PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Bruce Raffinski (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Angel Rivera (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Raffinski
vs
Rivera

183 cm
25
180 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

188 cm
28
179 lbs
12 - 25 - 1

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
KO power

BJJ White Belt
Decent boxing
Granite chin

Hell's Balls Recovery (160)

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, Bruce Raffinski!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 12 - 25 - 1, fighting out of New York, Angel Rivera!
The judges for this bout are John Roberts, Chad Campbell and Steve Montenegro.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Rivera is looking to clinch.
Rivera tries to check the leg kick but that clearly hurt him.
Raffinski throws a head kick that looked like it stung.
Rivera tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
A head kick misses from Raffinski.
Rivera throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Rivera tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Rivera doesn't manage to clinch there - Raffinski circles away.
Nice body kick from Raffinski.
Raffinski lands a nice leg kick that just misses Rivera's sensitive parts.
Raffinski lands with a thumping leg kick.
Rivera tries to close the distance and clinch but Raffinski swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Rivera moves in looking to clinch but Raffinski pushes him off.
Rivera throws a hook but Raffinski blocks it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raffinski plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
Raffinski with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
Raffinski circles away from the clinch attempt
and Raffinski counters with a thumping low kick.
Raffinski lands a head kick. Rivera smiles back at him and beckons him forward.
Rivera ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Raffinski moves away.
Raffinski scores with a leg kick.
Rivera blocks a head kick by Raffinski.
Rivera takes a push kick to the midsection and stumbles backwards.
Raffinski lands a high kick!

It looks like Angel Rivera has been cut.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Rivera tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Raffinski paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Rivera takes a kick to the side of the head.
Rivera tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Raffinski counters with a slapping leg kick.
Raffinski buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Angel Rivera seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Raffinski scores with a push kick.
Rivera looks to score with a jab to the body but Raffinski is just out of range.
Raffinski looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
Raffinski goes for a high kick. It partially lands.
Rivera tries to clinch up
and Raffinski counters with a big head kick but Rivera shrugs it off.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rivera tries to clinch
and Raffinski counters with a nice leg kick.
Rivera looks to land a combination but Raffinski avoids it well.
Raffinski throws a quick head kick that skims the top of Rivera's head.
A head kick from Raffinski lands but Rivera takes it in his stride.
Rivera tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Good leg kick by Raffinski there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
Raffinski lands with a slapping head kick.
A nice inside leg kick there by Raffinski. That's going to slow Rivera down.
Raffinski thumps Rivera with a low kick.
Raffinski fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Rivera has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Raffinski lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rivera sees a low kick coming and goes to check it, but it's actually a body kick and it thuds into his unprotected ribs.
Raffinski circles away from the clinch attempt.
Raffinski slips a jab and a cross from Rivera.
Thud! ouch! good body kick from Raffinski - that will leave a mark!
Raffinski throws a leg kick which misses Rivera's front leg but catches the back leg as Rivera tries to avoid it.
Raffinski lands a head kick!
Nice straight punches there by Rivera. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Rivera.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
The fight stays on the outside here - Rivera looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Crunch! Raffinski slams his shin into Rivera's torso.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Bruce Raffinski dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Angel Rivera's cut.
That's time! Raffinski's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Raffinski thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Rivera if he has to take too many more of those.
Raffinski fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
Rivera throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Raffinski.
Rivera takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
A nice leg kick lands there from Raffinski.
We are yet to see a takedown attempt from Rivera in the fight. On paper you would think he is the more dominant ground fighter so let's see if these unusual tactics pay off.
Raffinski thuds his shin into the meat of Rivera's side.
Rivera tries to clinch there but Raffinski circles away.
Raffinski chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Raffinski scores with a head kick.
Bruce Raffinski is winning the standup battle so far.
Rivera throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
A good leg kick by Raffinski.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Raffinski delivers a nice body kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raffinski lands with a slapping head kick.
Rivera stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Raffinski.
Raffinski lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.
Raffinski dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Rivera. That did some damage!
Angel Rivera is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Rivera on the receiving end of a decent leg kick there by Raffinski. Raffinski obviously looking to wear him down.
Raffinski chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Rivera throws a series of punches but Raffinski moves out of range.
Raffinski connects with an inside leg kick.
Rivera has developed a nice purple lump on his ribcage, as a result of some heavy body kicks from Raffinski.
Rivera is breathing heavily.
Rivera wants to clinch but Raffinski slips to the side
and Raffinski counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.
Raffinski cracks the inside of Rivera's front leg.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Raffinski keeps the fight on the outside.
Raffinski throws a quick head kick that skims the top of Rivera's head.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Rivera darts in trying to clinch
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.
Raffinski scores with a head kick. Rivera tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.
Raffinski connects with a leg kick. Rivera looked like he was expecting something else and didn't defend it.
Rivera throws a right and a left that both miss.
Raffinski thumps Rivera with a low kick.
Rivera misses with a wild combination.
Rivera's leg has a nasty welt from taking a succession of leg kicks. That must be slowing him down.
Rivera tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Raffinski paws at him with a jab and circles away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A nice inside leg kick there by Raffinski. That's going to slow Rivera down.
Rivera takes a push kick to the midsection and stumbles backwards.
Raffinski throws a head kick that connects with a bit of head and a bit of hand.
Rivera fails to land with a series of punches.
Raffinski thows a body kick. Rivera tries to catch it but that hurt him.
Raffinski turns his hip over beautifully as he lands a nice leg kick.
Raffinski is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Rivera can do to turn this around?
Rivera tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Raffinski counters with a nice low kick that buckles Rivera's knee momentarily.
Raffinski throws a nice head kick!
Crunch! Raffinski slams his shin into Rivera's torso.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raffinski moves into range and lands a nice leg kick.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Raffinski with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Raffinski.
Raffinski keeps the fight on the outside.
Raffinski moves into range and lands a nice leg kick.
Rivera tries to clinch but Raffinski moves away
and Raffinski counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.
Rivera on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Raffinski goes for a high kick. It partially lands.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Raffinski lands with a kick to the temple. Rivera shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
Raffinski connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Rivera wants to clinch up but Raffinski keeps it at a distance.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Bruce Raffinski dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Angel Rivera's cut.
That's time! Raffinski's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight. Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Raffinski scores with a kick to the midsection.
Raffinski lands a head kick. Rivera smiles back at him and beckons him forward.
Raffinski connects with a leg kick. Rivera looked like he was expecting something else and didn't defend it.
Raffinski connects with an inside leg kick.
Raffinski dodges the punch combination from Rivera.
Raffinski dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Rivera. That did some damage!
Rivera avoids the head kick by Raffinski.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Raffinski.
Raffinski throws a nice outside leg kick.
Raffinski lands with a nice body kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raffinski connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Raffinski slips a jab and a cross from Rivera.
Raffinski throws a head kick that misses.
Rivera misses with a double jab.
Rivera takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Raffinski throws a head kick that looked like it stung.
Raffinski throws a head kick that Rivera semi-blocks.
Raffinski lands with a head kick! That's gotta hurt.
Rivera on the receiving end of a decent leg kick there by Raffinski. Raffinski obviously looking to wear him down.
Rivera tries to clinch there but Raffinski circles away.
Good leg kick by Raffinski there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rivera tries to clinch but fails miserably
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.
Rivera is looking to clinch.
Rivera misses with a wild body shot.
Rivera lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Raffinski circles away quickly and effectively.
Raffinski misses with a head kick.
Raffinski keeps the fight on the outside.
Raffinski circles away from the clinch attempt
and Raffinski counters with a good low kick that Rivera was not able to check.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Raffinski lands a high kick!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Raffinski moves forwards but Rivera connects with a nice, crisp jab.
Raffinski connects with a high kick.
Raffinski circles away from the clinch attempt.
Raffinski feints and then cracks Rivera's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Rivera down.
Both these guys seem content to just stand up and trade with eachother but Rivera might want to think about changing up his gameplan a bit because over the course of the fight, Raffinski has got the better of the exchanges.
Raffinski throws a head kick that half lands.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Raffinski throws a head kick that Rivera semi-blocks.
Rivera throws out a loose jab but Raffinski uses good head movement to avoid it.
Rivera tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Rivera throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
A chopping leg kick lands by Raffinski.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raffinski misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Raffinski lands a leg kick that knocks Rivera off balance momentarily.
Raffinski avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Rivera throws a body punch but Raffinski moves out of range.
Raffinski scores with a kick to the body.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Rivera misses with the combination.
Rivera wants to clinch.
Angel Rivera has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Rivera thows a body shot but no joy.

And that's the end of the fight!
Bruce Raffinski showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Raffinski 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 John Roberts scores the fight 30:27
Judge Chad Campbell scores the fight 30:27
Judge Steve Montenegro scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Bruce Raffinski!
Bruce Raffinski really struggled to get his t-shirt on before his hand was raised. Making sure that Hell's Balls Recovery (160) logo gets some air time is pretty tricky when you're all sweaty.