PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Necmettin Hoca (ranked 1222 p4p, 1732 weight class) and George Russell (ranked 164 p4p, 225 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Hoca
vs
Russell

175 cm
26
162
4 - 2 - 0

177 cm
26
161
4 - 3 - 0

Good wrestling
Counter fighter
Granite chin

Powerful takedowns
Counter fighter
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Necmettin Hoca!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 3 - 0, fighting out of The Island, George Russell!
The judges for this bout are Winston Alpacca, Dirk Anderson and Daniel Franklin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Russell needs to keep his hands up - Hoca had a free shot at his head there.
Russell slips under a jab from Hoca.
Russell throws out a counter right but Hoca avoids it with no problem.
Russell takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
Russell moves out of range as Hoca strikes.
Russell tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
Hoca scores with a jab to the jaw.
Hoca scores with a jab. Russell acknowledges it with a nod of the head.
Russell takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
Hoca works Russell's body with a nice hook.
Hoca lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Russell at a distance.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Russell displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Hoca throws out the jab.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The fighters circle momentarily. Hoca darts into range and connects with a nice straight punch.
Hoca seems to be moving with more speed, compared to his last bout. He must have been working on that in the gym.
Hoca tests Russell's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Hoca lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
Russell takes one to the chin there.
Hoca throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Necmettin Hoca is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Nice shot by Hoca.
Russell defending well as Hoca loads up on a big left hand.
Hoca connects with a right hand. Russell shakes it off.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hoca ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
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!
Hoca lands a slapping body shot.
Russell bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Russell throws out a counter right but Hoca avoids it with no problem.
Hoca scores with a jab.
Russell has tried to improve his agility in the runup to this fight.
Hoca lands the left hand.
Hoca lands a nice looking body shot.
Hoca scores with a punch to the head.
Hoca tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Russell was well out of range. Poor timing from Hoca.
It seemed like Russell was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.
Hoca is really peppering his opponent's head with punches.
Hoca connects with a looping right hand.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Russell keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Hoca.
Russell changes levels for a counter takedown but doesn't follow through with his attempt.
Hoca lands a nice shot to the body.
Hoca lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
Hoca throws a couple of head shots and lands with the final one - a decent hook, which struck Russell on the side of the head.
Russell gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Hoca changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Russell uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Hoca.
Russell takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hoca moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
Hoca lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Hoca ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Russell moves away.
Russell is definitely looking for the counter takedowns here.
Hoca lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.
Russell has a pretty nasty looking mouse under his right eye.
Hoca missing with a left hand there. Russell was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
A little jabbing left from Russell on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.
A looping hook to the body misses from Hoca. Russell does a little dance to reset his feet.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Russell! But no joy.
Hoca lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Russell at a distance.
Russell drops his hands momentarily and Hoca takes advantage with a crisp shot to the head.
Hoca scores with a nice strike.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Necmettin Hoca dominated that round.
That's time! Hoca's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

A shot to the liver by Hoca. Beautiful body shot.
Hoca just misses with a punch to the body.
Russell lets it all go there with a big combo counter but none of the punches connected.
Hoca scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
Hoca throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
A shot to the liver by Hoca. Beautiful body shot.
Donk. Hoca catches Russell right on the button with a cross.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Hoca looks to score with a jab to the body but Russell is just out of range.
Russell is definitely looking for the counter takedowns here.
Hoca cracks Russell with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Russell steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Hoca.
Russell unleashes a big counter combination but Hoca bobs and weaves and avoids any damage.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hoca works the jab nicely.
Both these guys seem content to just stand up and trade with each other but Russell might want to think about changing up his gameplan a bit because over the course of the fight, Hoca has got the better of the exchanges.
Hoca lands with an uppercut that bounces Russell off the cage and back into range.
Russell with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Hoca to score with a decent uppercut.

Russell is rocked!
Hoca misses with a right hand
enabling Russell to counter with a crisp jab.
Hoca just misses with a punch to the body.
Hoca throws a body shot but no joy.
Russell swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Hoca throws a jab but it's blocked by Russell.
Hoca swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Russell throws out a counter right but Hoca avoids it with no problem.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hoca lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
Russell takes one to the chin there.
Hoca throws a couple of head shots and lands with the final one - a decent hook, which struck Russell on the side of the head.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Hoca fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Hoca throws a right hand that Russell ducks under and follows up with a left that Russell also avoids with ease.
Russell looked like he wanted to counter with a punch but didn't throw it.
Russell moves away from the strike by Hoca.
Hoca lands with an overhand left.
Necmettin Hoca is winning the standup battle so far.
Hoca lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
Hoca tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Russell was well out of range. Poor timing from Hoca.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Russell slips a jab from Hoca.
Hoca scores with a decent looking hook.
Nice body punch from Hoca.
Hoca connects with a lovely jab that went straight through the gap between Russell's hands.
A swing and a miss from Hoca.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Russell! But no joy.
Hoca scores with a hook to the body. Russell takes a step back and tries to catch his breath.
Hoca lands a nice looking body shot.
Necmettin Hoca seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Russell gets cracked with a nice right hand there by Hoca.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hoca feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Russells jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Hoca wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Hoca connects with a right hand. Russell shakes it off.
Russell avoids the body shot from Hoca.
Russell unleashes a big counter combination but Hoca bobs and weaves and avoids any damage.
Hoca connects with a nice looking jab.
Hoca scores with a hook.
Russell is still on wobbly legs! Can Hoca finish him?
Hoca lands with an overhand left.
Hoca lands a jab to Russell's midsection.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Necmettin Hoca dominated that second round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. And we move into the final round!

Russell on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Russell seems to have recovered his senses.
Russell's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Hoca connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Russell scrambles back to his feet.
Russell keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Russell looked like he wanted to counter with a punch but didn't throw it.
Jab, jab by Hoca - just one landing.
A telegraphed right hand from Hoca misses the target.
Hoca catches Russell with a nice straight right. He seems pissed - ooooh, it's on now! On like donkey kong!
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Hoca throws a right hand that misses
and Russell counters with a lovely straight right hand!

It looks like Necmettin Hoca has been cut.
Hoca pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
It seemed like Russell was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.

Hoca drops Russell with a beautiful combination! Russell stares up at his opponent, who ushers him back to his feet - Hoca is looking for the KO!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hoca cracks Russell with a nasty uppercut that draws ooohs from the crowd and sends Russell tumbling backwards onto the mat. He tries to recover but Hoca pounces and lands a hail of unanswered strikes that forces the referee to step in to end the fight! Russell is not happy but he gave the referee no choice!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:12 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Necmettin Hoca!