PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Chong Zhu (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Chevy Nguyen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Zhu comes to the cage accompanied by Meet Gazoo. I'm sure you'll be fascinated to know that I was talking to some pointless Z list celebrity before the fight and he thought that Chevy Nguyen was going to win. Let's see if he was right.

Zhu
vs
Nguyen

166 cm
29
146 lbs
16 - 11 - 0

167 cm
37
147 lbs
27 - 17 - 1

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Olympic wrestler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 16 - 11 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Chong Zhu!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 27 - 17 - 1, fighting out of Tokyo, Chevy Nguyen!
The judges for this bout are Ian Loll, William Peck and Elvis Blanc.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Zhu lands a jab.
Zhu throws a leg kick which misses Nguyen's front leg but catches the back leg as Nguyen tries to avoid it.
Zhu lands a jab to the head.

Nguyen scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Zhu has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Nguyen is working away from the top position though.
Zhu is looking for a sweep. Nguyen is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Zhu is trying to control but Nguyen passes into side control!
Zhu tries to bench press Nguyen off him but Nguyen keeps the position.
Zhu can't do much from the bottom here.
Zhu tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Nguyen wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The referee tells the fighters to keep busy.
Zhu wants to control but Nguyen postures up.
Nguyen is looking to take a break and control but Zhu is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Zhu tries to improve position but can't.
Nguyen trying to control the position but Zhu is working away.
Zhu is looking for a sweep.
Zhu is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Nguyen asserts his dominance and retains side control.
Zhu manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Nguyen prevents Zhu from improving his position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Zhu wants to get back to his feet.
Nguyen is trying to control. Zhu wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Zhu misses with a head kick.

Zhu tries to sprawl but Nguyen drives through with a takedown into half guard.
Zhu is looking for a sweep. Nguyen is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
The fighters are battling for position here. Zhu manages to regain full guard. Nice work.

Zhu is looking for a triangle but Nguyen pushes his legs off easily.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Nguyen won't allow Zhu to sweep him here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Zhu controls Nguyen momentarily but Nguyen frees himself.
Zhu looking to control but Nguyen passes into half guard.
Zhu tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Nguyen has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
Zhu wants to control but Nguyen is having none of it.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Nguyen cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Zhu tries to get back to half guard but can't.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Zhu tries to control the position but Nguyen now has his back.
Nguyen controls the action.
Nguyen throwing strikes from the back - he gets a warning from the referee for striking the back of the head but all these shots are hurting Zhu!
Zhu wants to escape the position.

Zhu showing good submission defense here.
I really don't envy Zhu right now.
Zhu wants to control his opponent's hands but Nguyen gets his hands free.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
You can see the frustration on Zhu's face… He knows he is in trouble unless he improves his position sooner rather than later.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Nguyen gets his hands free as Zhu looks to control.
Zhu breaks Nguyen's hooks off and manages to turn into his guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chevy Nguyen dominated that round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Nguyen closes the distance and clinches up with Zhu, looking for a takedown. Nguyen pushes Zhu against the cage but Zhu circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Zhu misses with a body kick.
Nguyen is loading up here, looking for a big counter of his own.
Nguyen misses with a head kick.
Zhu is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Nguyen.
That's a knee to de groin and it's over and out! Nguyen crumples to the ground after an illegal strike from Zhu - the referee stops the clock and Nguyen gets 5 minutes to recover from that one. "I'm sorry" says Zhu. Nguyen manages to get back to his feet and the fight resumes.
Zhu connects with a nice looking jab.
Zhu lands with a good body shot.
A cross from Zhu lands.
Nice straight punches there by Zhu. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Zhu.
Nguyen takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Nguyen avoids the body shot from Zhu.
Zhu misses with a wild body shot.
A nice side step and Nguyen releases a counter shot to the body, but it doesn't find it's home.
Nguyen shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Zhu defends it nicely.
Zhu fires out a quick counter leg kick but Nguyen just manages to avoid it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Zhu misses with an uppercut.

Nguyen manages to get an easy takedown there - catching Zhu on his heels. He'll look to pass Zhu's guard now, I'm sure.
Nguyen slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.

Zhu has his foot on Nguyen's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Nguyen works his way back into a safe position though.
Zhu keeping moving, preventing Nguyen from controlling successfully.
Zhu wants to control but Nguyen passes easily into half guard.
Zhu wants to control but Nguyen is keeping busy.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Zhu moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Nguyen wants to control from the top but Zhu keeps moving.

Zhu has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Nguyen can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Nguyen controls from within his opponent's guard.
Nguyen postures up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Zhu working for a triangle but Nguyen defends it easily.
Zhu trying to keep a closed guard but Nguyen is proving a slippery customer.

The referee has stepped in and called for a break in the action. We'll restart on the feet.
Chong Zhu is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Nguyen's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Zhu connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Nguyen scrambles back to his feet.
Nguyen closes the distance and clinches up with Zhu, looking for a takedown. Nguyen pushes Zhu against the cage but Zhu circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Chong Zhu has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Chevy Nguyen.
Zhu fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Nguyen manages to avoid it.
Zhu lands a two punch combo.
A jab from Zhu misses.
Zhu throws a jab when Nguyen was well out of range.
A slow jab from Zhu misses its intended target.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Zhu throws out a loose jab but Nguyen uses good head movement to avoid it.

Nguyen shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Zhu tries to get to full guard but Nguyen has control of the leg.
Nguyen is looking to take a break and control but Zhu is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Zhu preventing any damage for now, controlling his opponent's head.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Nguyen moves into full mount! Zhu won't be happy about that!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chong Zhu dominated that second round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Zhu misses with a hook. Nguyen ducked under it nicely.
Nguyen shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Zhu but Zhu pushes him off and we're back to square one.
A telegraphed right hand from Zhu misses the target.
Zhu sets himself, and Nguyen steps forward looking for the clinch! Zhu avoids it this time.
Nguyen walks straight into a jab right on the nose. That one stung - he's blinking and trying to clear his head.
Nguyen fails with a takedown attempt.
Chong Zhu is winning the standup battle so far.
Zhu is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Nguyen.
Nguyen lets it all go there with a big combo counter but none of the punches connected.
Zhu misses the jab.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Nguyen moves out of range as Zhu strikes.
Zhu lands an overhand right.
Zhu connects with a jab.
Zhu throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Nguyen sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Chevy Nguyen is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Zhu scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Zhu throws a solid leg kick but Nguyen takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Zhu.

Nguyen shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in side control! That's better than Nguyen was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Zhu is looking to reverse the position.

Nguyen wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Zhu, who protects the arm well.
Zhu manages to get back to half guard.
Zhu is trying to get back to full guard.
Zhu regains full guard. Nicely done.
Zhu working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Nguyen.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Zhu looking for a sweep. Not yet Zhu, not yet.
Zhu is pulling down on Nguyen's head to control his posture.

Zhu throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Chevy Nguyen has got the better of the ground game so far.
Nguyen scoring with some ground and pound.

Zhu is looking for a triangle here but Nguyen uses the submission attempt to pass into side control.
Nguyen landing a few strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nguyen trying to control the action but Zhu is working from the bottom.
Nguyen just content to control the position.
Nguyen working away.
Zhu tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Zhu prevents Nguyen from improving position.
Zhu is looking for a sweep.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Zhu is not content to let Nguyen control the position.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.
Zhu struggling a bit here.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Chong Zhu seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Zhu lands a nice shot to the body.

Nguyen closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Zhu to the mat! Zhu manages to get full guard.

Zhu is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Nguyen defends well.
Zhu not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

And that's the end of the fight!
That was a close round. You could make an argument for either fighter but I would give it to Chong Zhu.
I think Zhu 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 Ian Loll scores the fight 29:28
Judge William Peck scores the fight 29:28
Judge Elvis Blanc scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Chong Zhu!
Chong Zhu very nearly forgot to thank Fury Nutrition Inc. amongst all the excitement of his win but just as the interview came to a close, he screamed their name. Hopefully he'll get a few nice freebies in the mail as a thank you.