PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Will Rook (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Michael Pope (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Rook comes to the cage accompanied by Shinedown-Simple Man. Pope has chosen For Whom The Bell Tolls as his entrance music. Michael Pope has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Rook
vs
Pope

178 cm
27
217 lbs
11 - 13 - 0

190 cm
27
213 lbs
14 - 11 - 0

Good wrestling
Lethal high kicks
Very quick

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 11 - 13 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Will Rook!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 11 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Michael Pope!
The judges for this bout are Leandro Rodrigues, Mauricio Rocha and Matheus Silva.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Rook tries to score with a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Pope checks a leg kick.
Pope defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Rook.
Rook chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Pope can pounce on him.
Pope tries to clinch up.
Will Rook seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Rook misses the shot to the body.
Pope takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Rook throws a leg kick but Pope checks it.
Pope sizes up Rook with a pawing jab and scores with a straight right down the middle.
A head kick by Rook misses
and Pope counters with a good low kick that Rook was not able to check.
Rook ducks under a wild hook from Pope.

Rook closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
It looks like the ref is thinking about a standup.
Pope controlling the leg, holding on to half guard.
Rook wants to control but Pope is keeping him busy.
Pope slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Rook tries to free his leg and advance position but Pope is retaining full guard.
Pope controlling Rook's posture.
Rook is looking to work some ground and pound but Pope has wrist control.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Rook wants to control from the top but Pope keeps moving.
Rook postures up in Pope's guard and throws a big left but Pope blocks it.
Pope has Rook pulled in close to control his posture.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Rook shoots in for a takedown but Pope shows good takedown defense.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Rook uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Pope.
Pope uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Rook.

Rook closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Pope is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Rook is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Pope is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.

Rook thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.
Rook wants to stand but Pope is controlling his arm.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pope tries to improve position but can't.
Pope is trying to get back to half guard. He's pushing on Rook's leg. He's managed it. Nice work.
Rook looks to land a strike but Pope avoids it nicely and regains full guard.
Rook has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Rook postures up in Pope's guard and throws a big left but Pope blocks it.
Pope keeping moving, preventing Rook from controlling successfully.
Pope is adopting a defensive guard.
Rook trying to control the position from guard on top but Pope is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
We must be close to a standup if these guys don't pick up the pace.
Pope thows some rabbit punches from the bottom but they don't do any damage.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up, due to lack of activity on the part of Will Rook.
Rook tries to land a leg kick but Pope saw it coming and moves away.
Rook wants to land a leg kick but Pope is out of range.
Rook throws a right and a left that Pope avoids nicely.
Pope goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Pope with a hook.
Rook shoots for a takedown but Pope saw that one coming a mile off and avoided it easily.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Will Rook. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Pope displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Rook.
Michael Pope is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Rook is breathing heavily.
Rook takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Rook throws a push kick but Pope slaps the foot to one side.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Pope clinches up with Rook and pushes him back against the cage.
Pope works for underhooks and lands a body shot in the process.
A left hand lands to the body for Pope.
Pope makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Michael Pope dominated that round.
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.

Pope is moving around nicely and scores here with a single head shot.
Rook fails with a takedown attempt.
Pope lands a nice leg kick that just misses Rook's sensitive parts.
Pope misses with a straight left.
Michael Pope seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Rook misses with a head kick.
Rook throws a head kick that misses.
A chopping leg kick lands by Pope.
Pope lands an overhand right.
A lazy left from Pope finds it's target.

Rook is rocked!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Pope has managed to clinch.
Pope swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Rook is trying to break the clinch but Pope is controlling him.
Pope on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.

Pope breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Pope lands a jab and follows it up with a massive straight that knocks Rook out cold! Rook is crumpled in the corner, his head only propped up by the cage! That's one for the organiziational promos right there! Wow, what a finish!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:57 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Punches). Michael Pope!
Michael Pope spent the whole post fight interview bigging himself up. It didn't go down that well with the fans after a while as they thought it was a bit arrogant.