PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Dunch Henry (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and John Askren (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Henry
vs
Askren

175 cm
27
175 lbs
12 - 8 - 1

178 cm
27
184 lbs
15 - 9 - 1

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Very strong

Good wrestler
Excellent boxer
Good gas tank

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 12 - 8 - 1, fighting out of St Petersburg, Dunch Henry!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 9 - 1, fighting out of St Petersburg, John Askren!
The judges for this bout are Ivan Kurochkin, Fedor Mirinova and Sergei Dronov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Askren tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Henry paws at him with a jab and circles away.
The fight stays on the outside here - Askren looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Henry pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Askren connects with a jab.
Askren lunges at Henry with a hook that half lands and is half blocked by Henry's hand.
John Askren seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Henry takes a swing at Askren's ribcage but misses.
A head kick misses from Askren.
Askren throws a half hearted mid kick.
Henry shoots in but Askren avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Askren tries to clinch but Henry moves out of range.
Henry circles away from the clinch attempt.
Askren wants to clinch
enabling Henry to counter with a crisp jab.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Askren throws a lazy right hand but Henry sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Henry tries for a takedown but Askren sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Henry with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Askren to score with a decent uppercut.
Askren misses with a series of wild punches.
Nice jab there from Henry.
Askren feints a jab promting Henry to slip. Askren then demonstrates his capabilities by jabbing again. Henry slips again and ducks right into an uppercut.
Askren lands a two punch combo.
Askren tries to close the distance and clinch but Henry swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Askren misses the jab.
Henry takes a swing at Askren's ribcage but misses.
Henry with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Askren to score with a decent uppercut.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Some wild striking there from Askren.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Henry is defended easily by Askren.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Dunch Henry. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Askren displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Henry throws out the jab.
Henry throws a poor cross that misses
and Askren counters with a body kick that stops Henry in his tracks momentarily.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
The fight stays on the outside here - Askren looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Askren ducks under a wild hook from Henry.
Askren misses with a wild body shot.
Askren feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Henrys jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Askren just misses with a punch to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Askren takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Askren uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Henry.
Askren chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Askren tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Henry paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Askren fails in his attempt to clinch.

Askren closes the distance and clinches.
Askren prevents the takedown attempt.

Askren is fighting off a takedown attempt but Henry is just too persistent for him and manages to trip Askren to the mat. Askren regains guard as soon as the fighters hit the mat.
Askren utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Askren is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Henry throws a big right hand that misses.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Henry stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Askren swivels though and keeps the full guard.

Askren kicks Henry off and gets to his feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Askren connects with a jab.
Henry connects with a jab.
A jab from Askren finds it's way through Henry's defenses.
Henry stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Askren.
Askren throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Askren ducks under a wild hook from Henry.

Askren drops down and drives through with a powerful takedown into guard.
Askren wants to get up but he can't break Henry's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Henry can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Askren controls the pace.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Askren dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Askren slaps away a takedown attempt from Henry, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Askren tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Henry was well out of range. Poor timing from Askren.
Askren digs a good hook to Henry's body.
Henry's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Askren connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Henry scrambles back to his feet.
Henry takes one on the button.
Askren lands a nice leg kick that just misses Henry's sensitive parts.
Some wild striking there from Henry.
Henry ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Henry shoots for a takedown but Askren saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
Askren takes a swing at Henry's ribcage but misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henry misses with an uppercut.
Nice body kick from Askren.
Askren bobs and weaves and unloads with a good uppercut.
Henry chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Askren can pounce on him.
Henry throws a hook to the side of Askren's head but Askren sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Henry throws out a loose jab but Askren uses good head movement to avoid it.

Askren instigates a clinch.
Askren pressing his opponent against the cage.
A battle for position here, against the cage.

Henry breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Henry uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Askren.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Henry scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Askren looks for the body kick but Henry saw that one coming.
Askren lands a leg kick that knocks Henry off balance momentarily.
Askren throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Askren wants to clinch up but Henry keeps it at a distance.

Askren drives through and clinches with Henry against the cage.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Askren has a couple of punches blocked by Henry.

Henry breaks from the clinch.

Henry shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Henry was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Henry landing strikes from the mount and Askren is in trouble!
Henry misses with a head shot.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Henry cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Askren holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Henry tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Henry misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Henry punching from mount but Askren doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Askren wants to get back to his feet.
Henry throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Henry throwing strikes here but Askren is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.
Henry misses with a head shot.
Askren tries to hold on but Henry pushes him away.
Askren is trying to stand.
Henry lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Henry punishing his opponent with strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
A nice elbow there by Henry.

Askren bucks up and throws Henry to the side - he's got back to his feet. Great escape!
Henry throws out a loose jab but Askren uses good head movement to avoid it.

Askren rushes Henry and presses him up against the cage.
Henry looking for a takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Dunch Henry. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Come on Askren - let's have some action - none of this stalling nonsense.
Henry has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Henry is looking for a takedown up against the cage. Askren gets underhooks though and prevents the takedown attempt.
Henry prevents a body shot from Askren.
Askren missing with knees to the body.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Askren keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Henry's efforts to push away.
Askren stalling in the clinch but Henry improves position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Dunch Henry will probably get the nod.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Askren throws a decent looking leg kick but it doesn't land clean.
Askren scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Askren takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
Askren waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Henry.
Askren doesn't manage to clinch there - Henry circles away.
John Askren seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Henry gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Henry listening to his corner there, landing a nice uppercut.
Askren misses with a straight right.
Henry getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Henry bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Askren's head.
Askren goes for a high kick. It partially lands.
Henry tries to score a power double leg takedown but Askren sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Henry somewhat.
Askren throws a jab when Henry was well out of range.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Askren wants to clinch up but Henry keeps it at a distance.
Askren goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Henry is really head hunting here, hardly looking to strike to the body at all.
Askren throws out a powerful jab.
Henry misses with a looping right.
Henry fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Henry checks the leg kick.

Askren forces Henry back against the cage and clinches.
Askren misses with a short punch on the inside.
Askren just leaning against Henry, taking a breather.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Henry goes for a takedown in the clinch but Askren prevents it.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Dunch Henry. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Henry changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Askren fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Askren tries to clinch but Henry moves out of range.
Henry throws a jab when Askren was well out of range.
Askren misses with a wild body shot.
Askren tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Henry paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Askren tries to clinch up but Henry circles away and keeps his distance.
Askren lands with a kick to the temple. Henry shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
A punch lands to the side of Henry 's head but he takes it in his stride.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
No luck with that takedown attempt from Henry.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Askren throws a head kick that misses

and Henry counters with a shoot takedown. Askren fights it but they end up in guard.
Askren not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Henry missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Askren working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Henry.
Askren preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Henry prevents Askren from getting back to his feet.
Dunch Henry overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Henry throws a big right hand that misses.
Henry missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Henry throws a strike but Askren rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.
Askren trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Henry has a closed guard, preventing Askren from standing up.
Henry trying to control the position.
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!
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Henry keeping moving, preventing Askren from controlling successfully.

And that's the end of the fight!
John Askren comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Askren has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Ivan Kurochkin scores the fight 28:30
Judge Fedor Mirinova scores the fight 28:29
Judge Sergei Dronov scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... John Askren!
John Askren thanked the fans post fight for their support.