PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Joe Pring (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Neal Stephenson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Pring
vs
Stephenson

188 cm
26
190 lbs
4 - 1 - 0

182 cm
27
187 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

Good wrestling
Dangerous knees
Cardio machine

Decent wrestler
Lethal high kicks
Powerful

Zentrope Fighting Universe

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 4 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Joe Pring!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of London, Neal Stephenson!
The judges for this bout are Chris Edwards, James Ackerman and Richard Clark.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pring tries to check the leg kick but that clearly hurt him.

Pring instigates a clinch.
Stephenson is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Pring with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Pring tries to land a knee to the head but Stephenson blocks with his arms.

Stephenson's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Stephenson throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Pring is looking to clinch.
Stephenson will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.
Pring tries to clinch up.
Stephenson misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Pring wants to clinch but Stephenson slips to the side
and Stephenson counters with an inside leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pring tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Pring tries to clinch
and Stephenson counters with a flying knee. Nice.
Pring avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Pring tries to clinch up
and Stephenson makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Pring wants to clinch but Stephenson slips to the side
and Stephenson counters with a good low kick that Pring was not able to check.
Stephenson wants to slow Pring down by chopping away at his legs.
A nice inside leg kick there by Stephenson. That's going to slow Pring down.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Pring blocks the body kick.
Stephenson throws a leg kick but Pring sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Pring fails in his attempt to clinch.
Pring throws a hook but Stephenson avoids it easily.
Stephenson throws a chopping leg kick but Pring manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Stephenson throws a low kick but it's checked well by Pring.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Pring moves to clinch but Stephenson breaks away
and Stephenson counters with a good low kick that Pring was not able to check.
Stephenson throws a nice outside leg kick.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pring takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Stephenson cracks the inside of Pring's front leg.
The fight stays on the outside here - Pring looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Stephenson misses with a low kick as Pring jumps back.
Pring takes a head kick and keeps coming.

It looks like Joe Pring has been cut.
Stephenson throws a head kick that misses.
Stephenson tries a head kick but it misses.
Pring is hobbling a little on that front leg after taking quite a few leg kicks so far in this fight.
Pring tries to clinch there but Stephenson circles away.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Stephenson throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Pring takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Neal Stephenson seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Pring throws a right and a left that Stephenson avoids nicely.
Stephenson throws a low kick, looking for Pring's leg but Pring calmly moves out of range.
Stephenson keeps the fight on the outside.
Stephenson lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Pring rushes Stephenson and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
The fighters are pressed against the cage, as the pace of the fight slows.
Pring misses with a knee strike.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Neal Stephenson dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Joe Pring's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Stephenson connects with a leg kick. Pring looked like he was expecting something else and didn't defend it.
Stephenson attempts a leg kick but it's missed by a good margin.
Stephenson throws a low kick but Pring avoids it.
Pring tries to clinch but Stephenson moves out of range.
Pring checks a leg kick nicely.
Pring looks to land a left hand but Stephenson moved out of range nicely.
Stephenson pivots, looking for a leg kick but Pring is out of range and Stephenson settles back down.
Stephenson connects with a high kick.
Pring blocks a leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pring tries to close the distance and clinch but Stephenson swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Stephenson throws a leg kick but he was too far away and it doesn't land.
Pring fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Stephenson manages to avoid it.
Stephenson circles away from the clinch attempt.
Stephenson is looking to chop away at Pring's legs.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Pring obliges.
Stephenson looking to slow down the pace here.
Stephenson stalling in the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Stephenson wants to stall.
Pring missing with knees to the body.
Stephenson being controlled against the cage.
Stephenson blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Pring misses with a knee to the head.
Pring stalling.
Stephenson is stalling here.
The crowd are getting on Stephenson's back here. They're not happy about his lack of aggression in the clinch.
Stephenson is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Stephenson stalling.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pring tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
The ref breaks the fighters up, due to lack of action by Neal Stephenson.
Stephenson misses with a head kick.
Stephenson uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Pring.
Pring fails with an attempt to clinch.
Stephenson throws a nice inside leg kick.
Stephenson throws a low kick but it's checked well by Pring.
Pring fails in his attempt to clinch.
Pring misses with a body shot.
Pring checks a low kick. Bone on bone - not my idea of a good time.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Pring tries to clinch there but Stephenson circles away.
Pring tries to clinch up but Stephenson circles away and keeps his distance.
Stephenson swats away the attempt to clinch by Pring.
Stephenson misses with a low kick as Pring jumps back.
Stephenson is looking to slow Pring down with leg kicks.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Stephenson tries a head kick but it misses.
Stephenson fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Neal Stephenson showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The cut man is working on Joe Pring's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Pring throws the left hand but Stephenson avoids the punch easily.
Stephenson tries a head kick but it misses.

Pring clinches up against the cage.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Pring obliges.
Pring leaning against his opponent.
Pring misses with a knee strike.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Pring as Stephenson tries to tie him up.
Pring misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Stephenson.
Stephenson stalling in the clinch but Pring improves position.
Pring with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Stephenson blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

Stephenson breaks the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Stephenson with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
Stephenson throws a body kick that sends a sickening thudding noise reverberating around the arena.
Pring throws a jab when Stephenson was well out of range.
Stephenson throws a body kick that misses.
Stephenson is looking to score with low kicks.
Pring fails with an attempt to clinch.
Stephenson pivots, looking for a leg kick but Pring is out of range and Stephenson settles back down.
Pring swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Neal Stephenson seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Stephenson looks for the body kick but Pring saw that one coming.
Joe Pring has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Pring checks a leg kick nicely.
Stephenson uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Pring.
Stephenson motions for Pring to come forward. Stephenson throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Stephenson scores with a spinning back kick!
Some bone on bone action there as Pring checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Pring wants to clinch up but Stephenson keeps it at a distance.
Pring checks a leg kick.
Stephenson throws a head kick that misses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
An inside leg kick from Stephenson misses.
Stephenson throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Stephenson circles away from the clinch attempt
and Stephenson counters with a thumping low kick.
Neal Stephenson is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.
Pring blocks a head kick by Stephenson.
Pring takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Stephenson thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Pring if he has to take too many more of those.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Stephenson connects with an inside leg kick.
A nice leg kick lands there from Stephenson.
Pring checks a low kick. Bone on bone - not my idea of a good time.
Stephenson throws a low kick but Pring avoids it.
Pring tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Stephenson misses with a head kick.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Pring moves in looking to clinch but Stephenson pushes him off.
Pring misses with a body shot.

And that's the end of the fight!
Neal Stephenson comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Stephenson winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Chris Edwards scores the fight 27:30
Judge James Ackerman scores the fight 27:30
Judge Richard Clark scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Neal Stephenson!