PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Stephen Anthony (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mirko Filipovic (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Filipovic has chosen wild boyz as his entrance music. Stephen Anthony has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Anthony
vs
Filipovic

196 cm
31
273 lbs
9 - 6 - 0

188 cm
26
244 lbs
5 - 0 - 0

Powerful takedowns
Basic striking
Insanely flexible

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the heavyweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 6 - 0, fighting out of London, Stephen Anthony!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Mirko Filipovic!
The judges for this bout are Saam Ante, Aafke Stam and Paulsen Ambrosius.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Anthony fails to land the takedown.
Filipovic slaps away a takedown attempt from Anthony, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Filipovic displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Anthony.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Stephen Anthony. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Filipovic tries to clinch but Anthony is having none of it.
Anthony fails with a takedown attempt from distance.

Anthony looking for a takedown here - he's got it.
Filipovic is trying to keep Anthony in close.
Anthony throws a big right hand that misses.
Anthony throws a big elbow that misses.
Anthony working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Anthony throwing strikes but missing.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
Anthony chips away with some ground and pound.
Anthony 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.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Anthony scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Anthony lands a couple of digs.
Anthony trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Anthony connects with a couple of short punches.
Anthony content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Filipovic preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Anthony postures up in Filipovic's guard and throws a big left but Filipovic blocks it.
Filipovic working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Anthony.
Filipovic wants to stand and escape but Anthony is having none of it.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Anthony with a flurry of punches that miss.
Anthony is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Filipovic really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Anthony. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Anthony postures up and lands a big shot to Filipovic's brow.
Anthony postures up.
Anthony connects with a couple of short punches.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Anthony with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Anthony distracts Filipovic with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Anthony stands up over Filipovic, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Filipovic should think about turning a few of those tyres round his middle into muscle if he wants people to take him seriously as an athlete.
Filipovic can't keep his opponent in guard - Anthony advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Filipovic looks winded!
Anthony is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Nice strikes from Anthony there.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Anthony is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.

Anthony is trying to work for a kimura but Filipovic is defending well.
Anthony looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Filipovic with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

Filipovic is rocked!
Anthony slips a nice elbow through Filipovic's hands, connecting with Filipovic's forehead.
Filipovic has hold of Anthony's hands but Anthony slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Filipovic is still in real trouble! Can Anthony finish him?

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Anthony takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Anthony lands a big elbow - Filipovic is out of it! He's waving his arms around but his eyes are closed and he's not intelligently defending himself - the ref has no choice but to jump in and stop the fight! This one is in the books! A TKO win for Anthony!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:23 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Stephen Anthony!
Stephen Anthony retains his heavyweight title!