PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Chance Birmbaum (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Van Harvey (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Van Harvey acknowledges the crowd's support as he enters the cage.

Birmbaum
vs
Harvey

175 cm
22
176 lbs
7 - 3 - 1

181 cm
21
179 lbs
6 - 0 - 0

Good wrestling
Solid boxing
Very quick

BJJ Brown Belt
Good kicks
Granite chin

King of Fists
Conviction

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 7 - 3 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Chance Birmbaum!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Van Harvey!
The judges for this bout are Don Winkell, Jack Bonds and .

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Birmbaum looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Birmbaum trying to control from half guard but Harvey is working away.
Harvey is trying to maintain the position but Birmbaum is very close to passing his half guard.
Harvey holds on for dear life, maintaining half guard for now.
Birmbaum throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Harvey is trying to control but can't.

Harvey is defending against the submission attempts here by Birmbaum.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Harvey tries to get to full guard but Birmbaum has control of the leg.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Birmbaum controlling the action here.
Birmbaum wants to lay and pray for a moment but Harvey keeps working.
Harvey tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Birmbaum has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Birmbaum cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Harvey is looking to get to half guard.
Harvey takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Birmbaum throws some wild stikes that Harvey manages to avoid easily.
Birmbaum unloading with bombs!
Harvey in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Birmbaum lands a big elbow.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Harvey wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Birmbaum.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Harvey is looking to improve his position but Birmbaum isn't that keen on the idea.
Birmbaum with good strikes from the mount here!
Harvey manages to regain half guard. Good work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Harvey tries to get to full guard but Birmbaum has control of the leg.
Harvey manages to get to full guard.
Harvey keeping moving, preventing Birmbaum from controlling successfully.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Harvey is on top in guard.

Harvey wants to control from the top but Birmbaum keeps moving.

Birmbaum has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Harvey can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Birmbaum working for submissions but it's allowed Harvey to get to half guard.
Harvey thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

Harvey is looking for a kimura but Birmbaum is holding onto that half guard position, so it's hard for Harvey to get the leverage.
Harvey prevents Birmbaum from improving his position.
Birmbaum slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Birmbaum 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.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Harvey stays in close to Birmbaum's body and controls the position.
Birmbaum looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chance Birmbaum dominated that round.
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.

Birmbaum is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in Harvey's half guard.
Harvey tries to roll over but Birmbaum keeps him under control.
Birmbaum throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Birmbaum is pressing down on Harvey's thigh, looking to free his foot. Harvey is holding on for now.
Harvey keeps control of the position for the meantime.
Birmbaum is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Harvey can do to turn this around?
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Birmbaum is trying to control. Harvey wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harvey is looking to improve his position.
Harvey trying to control but Birmbaum postures up.
Birmbaum is trying to control the action in half guard but Harvey is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Harvey is trying to get back to full guard.
Harvey slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Harvey trying to control the position here.
Birmbaum wants to control from the top but Harvey keeps moving.

That's two 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.
Birmbaum stands and throws Harvey's legs to the side, diving into side control.
The strikes coming from Birmbaum are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Harvey wants to control but Birmbaum postures up.
Birmbaum cracks Harvey with a big right hand but Harvey just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Birmbaum working away.
Birmbaum trying to control the position but Harvey is working away.
Birmbaum scores with punches from side control.
Harvey is looking for a sweep.
Birmbaum scoring with punches from side control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Birmbaum misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.
Harvey sneaks back into half guard.
Harvey on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Birmbaum is looking to advance position but Harvey won't allow it.
Birmbaum passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Harvey!
Birmbaum trying to control but Harvey is having none of it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Harvey really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Harvey is still trying to improve position.
Birmbaum lands a heavy elbow.
Birmbaum is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Harvey can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Harvey tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Birmbaum pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
BOOM! Birmbaum connects with a massive shot to the dome!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Birmbaum cracks Harvey with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.

Harvey is rocked!
Harvey sneaks a leg back under and regains half guard and is working straight away to try and get back to guard. He hasn't managed just yet though.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Chance Birmbaum dominated that second round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Birmbaum throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Harvey.
Harvey tries to counter by closing the distance.

Birmbaum takes the fight into the clinch.
Harvey blocks an elbow strike.
Birmbaum can't find room to land a body shot as Harvey controls the action.
Birmbaum tries to land a knee to the head but misses.

Birmbaum breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.

Birmbaum clinches with his opponent.

Harvey gets the body lock takedown. After a quick scramble, Birmbaum regains guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Birmbaum keeping full guard, as Harvey tries to pass.
Harvey is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Harvey must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Harvey sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Birmbaum has a butterfly guard looking to sweep but Harvey has passed into side control.
Birmbaum is looking for a sweep.

Harvey is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Birmbaum knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Who's going to make the next move?
Birmbaum is looking for a sweep.
Chance Birmbaum is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Birmbaum is not content to let Harvey control the position.
Birmbaum tries to buck Harvey off but Harvey is having none of it.
Harvey trying to control the action but Birmbaum is working from the bottom.
Birmbaum gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.

Birmbaum looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Birmbaum is looking for a sweep. Harvey is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.

Harvey wants to work for an arm triangle but Birmbaum is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.
Birmbaum works his way to full guard. Good work.
Harvey trying to control the position from guard on top but Birmbaum is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Van Harvey has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Birmbaum misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Harvey takes one on the chin but keeps coming.
Harvey takes a really solid shot there but just smiles back and shrugs his shoulders.
Birmbaum is on the wrong end of a nice combination from Harvey.

Birmbaum shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Birmbaum seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Harvey does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Birmbaum sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Birmbaum trying to mount his opponent but Harvey defends it.

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 Chance Birmbaum.
Well Birmbaum 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 Don Winkell scores the fight 30:27
Judge Jack Bonds scores the fight 30:27
Judge Percy O'Donnell scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Chance Birmbaum!
After winning the bout, Chance Birmbaum thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.