PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Vincent Lemieux (ranked 756 p4p, 2242 weight class) and Mikhail Martynov (ranked 28 p4p, 81 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Lemieux
vs
Martynov

193 cm
42
270
31 - 29 - 0

175 cm
32
275
14 - 13 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Olympic wrestler
World class MT
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 31 - 29 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Vincent Lemieux!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 13 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Mikhail Martynov!
The judges for this bout are Andrew Berry, Richard Clark and William Gold.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Martynov works Lemieux's body with a nice hook.
Martynov tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Lemieux paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Martynov cracks Lemieux with an open hand slap.
Lemieux is looking to clinch but Martynov is avoiding it.

Lemieux moves into the clinch.
Martynov tries to throw a body punch but Lemieux avoids it by throwing Martynov back against the cage.
Martynov struggles to land a body shot inside as Lemieux controls his hands.
Lemieux is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
Lemieux blocks an elbow strike.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Martynov.
Lemieux misses with a body punch.
Martynov misses with a punch on the inside.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Martynov breaks from the clinch.
Lemieux fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Lemieux shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Martynov pinned against the cage. Martynov gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Vincent Lemieux. That's going to take a lot out of him.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A telegraphed right hand from Lemieux misses the target.
Martynov misses with an uppercut

and Lemieux counters by moving into the clinch.
Martynov throws a knee to the head but misses.
Martynov is pushing Lemieux up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
Lemieux blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Martynov has a couple of punches blocked by Lemieux.
Martynov misses with a short punch on the inside.
Martynov tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Lemieux's elbow.
Martynov letting Lemieux take a breather here.
Lemieux takes a shot to the head.
Martynov lands an elbow inside.

It looks like Vincent Lemieux has been cut.
Lemieux stalling against the cage.
Martynov is looking to control Lemieux's arms but Lemieux gets an underhook and turns him. Now Martynov has his back to the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Lemieux manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Lemieux will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Martynov has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Lemieux is proving hard to escape from.
Lemieux pulls Martynov in to control the position.

Martynov gets to his feet. Lemieux looking to butt scoot but the ref puts an end to that. On your feet son!
Martynov looks to score with a jab to the body but Lemieux is just out of range.
Lemieux looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Martynov is fending him off so far but Lemieux persists. Nope, Martynov circles away and we're back to standing.
Martynov looks to score with a jab to the body but Lemieux is just out of range.
Martynov takes a swing at Lemieux's ribcage but misses.

Martynov clinches up with Lemieux and pushes him back against the cage.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Lemieux is trying to work for a single leg takedown but Martynov pulls him back up using the underhooks.
Martynov goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Lemieux tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.

Martynov escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A punch combination from Lemieux misses.
Lemieux fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Martynov is trying to avoid his opponent's strikes and get into the clinch.
Lemieux on the wrong end of a decent looking cross there.
Lemieux ducks under a wild hook from Martynov.
Lemieux throws a hook but Martynov blocks it.
Martynov tries to counter with a clinch but Lemieux shakes him off and moves away.
Martynov displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
Martynov throws a lazy right hand but Lemieux sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.

Martynov fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Lemieux, pushing him back against the cage.
Martynov with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.

Lemieux drags the fight down to the ground.
Lemieux is looking to stand up but Martynov isn't so interested in that idea.

Martynov stands and steps away. Lemieux gets to his feet too and we're back to the striking game.
Some wild striking there from Lemieux.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Lemieux tries to clinch up.
Martynov misses with a wild body shot.
Martynov missing with a left hand there. Lemieux was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Lemieux is defended easily by Martynov.
Lemieux throws a wild body kick that Martynov sees coming a mile off.
Martynov throws a couple of head shots and lands with the final one - a decent hook, which struck Lemieux on the side of the head.
Martynov jabs Lemieux to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Lemieux tries for a takedown but Martynov circles away easily
and Martynov counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Martynov misses with a hook. Lemieux ducked under it nicely.
Lemieux blocks a jab.
A swing and a miss from Martynov.
Martynov's coach down at St Petersburg MMA Gym was telling us pre-fight that they have been working on Martynov's balance. Obviously they view that as a key factor in the outcome of this fight.
Martynov jabs at Lemieux's body.
Lemieux throws a sloppy head kick and Martynov moves out of range easily.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Mikhail Martynov dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Vincent Lemieux'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.

Martynov stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Martynov wants it to stay on the feet.
Martynov has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

Lemieux darts in and clinches Martynov up against the cage.
Lemieux jumps guard but his hands slip and he falls flat on his back. Well, he's made himself look a right mug there, as Martynov walks away with a smile on his face. Lemieux gets slowly back to his feet and shakes his head.
Lemieux blocks a jab.
Lemieux is looking to clinch but Martynov is avoiding it.
Martynov scores with a shot to the body.

Martynov gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Martynov is working Lemieux over against the cage.
Lemieux swings away with an uppercut that misses.

Lemieux breaks the clinch.
Martynov rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and Lemieux makes him pay by landing a nice hook to the body before moving out of range.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Martynov gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Lemieux.

Martynov breaks the clinch.
Martynov misses with a hook.
Martynov displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Lemieux.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Vincent Lemieux. That's going to take a lot out of him.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martynov scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Martynov lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
Martynov is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Lemieux.
Lemieux tries to score a power double leg takedown but Martynov sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Lemieux somewhat.
A little jabbing left from Martynov on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.
A cross from Martynov lands.
Martynov pushing out the jab but it's not landing.

Martynov closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Martynov stops a takedown attempt from Lemieux.
I was talking to Lemieux's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Lemieux lands a good knee to the midsection. Martynov won't want to take too many of those.
Mikhail Martynov seems to be working more effectively in the clinch in the fight so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Martynov breaks the clinch.
Martynov throws a jab but it's blocked by Lemieux.
Lemieux ducks under a wild hook from Martynov.
Lemieux tries to close the distance and clinch but Martynov swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Martynov lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.

Martynov closes the distance and clinches.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Martynov softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.

Lemieux is rocked!
Martynov tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Oh Lemieux is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Martynov lands a good knee to the midsection. Lemieux won't want to take too many of those.
Martynov lands an uppercut in the clinch that drops Lemieux to his knees! Martynov keeps firing more shots against his stricken opponent and the referee jumps in to save him!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:44 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Mikhail Martynov!
Mikhail Martynov decided to thank the fans in attendance for making a great atmosphere. It seemed to go down pretty well.