PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Maddox Pope (ranked 3369 p4p, 3954 weight class) and Zac Zane (ranked 169 p4p, 190 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Pope
vs
Zane

173 cm
25
141
2 - 1 - 0

165 cm
25
140
1 - 2 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Big heart

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Tends to cut

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Maddox Pope!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Zac Zane!
The judges for this bout are Radbod Blank, Daniel Blasius and Paul Aken.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pope looks to land a body kick but Zane moved away.
Pope fails with a takedown attempt.
Pope uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Zane.
Pope went nuts there looking for a big combo counter but none of the flurry connected.

Zane moves into the clinch successfully.

Zane's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Zane misses with the combination.
Pope tries to clinch up but Zane circles away and keeps his distance.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Pope ducks under a wild hook from Zane.
Zane lands a jab followed by a nice looking cross.
The fight stays on the outside here - Pope looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Zane misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Zane throws the left hand but Pope avoids the punch easily.
Zane throws a jab but it's blocked by Pope.
Zane misses with a jab to the body
and Pope connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Pope tries to clinch but Zane moves out of range.
Zane is looking for the big counter here.
Pope digs a good hook to Zane's body.
Zane showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Pope.
Pope fails with an attempt to clinch.
Zane swats away the attempt to clinch by Pope.
Zane let fly with a counter punch to the body but it didn't land.
Zane avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Pope misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Zane.
Pope tries to clinch but Zane is having none of it.
Zac Zane is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Zane misses with a double jab.
A big left from Pope misses.
The crowd cheers as Zane lands an impressive looking overhand right. Pope doesn't seem phased though.
Pope throws an ugly left hook that misses
and Zane counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Zane misses with the combination.
Zane swinging wildly here.
Pope tries to clinch up but Zane circles away and keeps his distance.
Pope throws a combination that misses
and Zane counters with a nice uppercut.
Nice jab there from Pope.
Pope is looking to clinch.
Pope moves in looking to clinch but Zane pushes him off.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Zane pushes Pope up against the cage in a clinch.
Zane lands a hook to the side of the head.

Zane breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Zane ducks down and throws a hook to the body.
Zane lands with a two punch combination before moving back out of range.

Pope is rocked!

It looks like Maddox Pope has been cut.
Zane throws a right hand that Pope ducks under and follows up with a left that Pope also avoids with ease.
Oh Pope is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Zane misses with an uppercut.
Pope throws a big counter combination but Zane scrambles out of danger and avoids any damage.
Pope seems to have got his legs back now.
Pope tries to clinch up but Zane circles away and keeps his distance.
Zane throws out a counter right but Pope avoids it with no problem.
The fighters circling - Zane throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Zane slaps away a takedown attempt from Pope, before circling back to the center of the mat.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Pope throws a series of punches but Zane moves out of range.

Zane clinches up with Pope and pushes him back against the cage.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Zane escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Zane misses with a wild combination.
Zane lunges at Pope with a hook that half lands and is half blocked by Pope's hand.
Pope tries to clinch up
and Zane counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Zane throws a jab when Pope was well out of range.
Pope scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
Pope swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Zac Zane dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Maddox Pope's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Pope throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Zane counters with a lovely straight right hand!

Zane gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Pope fails to pull guard.

Zane breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Zane is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Pope.
Maddox Pope is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Zane leaves Pope with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Some wild striking there from Pope.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Pope is looking to take this fight into the clinch.

Pope gets tackled into the cage by Zane. Zane maintains the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Zane lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.

Zane manages to break the clinch.
Pope shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Maddox Pope. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Pope doesn't manage to clinch there - Zane circles away.

Zane clinches up against the cage.

Zane breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Zane has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Pope on the wrong end of an overhand right that came out of nowhere.
Zane throws a right and a left that both miss.
Pope misses with a double jab
and Zane connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Pope avoids a punch combination nicely.
Zane has worked on his takedown defense in the runup to this fight and it is paying off so far.

Zane clinches.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Zane's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
No joy there for Zane, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
It looked like Pope wanted to counter with a hook but didn't fully commit.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Pope is defended easily by Zane.
Zane avoids the head kick by Pope.
No joy there for Pope, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
A right-left combo lands from Zane.
Zane lands a jab followed by a nice looking cross.
Zac Zane seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Oooooooooooh, not good. A low kick from Pope lands where it shouldn't have, right in the... well, you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis. He's injured, injured bad. The referee sends both fighters to their corners and Zane has 5 minutes to recover. He's OK now though... a thumbs up from Zane and we're back underway with a touch of gloves.
Zane dodges the punch combination from Pope.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pope with a poor takedown
and Zane counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
Pope moves in looking to clinch but Zane pushes him off.
A combination from Zane does no damage.
Zane might want to mix his strikes up a bit more. He's just going for head shots at the moment and that can become a bit predictable.
Zane swinging wildly here.
Zane ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Pope ducks right into an uppercut from Zane.
Pope throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Pope lunges at Zane with a hook that half lands and is half blocked by Zane's hand.
Pope takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Zane getting the better of the striking in that exchange.

Oooooh!!! Zane has knocked Pope down with a huge combo! Zane steps away and waves a wobbly Pope back to his feet! This one might not go much longer!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Zane throws a series of punches but Pope avoids them all with ease.
Pope lands a nice looking body shot.
Zane scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Zane throws a monster overhand right that drops Pope! Zane follows up with more strikes from mount and the fight is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:32 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Zac Zane!