PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Ivan Volchenko (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Butch Harris Jr (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Volchenko's ring entrance music is that housewives' favourite, Roar of the Lion. Ivan Volchenko has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Volchenko
vs
Harris Jr

190 cm
20
240 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

186 cm
17
225 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

Good wrestler
Brawler
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 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Ivan Volchenko!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Butch Harris Jr!
The judges for this bout are Dmitry Maklakov, Aleksandr Martynov and Valeri Chadov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Harris Jr shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Volchenko's guard.
Harris Jr sitting in guard, not really doing much.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Harris Jr stopping the sweep attempt from Volchenko.
Volchenko controls Harris Jr momentarily but Harris Jr frees himself.
Harris Jr tries to stand but Volchenko is controlling from the bottom.
Volchenko wants to sweep but no luck.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Harris Jr looking to pass the guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harris Jr lands a couple of elbows.
Harris Jr throws a big right hand that misses.
Harris Jr wants to pass the guard but Volchenko is keeping the position.
Harris Jr wants to stand but Volchenko has a closed guard, so he can't escape.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.
Volchenko is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Harris Jr fakes a head punch and goes low to the body. Nicely done.

Harris Jr looking to score a takedown here. Volchenko is defending well but Harris Jr drives through and ends up in Volchenko's guard.

Harris Jr gets to his feet - Volchenko follows without any prompting.

Harris Jr looking to score a takedown here. Volchenko is defending well but Harris Jr drives through and ends up in Volchenko's guard.

Volchenko pushes Harris Jr off and gets back to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Volchenko misses with an uppercut.
Volchenko feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Harris Jrs jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Volchenko misses with a takedown

and Harris Jr counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Harris Jr controlling the action here.
Volchenko tries to get to full guard but Harris Jr has control of the leg.
Harris Jr controlling the action here.
Harris Jr wants to control but Volchenko is keeping him busy.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Volchenko is trying to maintain the position but Harris Jr is very close to passing his half guard.
Harris Jr keeping composed on the top, looking to control the action.
Harris Jr wants to stand up but Volchenko has a hold of him and won't allow it.
Harris Jr trying to mount his opponent but Volchenko defends it.

That's four 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.
Harris Jr throws a strike but Volchenko avoids it easily and moves to full guard.
Volchenko can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Harris Jr controls the pace.
Harris Jr wants to control from the top but Volchenko keeps moving.
Harris Jr content to stall in guard here.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Harris Jr tries to free his leg and advance position but Volchenko is retaining full guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Butch Harris Jr dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Harris Jr gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Volchenko is pressed up against the cage. Harris Jr has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Volchenko down to the mat. Volchenko avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
Harris Jr stuffs the takedown.
Harris Jr tests Volchenko's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Volchenko shoots in for a double leg but Harris Jr sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Harris Jr is loading up here, looking for a big counter of his own.
Harris Jr has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Volchenko looks to score with a jab to the body but Harris Jr is just out of range.
Volchenko throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.

Harris Jr scores with a takedown into Volchenko's guard.

Volchenko has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes Harris Jr off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Sloppy strikes from Harris Jr. Those never looked like landing.
Volchenko tries to clinch up but Harris Jr circles away and keeps his distance.
Volchenko tries to clinch but Harris Jr moves out of range.
Volchenko tries to close the distance and clinch but Harris Jr swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Volchenko fails with a takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Ivan Volchenko. That's going to take a lot out of him.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Harris Jr closes the distance and after a bit of a stuggle, scores a takedown into Volchenko's guard.
Harris Jr throws an elbow that misses. Volchenko uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Harris Jr's guard. Nice move by Volchenko!

Harris Jr looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Volchenko trying to control the position from guard on top but Harris Jr is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Volchenko won't allow Harris Jr to sweep him here.

Volchenko avoids a guillotine attempt easily.

Volchenko got a little sloppy there for a moment and Harris Jr has worked his way into a loose triangle - can he finish it?! No, Volchenko has managed to get both his arms back between Harris Jr's legs - danger averted.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Volchenko throws an elbow that misses. Harris Jr uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Volchenko's guard. Nice move by Harris Jr!

Harris Jr is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Harris Jr connects with a couple of short punches.
Harris Jr passes Volchenko's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Harris Jr is figuring out what he wants to do next.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Harris Jr decides to stand and escape the position.
Volchenko fails to land the takedown.
Harris Jr looks like he wants to counter punch here.

Volchenko gets caught flat footed, as Harris Jr shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.
Harris Jr passes into half guard.

Harris Jr is looking for a kimura but Volchenko is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Harris Jr to get the leverage.
Harris Jr prevents Volchenko from improving his position.

Harris Jr is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Harris Jr is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
Volchenko keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Harris Jr controlling the action here.

Volchenko manages to create a bit of space in order to work his way back to his feet. Harris Jr keeps hold of his opponent and drives him back against the cage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Butch Harris Jr showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! This is the final round!

Harris Jr keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Volchenko.
Volchenko misses with a looping left.
Volchenko moves out of the way of the counter high kick fromHarris Jr.
Volchenko changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Harris Jr tries to avoid it but Volchenko manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Harris Jr to the ground. Harris Jr escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
Harris Jr jabs at Volchenko's body.

Volchenko gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.

Volchenko pushes Harris Jr off and gets back to his feet.
Harris Jr steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Volchenko.

Volchenko gets caught napping as Harris Jr dives in and scores a takedown. Volchenko manages to retain guard.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Volchenko is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Harris Jr throws a strike but Volchenko rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.

Butch Harris Jr has got the better of the ground game so far.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Harris Jr tries to land a sweep but no joy.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harris Jr wants to stand up but Volchenko is controlling him.
Volchenko throwing strikes but missing.

Volchenko drops back looking for a leg! Harris Jr is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and Harris Jr manages to kick Volchenko off! Volchenko jumps back into Harris Jr's guard.
Harris Jr has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.
Harris Jr working a defensive guard here.
Harris Jr looking to hit a scissor sweep but Volchenko is one step ahead there.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Volchenko is standing up over Harris Jr. Harris Jr looks to escape but Volchenko dives into side control.
You can see the frustration on Harris Jr's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Harris Jr tries to get back to half guard but can't.
You can see the frustration on Harris Jr's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Volchenko lands an elbow.
Harris Jr tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Volchenko wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Volchenko tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Volchenko has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
You can see the frustration on Harris Jr's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
Harris Jr prevents Volchenko from improving position.

Volchenko is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Harris Jr knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Harris Jr is trying to get back to half guard.

Volchenko stands up and we're back to a striking position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.

Harris Jr changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Volchenko looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
Harris Jr wants to lay and pray for a moment but Volchenko keeps working.
Harris Jr is staying tight to Volchenko's torso, preventing him from escaping.

Harris Jr is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Volchenko knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Harris Jr moving around in side mount but really he's just happy to control for now.

And that's the end of the fight!
Ivan Volchenko showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Harris Jr has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Dmitry Maklakov scores the fight 28:29
Judge Aleksandr Martynov scores the fight 28:29
Judge Valeri Chadov scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Butch Harris Jr!