PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Jack Skellington (ranked 1007 p4p, 999 weight class) and Mikhail Popkov (ranked 150 p4p, 147 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Skellington
vs
Popkov

185 cm
29
185
11 - 3 - 0

200 cm
21
195
6 - 1 - 0

Good takedowns
Basic striking
Good chin

BJJ Brown Belt
Excellent boxer
Good gas tank

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 11 - 3 - 0, fighting out of New York, Jack Skellington!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Mikhail Popkov!
The judges for this bout are Jack Bonds, Frank Antenori and Don Winkell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Popkov throws a body shot but no joy.
Skellington shoots in for a takedown. "I don't think so" says Popkov as he avoids it easily.
Skellington darts in looking for a takedown but Popkov gets double underhooks and turns Skellington into the cage.

Popkov pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Popkov slaps away a takedown attempt from Skellington, before circling back to the center of the mat.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jack Skellington. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Skellington shoots for a double leg takedown but Popkov sprawls well. He's pushed Skellington's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Nice takedown defense from Popkov. No joy for Skellington on that attempt.
Popkov swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Popkov misses with a straight left.
Popkov is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Skellington goes for a double leg but Popkov avoids the attempt and the two fighters end up clinched against the cage as Popkov continues to drive forward.
Popkov throws out a counter right but Skellington avoids it with no problem.
Popkov lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Popkov stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
Popkov scores with a shoulder strike.

Skellington jumps guard and drags Popkov to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.

Popkov decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Popkov feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Skellingtons jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Skellington has been working on his boxing with his coaches at Tran MMA Gym in the buildup to the fight.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Skellington gets his head snapped back by a nice shot there.
Popkov feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Skellingtons jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Skellington ducks under a wild hook from Popkov.
Skellington misses with a takedown
and Popkov counters with a straight right hand.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Jab, jab by Popkov - just one landing.

Skellington is rocked!
Popkov measures up his opponent and throws a superman punch that connects to the jaw! Down goes Skellington! The ref steps in, and that's the ball game folks!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:13 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Superman Punch). Mikhail Popkov!
A relieved looking Mikhail Popkov thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.