PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight kickboxing rules bout between Paul Niche (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Elie Sounamana (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both these guys have solid standup skills and neither is particularly fantastic on the ground, so let's hope for a nice standup war!

Niche
vs
Elie Sounamana

180 cm
21
190 lbs
3 - 4 - 0

188 cm
20
195 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

Lethal high kicks
Cardio machine

Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Sully's Bar & Grill

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Paul Niche!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Elie Sounamana!
The judges for this bout are Paul Gruel, Micheangelo Fripello and Roger Salmon.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Niche misses with a hook. Sounamana ducked under it nicely.
Sounamana looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Niche fails to land with a series of punches.
Niche has been working on his boxing with his coaches at . . . in the buildup to the fight.
Sounamana waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Niche.

Niche closes the distance and clinches.
Sounamana lands a body punch.
Sounamana misses with a hook to the ribs.
Niche tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.

Niche breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Niche scores with a hook to the body. Sounamana takes a step back and tries to catch his breath.
Niche takes a swing at Sounamana's ribcage but misses.
Niche ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Sounamana scores with a jab to the jaw.
Niche throws a wild body kick that Sounamana sees coming a mile off.
Niche keeps the fight on the outside.
Sounamana clobbers Niche with an overhand right that has the crowd gasping. That made a horrendous noise.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Niche throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Niche misses with an uppercut. Sounamana saw that one coming.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Niche fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Sounamana has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Sounamana dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Niche. That did some damage!
Sounamana wants to clinch.
Good work by Sounamana as he checks the leg kick.
Niche scores with a nice head shot.
Niche swings for the body but Sounamana moves out of range.
Sounamana wants to counter with a clinch but Niche pushes him away.
Niche lands a really nice looking cross but Sounamana seems unphased.
Niche wants to land a leg kick but Sounamana is out of range.
Sounamana scores with a straight right hand, right through his opponent's guard.
Sounamana scores with a head kick.

It looks like Paul Niche has been cut.
Sounamana throws a low kick but Niche moves out of range easily.
Niche looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
A chopping leg kick lands by Niche.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Niche throws a chopping leg kick but Sounamana manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Sounamana throws a right and a left that Niche avoids nicely.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Niche lands a beauty of a right hand that gets the crowd cheering.

Niche gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
A short right from Niche on the inside.
Niche stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
Sounamana tries to break the clinch but Niche is controlling the position.
Sounamana wants to get back to striking at distance but Niche won't allow it.
A nice left hand lands by Niche.
Sounamana tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Nice body punch from Niche - that landed with a thud.
Niche is stalling here.
Niche throws a punch but it's blocked by Sounamana.
Niche lands on the inside with an uppercut.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
A frustrated look appears on Sounamana's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Niche working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Sounamana takes a knee right on the jaw!

Sounamana is rocked!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Paul Niche dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Paul Niche'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.

Niche throws a solid leg kick but Sounamana takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Niche.
Sounamana has his hands up protecting his head but a hook from Niche finds it's way round the side to connect with Sounamana's head.
Sounamana is still on wobbly legs! Can Niche finish him?
Nice body kick from Niche.
Niche swings for the body but Sounamana moves out of range.
Niche throws a hook to the side of Sounamana's head but Sounamana sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Sounamana throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Niche is looking to counter with a shot to the body.
Sounamana seems to have recovered his senses.
Niche blocks a head kick by Sounamana.
Niche jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
Niche is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Sounamana can do to turn this around?
Niche is looking to score with low kicks.
Donk. Sounamana catches Niche right on the button with a cross.
Sounamana is looking to clinch but Niche is avoiding it.
Sounamana misses with a double jab.
Sounamana tries to clinch but Niche moves out of range.
Niche is trying to close the distance and clinch up, after that failed offence from Sounamana.
Niche takes one on the chin but seems OK.
Niche slips a jab and a cross from Sounamana.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Sounamana takes a jab on the nose. He smiles like he loves it and keeps coming.
Sounamana dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Paul Niche is winning the standup battle so far.
Niche scores with a body shot.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sounamana scores with a decent looking hook.
Niche finds nothing but air with that leg kick attempt.
Niche scores with a punch to the gut of his opponent.
Paul Niche seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Sounamana slips under a jab from Niche.
Niche throws a low kick but it's checked well by Sounamana.
Good work by Sounamana as he checks the leg kick.
Niche lands a lovely overhand right.
Sounamana scores with a kick to the body.
We've been informed that Sounamana has been working hard on his conditioning in the buildup to the fight.
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as Niche checks a leg kick.
Niche gets cracked with a nice right hand there by Sounamana.
Niche throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Sounamana.
A solid leg kick lands there for Niche.
Sounamana tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Sounamana throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Niche throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

Niche has managed to clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sounamana is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the ropes.
Niche lands on the inside with an uppercut.
Sounamana fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Niche misses with a knee to the head.
Sounamana is looking to break free of the clinch but Niche has double underhooks.
Niche throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Sounamanas head.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from Sounamana.
Sounamana tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Niche using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Sounamana has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Niche throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Sounamanas head.
Niche keeps control of Sounamana as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Niche misses with a punch to the body.
Niche misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Niche tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Niche.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Paul Niche dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Paul Niche's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Sounamana lands a head kick. Niche smiles back at him and beckons him forward.
Niche throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Elie Sounamana is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Niche dodges the punch combination from Sounamana.
Sounamana ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Sounamana lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Niche circles away quickly and effectively.
Sounamana lets loose with a powerful body kick. Niche will feel that in the morning.
Sounamana lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
Some wild striking there from Sounamana.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Niche avoids the body shot from Sounamana.
Sounamana throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Niche counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
Niche fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Sounamana manages to avoid it.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Sounamana!
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Sounamana closes the distance and takes a jab right on the nose as he does so.
Niche cracks the inside of Sounamana's front leg.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Niche tries to score with a low kick but Sounamana moves his leg out of the way.
Niche's corner calls for a 1-2. Niche obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.
Niche takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Niche throws a low kick, looking for Sounamana's leg but Sounamana calmly moves out of range.
Niche misses with a kick to the body.
Jab, jab by Sounamana - just one landing.

Niche scores a knockdown with a big right hand! Sounamana beats the count and gets back to his feet. The referee asks him to walk forwards and it appears he is OK so we'll continue the bout.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Sounamana misses with a double jab

and Niche counters by clinching up.
Niche lands a shot to the body.
A nice right hand lands inside from Niche.
Niche lands with a short head shot on the inside.
Niche prevents a body shot from Sounamana.
Niche lands on the inside with an uppercut.
Sounamana blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Niche creates a bit of space for himself and unleashed what can only be described as a tiger uppercut, straight out of Street Fighter! Sounamana crashes to the mat! Can he make it back to his feet in time? 3,4,5,6... it doesn't look like he's going to make it! Sounamana face plants back to the mat and the referee calls off the fight! Niche takes it with a brutal technical knockout!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:09 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Punch). Paul Niche!
A relieved looking Paul Niche thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.