HBP 26 PBP Commentary

Undercard bout

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Olumide Akomolede (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Caleb Strife (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Olumide Akomolede has a significant reach advantage - let's see if he can make it count.

Akomolede
vs
Strife

187 cm
18
184 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

175 cm
18
175 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter striker
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Solid chin

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Olumide Akomolede!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Caleb Strife!
The judges for this bout are Nard Betker, Patrick Alders and Paul Aken.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Akomolede looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Strife!
Akomolede working the ground and pound effectively.
Strife is trying to get to the cage to help him get back to his feet.
Strife gets back to half guard.
Well, if Akomolede is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.

Strife actively working from the bottom here.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Strife tries to get to full guard but Akomolede has control of the leg.
Well, if Akomolede is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Strife tries to kick Akomolede off but Akomolede keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Well, if Akomolede is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Strife is trying to stand back up but Akomolede is controlling him
Akomolede performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Strife looks like he's trying to stand up.
Akomolede content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
Strife is looking to improve his position.
Akomolede trying to control the pace.
Strife wants to sweep but Akomolede has passed to side control!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Akomolede moving around in side mount but really he's just happy to control for now.
Akomolede will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Akomolede is chipping away with strikes.
Strife looking for a sweep but Akomolede has passed into full mount! Oh no!
Akomolede landing punches.
Akomolede takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Akomolede breaks from Strife's wrist control and lands an elbow.
BOOM! Akomolede connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Strife is wriggling around trying to escape.
Akomolede looking to control and managing it successfully.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Akomolede prevents Strife from getting the reversal.
Akomolede with a couple of short strikes.
Akomolede controlling the pace for now.
Strife tries to reverse the position but Akomolede maintains control.
Strife looks gassed!
Akomolede lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Akomolede with a couple of short strikes.
Akomolede controlling the position easily from mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Akomolede with good strikes from the mount here!
Akomolede sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Akomolede connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Strife is looking to get to half guard.
Akomolede looking to finish Strife with some ground and pound. This is bad for Strife!
Akomolede takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Strife is looking to get to half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Olumide Akomolede dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Strife misses with an uppercut.
Strife will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Caleb Strife seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Akomolede avoids a punch combination nicely.
Strife throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Strife shapes like he's going to throw a leg kick but settles back down.
Strife throws a right and a left that Akomolede avoids nicely.
Akomolede slips a jab and a cross from Strife.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Akomolede shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
Akomolede looking to control and managing it successfully.
Akomolede lands with some strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Akomolede scores with a couple of good head shots there.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Strife is breathing heavily.
Akomolede controlling from the full mount.
Akomolede prevents Strife from getting the reversal.
Akomolede tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.

The referee stands the fighters back up. Olumide Akomolede just wasn't active enough from the dominant position.

Akomolede shoots in for a takedown and gets it.
Akomolede takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Strife trying to control but Akomolede postures up.
Akomolede is controlling the pace.
Akomolede seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Strife for as long as he can get away with.
Akomolede has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Strife tries to kick Akomolede off but Akomolede keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Akomolede is controlling the pace.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Olumide Akomolede.

Akomolede shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.

Strife looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Akomolede takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Strife wants to get back to his feet.
Akomolede seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Akomolede prevents Strife from standing back up.
Akomolede trying to control the pace.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Olumide Akomolede dominated that second 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. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final round!

Akomolede shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Akomolede showed some decent athleticism there.
Akomolede is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Olumide Akomolede.
Strife fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Strife misses with a two punch combination.
Strife shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Akomolede counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Akomolede takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Strife takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Akomolede prevents Strife from standing back up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Akomolede content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Akomolede connects with a nice short shot to Strife's temple.
Akomolede drops an elbow to the side of Strife's head.
Akomolede winds up and cracks Strife with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Akomolede content to control rather than advance.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Olumide Akomolede.
Strife throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Strife throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Akomolede ducks under a wild hook from Strife.

Akomolede closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Strife to the mat! Strife manages to get full guard.
Akomolede not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
Strife is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Akomolede sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Akomolede's corner. There ya go! There ya go!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Akomolede is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Akomolede landing some decent shots from guard.
Akomolede scoring with some ground and pound.
Akomolede stays in close to Strife's body and controls the position.
Akomolede looking to pass the guard.
Akomolede scoring with punches to the head and body.
Akomolede is stalling in the full guard.
Caleb Strife has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

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.
Strife wants to get back to his feet but Akomolede is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Akomolede is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Strife can do to turn this around?
Akomolede sitting in guard here, content to control.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Olumide Akomolede.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Akomolede.
Akomolede takes a little break here. Strife wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.

And that's the end of the fight!
Olumide Akomolede showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Akomolede 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 Nard Betker scores the fight 30:25
Judge Patrick Alders scores the fight 30:26
Judge Paul Aken scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Olumide Akomolede!

C
A

C
B

energy
A | B

hype
A | B

pop
A | B

mgr
A | B

FIGHT
RATING
44%

Undercard bout

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Joe Kirby (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mike Grand (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both these guys have really solid chins. Will we see a standup war or will they both decide that a knockout is unlikely and try to win the fight elsewhere?

Kirby
vs
Grand

180 cm
24
200 lbs
3 - 2 - 1

190 cm
24
205 lbs
3 - 3 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid boxing
Granite chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Solid chin

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 3 - 2 - 1, fighting out of Amsterdam, Joe Kirby!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Mike Grand!
The judges for this bout are Aafke Stam, Radbod Blank and Wagner Zegers.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Kirby tries to clinch but Grand is having none of it.
Kirby just misses with a punch to the body.
Kirby defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Grand.
Kirby throws a body punch but Grand moves out of range.
Grand misses with a wild combination.
Grand avoids the body shot from Kirby.
Kirby lands the left hand.

It looks like Mike Grand has been cut.

Kirby scores a takedown into full mount!
Kirby controlling his opponent.

Kirby looking to secure an arm triangle but Grand defends it well.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Grand is trying to escape the mount.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kirby landing strikes from the mount and Grand is in trouble!
Kirby prevents Grand from getting the reversal.
Kirby working some short elbows here. He postures up to throw some more ground and pound but Grand slips a leg through to get back to half guard. Nice work.
Kirby looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
Grand tries to get to full guard but Kirby has control of the leg.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Grand is trying to escape back to his feet but Kirby uses the scramble to pass into side control.
Grand tries to buck Kirby off but Kirby is having none of it.
Grand pushes Kirby away and creates a bit of space to escape. He's almost out here... but no, Kirby gets a good hold of his legs and remains firmly in side control.
Kirby is looking to take a break and control but Grand is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.

Kirby stands up and beckons Grand to his feet.
Grand connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
Kirby throws a body punch but Grand moves out of range.
Kirby tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Grand was well out of range. Poor timing from Kirby.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Some wild striking there from Grand.
Kirby scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Grand doesn't seem bothered though.
Grand looks gassed!
Grand throws a hard body shot but it just misses.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Kirby leaning his opponent against the cage.

Kirby ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Kirby no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Grand content to stall in guard here.

Kirby working for a triangle but Grand defends it easily.

Kirby has managed to work for a loose triangle. I think Grand should be able to defend this one pretty easily though. Oh, Kirby has tightened it up now! Grand should have reacted faster there - he's in big trouble and yes, he's tapped out! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:03 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle). Joe Kirby!