PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Egor Polishuk (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Anestis Papadopoulos (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Fingers crossed for an exciting fight - I'm sure both fighters are looking for a nice under the table bonus!

Polishuk
vs
Papadopoulos

185 cm
18
179 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

176 cm
18
170 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Determined

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 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Egor Polishuk!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Anestis Papadopoulos!
The judges for this bout are Ivan Kurochkin, Aleksei Zolotukhin and Igor Prikhodko.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Polishuk clinches up against the cage.
Papadopoulos tries to score a body lock takedown but Polishuk shows good agility there to stay on his feet.
Papadopoulos has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Polishuk is trying to break the clinch but Papadopoulos has him pressed against the cage.
A frustrated look appears on Papadopoulos's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Papadopoulos prevents a takedown attempt there.
Polishuk gets underhooks to prevent Papadopoulos's takedown attempt.
Polishuk wants a takedown but no success here.
Polishuk can't break the clinch.
The pace really dropping off here, momentarily.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Papadopoulos pulls guard successfully.
Papadopoulos looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Polishuk accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Polishuk has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Polishuk throws a big right hand that misses.
Papadopoulos trying to control the position.

Polishuk gets to his feet and steps away from his opponent.
Polishuk looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Papadopoulos is fending him off so far but Polishuk persists. Nope, Papadopoulos circles away and we're back to standing.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Egor Polishuk. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Papadopoulos shoots in and drives through. Polishuk sprawls well.

Polishuk forces Papadopoulos back against the cage and clinches.
Papadopoulos being controlled against the cage.
A short left from Polishuk.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Papadopoulos is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Polishuk tries to pull guard but Papadopoulos forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Papadopoulos has had enough of the clinch but Polishuk keeps him there for the moment.
Polishuk drops down for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Polishuk tries to break the clinch but Papadopoulos is controlling the position.
Polishuk tries to jump guard but he falls flat on his backside. Papadopoulos smiles and moves away.
Polishuk stalks Papadopoulos and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Papadopoulos's face. Papadopoulos staggers backwards, shaken.

It looks like Anestis Papadopoulos has been cut.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Polishuk has a takedown stuffed.
Papadopoulos shoots in for a takedown but Polishuk shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Horrible takedown attempt by Polishuk or perhaps it was just good defense by Papadopoulos, which made it look bad.
Polishuk is breathing heavily.
Polishuk lands a jab. Then a cross. Then finally a nice hook to the body. Good work there by Polishuk.

Polishuk tries to keep at a distance but Papadopoulos has taken the fight into the clinch.
Papadopoulos is looking to take this one to the mat.
A frustrated look appears on Papadopoulos's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Polishuk is trying to break free.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Polishuk jumps guard but Papadopoulos turns him against the cage and keeps the fight standing.
Papadopoulos drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Polishuk gets the underhooks and prevents it.
Polishuk on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Papadopoulos wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Polishuk gets underhooks to prevent Papadopoulos's takedown attempt.
Polishuk has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Papadopoulos is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Papadopoulos prevents the takedown attempt.
Polishuk wants to get back to striking at distance but Papadopoulos won't allow it.

Polishuk jumps guard and drags Papadopoulos to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Egor Polishuk dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Anestis Papadopoulos's cut.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Papadopoulos misses with a combination
and Polishuk counters with a two punch combo.
Nice sprawl there from Papadopoulos as Polishuk shoots in.

Papadopoulos tries to keep at a distance but Polishuk has taken the fight into the clinch.
Polishuk is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Papadopoulos can do to turn this around?
Papadopoulos jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Polishuk walks away with a smile on his face. Papadopoulos gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Polishuk is trying hard to land a takedown here. Papadopoulos sprawls well and keeps this one on the feet.
Papadopoulos wants to counter the offense by Polishuk and move into the clinch position.
No luck for Polishuk with that takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Egor Polishuk. That's going to take a lot out of him.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Polishuk closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Polishuk tries to pull guard but Papadopoulos holds him up against the cage and eventually Polishuk drops back down to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Polishuk can't find room to land a body shot as Papadopoulos controls the action.
Polishuk keeps control of Papadopoulos as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Polishuk is trying to break the clinch but Papadopoulos has him pressed against the cage.
Papadopoulos drops down looking for an ankle pick but Polishuk pulls his leg out and moves away.
Polishuk keeps the fight on the outside.

Polishuk closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Polishuk's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Polishuk lands a nice uppercut.

Polishuk jumps guard and drags Papadopoulos to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Polishuk trying to keep a closed guard but Papadopoulos is proving a slippery customer.
Polishuk knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Papadopoulos on the ground.
Papadopoulos throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Polishuk works some decent striking defense from the bottom.

Polishuk had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Papadopoulos defends it easily.
Papadopoulos stands and throws Polishuk's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Papadopoulos wants to lay and pray for a moment but Polishuk keeps working.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Polishuk is letting Papadopoulos control him for a moment.
Polishuk sneaks a leg under to get back to half guard.
Polishuk works his way to full guard. Good work.
Papadopoulos trying to control but Polishuk is working from the bottom.
Papadopoulos might have to switch it up a bit here because his efforts to control Polishuk haven't been going to plan, at least at the current moment in time.
Papadopoulos is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.

Papadopoulos drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but Polishuk manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Papadopoulos has Polishuk in his guard.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Polishuk fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Papadopoulos avoids it really well and circles away.
Sloppy strikes from Papadopoulos. Those never looked like landing.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Papadopoulos tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Polishuk shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Papadopoulos as he avoids it easily.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Egor Polishuk dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Anestis Papadopoulos'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. 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.

Polishuk has Papadopoulos up against the cage in a clinch.
Polishuk effectively controlling the action here.
Papadopoulos has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Polishuk avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
Polishuk misses with an elbow over the top.

Papadopoulos's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Papadopoulos fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Papadopoulos fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Egor Polishuk has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Anestis Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Papadopoulos shoots in looking for a takedown but Polishuk manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Papadopoulos's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Egor Polishuk is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

Polishuk closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Papadopoulos quickly recovers to half guard.
Papadopoulos is looking to get back to is feet but Polishuk passes into side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
The referee asks Polishuk politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Polishuk prefers to stall for the moment though.
An elbow from Polishuk crashes against the mat.
Polishuk is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Papadopoulos will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Polishuk tries to advance to mount but Papadopoulos denies him.
Polishuk working the ground and pound but Papadopoulos is defending the strikes.
Polishuk sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Papadopoulos is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Polishuk tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Papadopoulos prevents Polishuk from improving position.
You can see the frustration on Papadopoulos's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.

Polishuk decides to stand back up. Polishuk steps back and let's Papadopoulos get back to his feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.

Polishuk instigates a clinch.
Polishuk wants to break the clinch but can't.

Polishuk ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Polishuk no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.

The fighters are working up against the cage. Polishuk manages to wriggle his way back to his feet, so the fighters are now clinched against the cage.
Polishuk is looking to take this one to the mat.
Papadopoulos is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Polishuk is keeping busy.
Papadopoulos using the Thai clinch to land knees to the body.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Polishuk tries to break the clinch but Papadopoulos is controlling the position.
Anestis Papadopoulos has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Egor Polishuk is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Papadopoulos goes for a body shot but it's blocked.

And that's the end of the fight!
Egor Polishuk showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Polishuk 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 Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 30:27
Judge Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 30:27
Judge Igor Prikhodko scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Egor Polishuk!
An out of breath Egor Polishuk thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.