circling back to the center of the mat.
Mullen scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Mullen misses with a wild combination.
Hardly fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Mullen avoids it really well and circles away.
Mullen looks to land a combination. Hardly sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.
Mullen rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Hardly moves out of range and avoids them all easily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Mullen's corner calls for a 1, 2 combination and Mullen duly obliges.
Mullen misses with a jab, cross combination.
Mullen keeps the fight on the outside.
Mullen lands a jab.
Hardly shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Mullen fakes a head punch and goes low to the body. Nicely done.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Mullen punishes Hardly 's body with a nice straight punch.

Mullen closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Mullen is trying to control. Hardly wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Hardly trying to hold on to Mullen's head to control him but Mullen postures up.
Mullen trying to pass the guard but Hardly defending well.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Paul Mullen dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Mullen tries to bum rush Hardly with a series of wild strikes but Hardly uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Nice sprawl there from Mullen as Hardly shoots in.
Mullen fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Mullen will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Hardly throws a sloppy head kick and Mullen moves out of range easily.
Hardly fails with a takedown attempt.
Mullen swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Hardly .
Hardly tries to shoot in for a takedown. He's got hold of a leg but Mullen swivels and escapes.
Paul Mullen has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Dan Hardly .
Hardly is breathing heavily.
Mullen misses with a few strikes there.
Hardly shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Mullen pinned against the cage. Mullen gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nice straight punches there by Mullen. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Mullen.
Hardly fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Mullen avoids it really well and circles away.
Hardly has a takedown stuffed.
Paul Mullen is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
The fighters are starting to get sweaty, which will make takedowns a bit more tricky.
Mullen throws a front kick aimed at Hardly 's knee but Hardly avoids it well.
Mullen misses with a jab, cross combination.
Mullen throws a two punch combo that lands nicely.
Mullen throws a nice looking combination but Hardly bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Hardly scores with a takedown into Mullen's guard.
Hardly working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Hardly throws an elbow that misses. Mullen uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Hardly 's guard. Nice move by Mullen!
Mullen stopping the sweep attempt from Hardly .
Mullen landing some decent shots from guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mullen looking to pass the guard.
Mullen has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Hardly wants to stand but Mullen is controlling the position.
Hardly has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Mullen postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.

Mullen stands up from Hardly 's guard - Mullen perhaps looking for a knockout.
Hardly takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Mullen lands a jab-cross combination.
Mullen misses with a series of wild punches.
Mullen jabs at Hardly 's body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Mullen closes the distance and after a bit of a stuggle, scores a takedown into Hardly 's guard.
Mullen working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Hardly 's head.

Hardly working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Mullen doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Mullen manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Hardly is looking for a triangle but Mullen pushes his legs off easily.
Mullen trying to control the position from guard on top but Hardly is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Hardly is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Hardly wants to sweep but no luck.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Paul Mullen dominated that second round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Mullen shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Hardly eats them both and turns towards Mullen to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Hardly is trying hard to land a takedown here. Mullen sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
Paul Mullen is winning the standup battle so far.
Hardly dodges the punch combination from Mullen.
A combination from Mullen does no damage.
Mullen goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Hardly .
Hardly throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Mullen's waist but Mullen gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Hardly off to one side.
Paul Mullen has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Dan Hardly .
Mullen misses with a series of wild punches.
Mullen fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Mullen avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Mullen throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Mullen misses with a wild body shot.
Hardly shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Mullen but Mullen pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Mullen misses with a double jab.
Mullen circles away from the clinch attempt.
Hardly takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Mullen swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
A nice combination there by Mullen.
Hardly tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Mullen was well out of range. Poor timing from Hardly .
Mullen throws a wild combination but nothing lands.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hardly shoots in for a takedown but Mullen shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Hardly looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Mullen is fending him off so far but Hardly persists. Nope, Mullen circles away and we're back to standing.
Mullen shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Hardly eats them both and turns towards Mullen to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Mullen's corner calls for a 1-2. Mullen obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.
Mullen scores with a big left there. The judges will like that one.
Hardly tries to shoot in for a takedown. He's got hold of a leg but Mullen swivels and escapes.
Hardly shoots in for a double leg but Mullen sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Mullen throws a series of strikes that have Hardly backpedaling.
Hardly on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Mullen rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Hardly moves out of range and avoids them all easily.

Hardly scores with a takedown into Mullen's guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mullen pulls Hardly in close to his closed guard and prevents Hardly from doing any damage or advancing position.
Hardly throws a strike but Mullen rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.
Hardly is trying to keep Mullen in close.
Paul Mullen is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Mullen stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Hardly swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Mullen passes Hardly 's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Hardly is staying active underneath Mullen, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Hardly is looking for a sweep. Mullen is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Hardly slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Mullen engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Mullen stands up and waves to Hardly to follow him.

And that's the end of the fight!
Paul Mullen showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Mullen has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Russell Pearce scores the fight 30:27
Judge Lou da Vinci scores the fight 30:27
Judge Dean Styles scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Paul Mullen!