PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Thomas Billington (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nino Blaze (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Billington comes to the cage accompanied by The Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen. Blaze has chosen Pendulum - Slam as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Billington
vs
Blaze

190 cm
34
234 lbs
33 - 17 - 2

190 cm
33
214 lbs
31 - 11 - 0

Great wrestler
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class MT
Granite chin

Reaper Combatwear

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 33 - 17 - 2, fighting out of Hilo, Thomas Billington!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 31 - 11 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Nino Blaze!
The judges for this bout are , Jack Bonds and Frank Antenori.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Billington will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.
Billington swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Blaze.
Blaze lands a glancing blow to the side of Billington's head.
Blaze works over Billington's head and body with a nice combination.

It looks like Thomas Billington has been cut.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Billington looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
Blaze takes a swing at Billington's ribcage but misses.
Blaze misses with an uppercut

and Billington counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Blaze scrambles, trying to get to his feet, but Billington manages to mount him!
Blaze regains half guard.
Billington throwing shots but Blaze is blocking nicely.
Billington performing his best blanket impression for a moment.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Blaze is refusing to be controlled, as Billington sits in half guard.
Billington passes to full mount!
Blaze tries to hold on but Billington pushes him away.
Billington throws some wild stikes that Blaze manages to avoid easily.
Billington fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Billington 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.
Billington lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
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!
Billington putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Blaze is in all sorts of trouble here.
Billington raining down shots from the mount!
Billington trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Blaze tries to hold on but Billington pushes him away.
Billington controlling the pace for now.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Billington unloading with bombs!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Billington scoring with strikes but Blaze is staying in there.
Billington prevents Blaze from getting the reversal.
Blaze in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Blaze is squirming around, avoiding Billington's attempts to control the action.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Billington is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Blaze can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Blaze is in all sorts of trouble here.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Blaze takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
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!
Billington is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Blaze can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Billington raining down shots from the mount!
Billington lands a big shot there that rocks Blaze but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Billington controlling his opponent.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Blaze keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thomas Billington dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Thomas Billington's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Blaze swings wildly with a couple of big hooks

and Billington counters with a nice double leg into guard.
Billington postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Billington trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Billington preventing the sweep.
Billington throwing strikes from guard but Blaze blocks nicely.
Blaze is looking to stand up but Billington isn't so interested in that idea.
Billington controls from within his opponent's guard.
Billington trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Billington slips nicely into half guard.
Billington seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Blaze does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Blaze wants to improve his position but Billington is controlling well.
Billington thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Billington is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Blaze can do to turn this around?
Billington working Blaze over with strikes.
Blaze tries to kick Billington off in order to stand up. Billington Avoids the leg push though and dives into side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Billington fails to land a wild elbow strike.
Billington throwing strikes but missing, from side control.
Sloppy strikes there by Billington.
Blaze dodges the ground and pound from Billington.
Blaze tries to escape but Billington is in control.
Billington throws a knee to the body but it doesn't do much damage.
Blaze is looking for a sweep.
You can see the frustration on Blaze's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Blaze is trying to get back to half guard. He's pushing on Billington's leg. He's managed it. Nice work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Blaze wants to get back to full guard.
Blaze is looking to control Billington's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Blaze avoid being mounted?
Billington controlling the pace.
Blaze regains full guard. Nicely done.
Billington trying to control but Blaze is working from the bottom.
Blaze preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Billington with a nice head shot there.
Blaze keeping moving, preventing Billington from controlling successfully.
Thomas Billington overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Blaze working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Billington.
Billington with a flurry of punches that miss.
Blaze avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Blaze lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Billington!
Billington tries to hold on but Blaze pushes him away.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thomas Billington dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Thomas Billington's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Blaze misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Nice body punch from Billington.
Blaze connects with a leg kick. Billington looked like he was expecting something else and didn't defend it.
Billington takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Billington looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Blaze is looking to slow Billington down with leg kicks.
Billington throws a solid leg kick but Blaze takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Billington.
Billington misses with a looping right.
Billington fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Blaze avoids it really well and circles away.
A good leg kick by Blaze.
Billington uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Blaze.
Blaze misses with a body shot.
Billington chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Blaze can pounce on him.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Billington takes one on the chin but seems OK.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Billington misses with a hook.
Blaze stuffs the takedown attempt from Billington. Billington gets slowly back to his feet.
Billington misses with a hook
and Blaze counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Billington blocks a leg kick.
Blaze misses the shot to the body.
Blaze misses with a body kick.
Billington avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Blaze connects with a solid leg kick.
Billington misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Blaze.
Blaze blocks a jab.
Billington feints and then cracks Blaze's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Blaze down.
Billington chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Blaze can pounce on him.
Billington misses with a takedown attempt - Blaze sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Thomas Billington. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Billington throws a predictable looking body shot
and Blaze counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Nino Blaze has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A cross from Blaze lands.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Billington takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
Billington bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Nino Blaze seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Blaze feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Billington's calf.
Billington uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Blaze.
Billington lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Blaze at a distance.
Blaze takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Blaze will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.

Billington darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Billington prevents Blaze from improving his position.
Blaze takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Billington seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Blaze does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Billington wants to pass to mount but Blaze is defending the position.
Blaze avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Billington.
Billington throwing shots but Blaze is blocking nicely.
Blaze makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Blaze.
Billington trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Blaze keeping moving, preventing Billington from controlling successfully.
Blaze wants to stand and escape but Billington is having none of it.
Billington is in close to Blaze's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Blaze is trying to keep Billington in close.
Billington landing with the ground and pound.
Thomas Billington is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Billington trying to control the position from guard on top but Blaze is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Nino Blaze.
I think Billington has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Percy O'Donnell scores the fight 29:28
Judge Jack Bonds scores the fight 29:28
Judge Frank Antenori scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Thomas Billington!
A victorious Thomas Billington thanked his army of followers in his post fight interview, telling people to make sure they follow him on Twitter.