PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Casey Ryback (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Kinfe Kidane (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Kidane has chosen Buraka Som Sistema - Kalemba (wegue wegue) as his entrance music. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Ryback
vs
Kidane

195 cm
26
280 lbs
7 - 4 - 0

196 cm
23
261 lbs
7 - 1 - 0

Powerful takedowns
Good kicks
Granite chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 7 - 4 - 0, fighting out of London, Casey Ryback!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Kinfe Kidane!
The judges for this bout are James Glass, Paul Tew and Chris Edwards.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Ryback misses with a lunging right hand
letting Kidane counter with a right hand.
Kidane dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Ryback. That did some damage!
Kidane throws out a powerful jab.
An inside leg kick from Ryback misses.
Kidane tests Ryback's chin there with a solid looking shot.
A lazy left from Kidane finds it's target.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Kidane connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Casey Ryback seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Kidane lands with a nice low kick. That'll leave a bruise.
Kidane uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.
Ryback throws a leg kick
and Kidane counters with a slapping leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ryback lands a lovely overhand right.
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as Kidane checks a leg kick.
Ryback ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Kidane moves away.
Ryback throws a leg kick that misses.
Kidane thuds a left hand into Ryback's body.
Ryback throws a right hand that misses
and Kidane counters with a low kick, right behind Ryback 's knee.
Ryback is breathing heavily.
Kidane scoring well with a low kick there.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Kidane swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Ryback tries to work over Kidane's front leg with a kick but Kidane checks it.
Ryback lands with a thumping leg kick.
Ryback misses the shot to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A chopping leg kick lands by Kidane.
Kidane goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.

It looks like Casey Ryback has been cut.
Ryback thows a body shot but no joy.
Kidane connects with a right hand. Ryback shakes it off.
Kidane avoids the body shot from Ryback.
Ryback throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Ryback on the receiving end of a decent leg kick there by Kidane. Kidane obviously looking to wear him down.
Ryback avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Kidane misses with a leg kick.
Kidane misses with a hook.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Kidane throws a right and a left that Ryback avoids nicely.
Ryback misses the jab.
Kidane swings for the body but Ryback moves out of range.
Kidane ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Ryback moves away.
Kidane scores with a slapping inside leg kick.
Ryback throws an ugly left hook that misses
and Kidane counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
A jab lands there for Kidane.
Kidane fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Kidane paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button.
Ryback throws a low kick but Kidane moves out of range easily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Ryback throws an off balance right hand
and Kidane counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
A swing and a miss from Ryback.
Kidane checks a leg kick.
Ryback takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Ryback closes this distance looking for a takedown but Kidane circles away.
Ryback's corner calls for a 1-2. Ryback obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.
Ryback slips a straight right by Kidane.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Danga de danga de dang - Kidane scores with a four punch combination!
Kidane misses with a wild body shot.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Kinfe Kidane dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Casey Ryback's cut.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Kidane moves away from the strike by Ryback.
This entire fight has taken place on the feet so far and you wonder whether Ryback might be better served trying to take this one to the ground because he's losing the standup battle so far.
Ryback throws out a loose jab but Kidane uses good head movement to avoid it.
Kidane has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Kidane uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Ryback.
Kinfe Kidane seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Ryback misses the shot to the body.
Good exchange - Kidane coming out on top.

Ryback looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.
Ryback not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Ryback wants to pass the guard but Kidane is defending well.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Ryback throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kidane tries to get to full guard but Ryback has control of the leg.
Ryback thows a huge punch but Kidane dodges it nicely.
Kidane wants to control but Ryback is keeping busy.
Kidane avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Ryback.
Ryback thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Kidane's head.
Ryback wants to lay and pray for a moment but Kidane keeps working.
Ryback is pressing down on Kidane's thigh, looking to free his foot. Kidane is holding on for now.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Ryback is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Kidane has managed to free his arm - good work.
Ryback is pressing down on Kidane's thigh, looking to free his foot. Kidane is holding on for now.
Kidane trying to control from the bottom.
Kidane is not content to let Ryback control the position.

Ryback seems to be working for a kimura but Kidane defends the submission attempt.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ryback is stalling here. Kidane is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Ryback seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Kidane has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Kidane wants to lay and pray for a moment but Ryback keeps working.
Ryback struggling a bit here.
Ryback 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.
Kidane taking a breather here.
Ryback gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Ryback is trying to control but can't.
Ryback wants to improve his position but Kidane is controlling well.
Kidane wants to lay and pray for a moment but Ryback keeps working.
Ryback trying to control but Kidane postures up.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Kidane tries to pass the half guard into mount. Ryback knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Ryback has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Kidane is working away from the top position though.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Casey Ryback dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Casey Ryback's cut.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

Kidane looks to score with a jab to the body but Ryback is just out of range.
A decent looking cross lands there for Kidane.
Kidane lands a nice hook to Ryback's body. Ryback takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Ryback throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Ryback is hobbling a little on that front leg after taking quite a few leg kicks so far in this fight.
Ryback misses with a straight right.
Kidane swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Ryback shoots in looking for a takedown but Kidane manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Ryback's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Kidane connects with a single shot there.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Kidane is looking to score with low kicks.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kidane throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Ryback misses the shot to the body.
Ryback is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Kidane.
Ryback scores with a punch to the gut of his opponent.
Some bone on bone action there as Kidane checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Ryback misses with a low kick as Kidane jumps back.
Kinfe Kidane is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Kidane thows a body shot but no joy.
Kidane throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Ryback looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Kidane is fending him off so far but Ryback persists. Nope, Kidane circles away and we're back to standing.
Kidane lands with a nice low kick. That'll leave a bruise.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ryback throws a big shot that misses.
Ryback wants to land a leg kick but Kidane is out of range.
Kidane avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Ryback shoots in and drives through. Kidane sprawls well.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Casey Ryback. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Kidane connects with a looping right hand.
Ryback throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Ryback misses with a straight left.
Ryback throws a lazy uppercut
and Kidane counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Kidane cracks a nice hook into Ryback's ribs.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Kidane moves forwards but Ryback connects with a nice, crisp jab.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Kidane defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Ryback.
Ryback misses with an uppercut
and Kidane makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Ryback dodges the punch combination from Kidane.
Kidane checks a leg kick.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Kidane.
Ryback shoots for a takedown but Kidane saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Kidane moves into range and lands a nice leg kick.
Ryback looks shocked there as he takes a right hand to the temple.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
A slapping leg kick lands for Kidane.
Kidane scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Kidane scores with a nice looking left hook and follows it up with an uppercut!
Kidane fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Kidane, right into the meat.
Kidane changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by Kidane.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Kidane lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.
Kidane smiles there as he lands a nice right hand right on the button.

And that's the end of the fight!
Kinfe Kidane comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Kidane has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 James Glass scores the fight 28:29
Judge Paul Tew scores the fight 28:29
Judge Chris Edwards scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Kinfe Kidane!
Kinfe Kidane decided to go for the less than humble approach in his post fight interview, telling everyone how he is going to conquer the world. The crowd seemed to like it when really that sort of approach could have gone either way.