PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Ryan Ballinger (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lefteris Samaras (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Ballinger comes into the arena with When The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash blaring out of the sound system. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Ballinger
vs
Samaras

194 cm
27
202 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

188 cm
27
205 lbs
9 - 9 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Good gas tank

Urban Fighter
Voodoo Nutrition

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of New York, Ryan Ballinger!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 9 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Lefteris Samaras!
The judges for this bout are Shirou Masuda, Yuuki Gou and Shigeki Sano.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A lazy body kick from Ballinger

and Samaras counters with a nice double leg into side control. Ballinger won't be happy with that.
Samaras advances to mount.
Samaras controlling the pace for now.
Samaras wants to take Ballinger's back but he can't do it this time.
Ballinger working to try and regain half guard.
Ballinger is in a tricky position. We've heard reports from his gym mates at that he's been drilling escapes, so let's see if he can get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Samaras seems to be looking to move to his opponent's back but Ballinger is holding on tight.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Samaras takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.

Samaras is in full mount, looking to secure a guillotine but Ballinger is surviving well by controlling Samaras's body position as best he can.
Samaras wants to take Ballinger's back here but Ballinger is holding on to an arm, himself looking to escape.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Samaras controlling the pace for now.

Samaras jumps to the side looking to secure the arm triangle…. Ooooh, that looks tight… Ballinger is gargling but he's managed to escape! Nice work there by Ballinger and Samaras has given up the dominant position trying to land that submission.
Samaras tries to advance to mount but Ballinger denies him.
Ballinger wants to control but Samaras postures up.
Ballinger is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Ballinger stops Samaras from passing to mount.

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.
Samaras staying calm.
Samaras tries to advance to mount but Ballinger denies him.
Samaras moves into full mount!
Samaras controlling the pace for now.
Ballinger knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Samaras on the ground.
Samaras wants to take Ballinger's back here but Ballinger is holding on to an arm, himself looking to escape.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Samaras controlling from mount.

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.

Samaras looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.

Samaras tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Samaras is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Ballinger will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Let's hope that Samaras has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lefteris Samaras dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Samaras walks into a jab.
Samaras has a nice red mark on his side after a thudding body kick by Ballinger.
Samaras uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Ballinger.
Samaras is looking for the big counter here.
Samaras paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button.
Samaras lands a nice looking body kick.
Ballinger buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Ballinger lands with a slapping head kick.
Samaras avoids a punch combination nicely.
Ballinger bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Ballinger keeps Samaras at a distance using the push kick.
Samaras avoids the head kick by Ballinger.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Ballinger throws a hard body shot but it just misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ballinger checks a low kick from Samaras.
Ballinger throws a head kick but Samaras moves out of range.
Samaras lands with a good body shot.
Ballinger throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Ballinger cracks Samaras with a good shot that sees him stumbling back into the cage.
Samaras blocks the body kick.
Ballinger tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Ryan Ballinger is winning the standup battle so far.
Samaras moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
Samaras cracks the inside of Ballinger's front leg.
Ballinger misses with a lunging right hand
and Ballinger takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
Ballinger scores with a jab to the head.
Samaras on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Samaras misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Ballinger.
Sloppy strikes from Ballinger. Those never looked like landing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Ballinger throws a series of punches but Samaras avoids them all with ease.
Samaras avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Ballinger throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Samaras lands with a good body shot.
Ballinger uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Samaras.
Samaras avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Samaras throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.
Ballinger misses with a combination

so Samaras counters with a double leg into guard. Good agility.
Samaras works a leg free and moves into half guard.
Samaras uses his free foot to push down on Ballinger's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Ballinger.
Samaras controlling from the full mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Samaras wants to take his opponent's back but he's not managed it.
Samaras controlling from the full mount.
Samaras takes Ballinger's back. Could be looking for a rear naked choke here - either way, Ballinger is in trouble.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
So, who will make the next big move? In this position it could be crucial.

Samaras has his hand under the chin of his opponent looking for the choke. He's nearly got it! This one could be all over! But no, Ballinger has freed his hand and lives to survive another… well, another couple of seconds at least!

Samaras is working the back position looking for the choke. Oh, he's slid into an armbar! Beautiful transition and Ballinger taps out! Fantastic Jiu Jitsu from Samaras.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:50 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Lefteris Samaras!
In his post fight interview, Lefteris Samaras started talking himself up. Luckily his charisma kept the crowd on side and gave him a good reception.
In defeat, Ryan Ballinger stepped up to the mic, saying 'You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance!'.