PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Holy Diver (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Hoyt Flarkgaard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Diver might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to Holy Diver by Dio. Holy Diver has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Diver
vs
Flarkgaard

161 cm
28
174 lbs
15 - 16 - 0

188 cm
25
177 lbs
5 - 2 - 0

Good takedowns
Good kicks
Experienced

BJJ Blue Belt
Decent boxing
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 15 - 16 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Holy Diver!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Hoyt Flarkgaard!
The judges for this bout are Matti Vanhoillinen, Roosa Järviläinen and Ben Zyskovitsi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Diver avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Flarkgaard with a hook.

It looks like Holy Diver has been cut.
Diver blocks a jab.

Diver shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Flarkgaard's guard.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Diver accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Diver working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.

Diver decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Flarkgaard throws a sloppy head kick and Diver moves out of range easily.
Flarkgaard misses with a wild combination.
Diver takes one on the chin but seems OK.
Diver tries for a takedown but Flarkgaard sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Diver looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Flarkgaard is fending him off so far but Diver persists. Nope, Flarkgaard circles away and we're back to standing.
Flarkgaard wants to counter with a clinch but Diver pushes him away.

Diver closes the distance and clinches.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Diver wants a takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Holy Diver. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Flarkgaard is trying to break the clinch but Diver is controlling him.

Diver has dropped down and is working for a takedown. Flarkgaard is trying to keep an underhook but Diver manages to get the takedown into half guard.
Diver throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Flarkgaard is refusing to be controlled, as Diver sits in half guard.
Flarkgaard is trying to control but can't.
Diver missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Diver working over Flarkgaard with some ground and pound. Flarkgaard looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Diver thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Flarkgaard's head.
Diver 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.
Diver missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Flarkgaard blocking the ground and pound attempt from Diver.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Flarkgaard is trying to control but can't.
Diver missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Flarkgaard keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Flarkgaard avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Diver.
Diver seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Flarkgaard does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Diver is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Flarkgaard avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Diver.
Flarkgaard is refusing to be controlled, as Diver sits in half guard.
Flarkgaard is looking to escape.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Diver misses with a takedown attempt - Flarkgaard sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diver shoots in but doesn't get the takedown
and Flarkgaard counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Hoyt Flarkgaard is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

Diver scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Nice strikes from Diver there.
Flarkgaard wants to get back to full guard.
Flarkgaard avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Diver.
Diver throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Diver throws a strike but Flarkgaard avoids it easily and moves to full guard.
Diver trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Diver landing with the ground and pound.
Diver controls from within his opponent's guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Diver throwing strikes but missing.
Diver stops Flarkgaard from standing up.
Diver is looking to work some ground and pound but Flarkgaard has wrist control.

Flarkgaard pushes Diver off for just long enough to get back to his feet. Very athletic spring there.
Flarkgaard slaps away a takedown attempt from Diver, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Flarkgaard is using his reach advantage to land shots from outside his opponent's range.
Diver shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Flarkgaard but Flarkgaard pushes him off and we're back to square one.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Holy Diver will probably get the nod.
The cut man is working on Holy Diver's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Flarkgaard throws a hard body shot but it just misses.

Diver gets the takedown into side control.
Diver controls the position from side control.
Flarkgaard is not content to let Diver control the position.
Flarkgaard tries to buck Diver off but Diver is having none of it.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Flarkgaard on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
You can see the frustration on Flarkgaard's face as Diver controls the position.
Diver is putting a hurting on Flarkgaard here, landing some big shots from side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Flarkgaard is not content to let Diver control the position.
Diver lands a few punches from side control.
Diver scores with punches from side control.
Diver in side control, throwing shots but Flarkgaard defends.
Diver working the head and body with strikes.
Diver scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Flarkgaard to see if he's OK.
Flarkgaard is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Diver cracks Flarkgaard with a big right hand but Flarkgaard just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Flarkgaard defending against the ground and pound.

Diver decides to stand back up. Diver steps back and let's Flarkgaard get back to his feet.

Diver shoots in and scores a nice double leg takedown into half guard.
Diver working Flarkgaard over with strikes.
Flarkgaard pushes Diver off looking to stand but Diver dives back in and keeps control.
Diver thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Diver lands strikes from half guard.
Diver frees up his trapped foot and advances to mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diver lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Flarkgaard hang on?
Diver with a couple of short strikes.
Diver lands a couple of good shots and Flarkgaard has given up his back, trying to escape the position!

Flarkgaard is rocked!
Diver is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Flarkgaard can do to turn this around?
Diver throwing lazy shots from the back mount that aren't doing any damage.
Flarkgaard trying to control but he's just got himself in more trouble.
Diver lands with a hammerfist to the side of Flarkgaard's head.
Can Flarkgaard hold on?! Diver is landing more strikes to his hapless foe.
Flarkgaard is still in real trouble! Can Diver finish him?
Diver is looking cool and calm here, just waiting for a good opportunity to attack and finish the fight from this dominant position.
Diver throwing strikes from the back - he gets a warning from the referee for striking the back of the head but all these shots are hurting Flarkgaard!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Diver scoring with big shots to the body. Flarkgaard is looking for a way out. A despairing look towards the ref and the official steps in to stop the fight. Flarkgaard was obviously done but didn't want to tap out.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:23 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Holy Diver!
After winning the bout, Holy Diver thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.