PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Ben Barnham (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rusty James (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Man, I cannot wait for this one!

Barnham
vs
James

196 cm
26
216 lbs
9 - 10 - 0

185 cm
29
210 lbs
16 - 5 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
Powerful

Hell's Balls Recovery (160)

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 10 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Ben Barnham!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 16 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Rusty James!
The judges for this bout are Eliza Hachem, Skip Squint and John Mangel.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Barnham goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
James dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Barnham. That did some damage!
Barnham walks into a straight right hand from James.
Barnham slips a jab from James.
James jabs Barnham to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Barnham fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.
Ben Barnham seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
This has been an exciting period of action!
A swing and a miss from James.
Nice uppercut there from Barnham.
James throws a low kick, looking for Barnham's leg but Barnham calmly moves out of range.
James throws a shot from downtown. Barnham moves away and avoids it.
Barnham cracks James with a good jab.

It looks like Rusty James has been cut.
No joy there for Barnham, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
James checks a leg kick.
Barnham blocks a jab.
James keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Barnham.
Barnham is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
James misses with a hook
and Barnham makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A swing and a miss from Barnham.
Barnham swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.

Barnham clinches.

James pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
James tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Barnham fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and James has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
James missing with a left hand there. Barnham was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Barnham fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Barnham connects with an inside leg kick.
Barnham ducks under a wild hook from James.
Barnham throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
James misses with a low kick.
Barnham takes a big uppercut there. He seems a bit wobbly but no, he's OK.
James swings and misses with a hook to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Barnham forces James back against the cage and clinches.
Barnham can't find room to land a body shot as James controls the action.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

James's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
A left and a right from Barnham both land. Nice combination.
Barnham tests James's chin there with a solid looking shot.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Barnham.
Barnham is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt James will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.
James is trying to buck Barnham off.
James tries to bench press Barnham off him but Barnham keeps the position.
James is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Barnham tries to score with some ground and pound. James controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Barnham has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Barnham scoring with punches from side control.
James managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Barnham.
A control attempt from James but he's now mounted!
Barnham controlling from the full mount.
James tries to hold on but Barnham pushes him away.
Barnham postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. James looks a forlorn figure.
Barnham with good strikes from the mount here!
James tries to hold on but Barnham pushes him away.
Barnham scores with a couple of good head shots there.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Barnham with a couple of short strikes.
Barnham lands a big shot there that rocks James but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.

James is rocked!
Barnham looking to finish here with some ground and pound. He lands one big shot that has James covering up... and two more big strikes land, forcing the referee to step in and put and end to proceedings! This fight is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:27 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Ben Barnham!
Ben Barnham took to the microphone after his victory and thanked his sponsors, CEC Nutrition Q159 (*$75*) for their support in the buildup to the fight.