PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Pelle Hermano (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ben Henley (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Hermano comes to the cage accompanied by Driving Blind. These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Hermano
vs
Henley

150 cm
30
148 lbs
20 - 9 - 0

176 cm
31
156 lbs
23 - 16 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

BJJ Red Belt
World class boxer
Good gas tank

Sully's Bar & Grill
Bullet Proof System

Sully's Bar & Grill
KAISER

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 20 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Pelle Hermano!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 23 - 16 - 0, fighting out of London, Ben Henley!
The judges for this bout are William Gold, Andrew Berry and James Atkins.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Henley lands a right hook to the body.
Hermano loads up on a big right hand but Henley slips the punch.
And Henley tries to counter it with a takedown but Hermano pushes his down on his head and steps out.
Hermano throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Hermano throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Jab by Hermano.
Hermano throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Henley sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Henley with the counter takedown but Hermano avoids it easily.
Hermano loads up on a big right hand but Henley slips the punch.
Henley misses with a hook. Hermano ducked under it nicely.

Henley shoots in with a lovely double leg takedown. Hermano manages to land in full guard to minimise the damage.
Hermano is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Hermano might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Henley is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Hermano is trying to keep Henley in close.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henley trying to control the position from guard on top but Hermano is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Hermano escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Henley gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.

Hermano looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
Henley in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Henley wants to control from the top but Hermano keeps moving.
Henley with a nice head shot there.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.

Hermano is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Henley lands a couple of digs.
Henley is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Hermano trying to keep a closed guard but Henley is proving a slippery customer.
Henley throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Hermano works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Henley is working Hermano over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Henley has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Henley works over Hermano with some ground and pound from guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Henley postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Henley throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hermano lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Hermano is working Henley over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.

Henley had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Hermano defends it easily.
Henley looking for a sweep. Not yet Henley, not yet.
Henley looking to control.
Henley trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hermano wants to control from the top but Henley keeps moving.
Hermano postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Henley has momentary wrist control but Hermano slips an elbow through the middle.
Hermano throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Hermano postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Hermano throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Hermano scoring with some ground and pound.
Hermano content to stall in guard here.
Henley has Hermano pulled in close to control his posture.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Ben Henley will probably get the nod.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

A looping hook to the body misses from Henley. Hermano does a little dance to reset his feet.
Hermano is looking to counter punch.
Hermano throws a body shot but no joy.
Hermano is really struggling to find his range with his punches. Henley's reach advantage is clearly causing him problems.
Hermano throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Henley sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Henley clobbers Hermano with an overhand right that has the crowd gasping. That made a horrendous noise.
Hermano swings widly with a right hand
and Henley cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Henley throws a hook to the side of Hermano's head but Hermano sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Hermano takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
That kick from Hermano tenderised Henley's leg. Henley is trying to keep his angry face on.
Henley jabbing away but nothing is landing.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Hermano throws a leg kick
and Henley counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Hermano thinking.
Hermano feints and then cracks Henley's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Henley down.
Henley changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Hermano throws a body kick despite being completely out of range

and Henley counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
Henley prevents Hermano from improving his position.
Henley has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Hermano is looking for a sweep. Henley is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Hermano moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Henley keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Hermano's head.
Henley stays in close to Hermano's body and controls the position.
Henley scoring with some ground and pound.
Henley seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Henley looking to pass the guard.

Hermano working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Henley doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Henley manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.

Hermano is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Henley defends well.
Henley looking to sit in guard and control but Hermano gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Henley looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Hermano passes into side control.
The referee asks Hermano politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Hermano prefers to stall for the moment though.
Henley can't do much from the bottom here.
Hermano wants to control but Henley is keeping him busy.
Henley can't do much from the bottom here.
Henley throws an elbow to the body but it doesn't land.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Hermano landing a few strikes.
Henley struggling a bit here.
Hermano wants to lay and pray for a moment but Henley keeps working.
Henley manages to get one leg in to regain half guard.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Henley desperately trying to maintain half guard.
Ben Henley has got the better of the ground game so far.
Hermano is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ben Henley showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Hermano tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Henley was well out of range. Poor timing from Hermano.
Henley defending well as Hermano loads up on a big left hand.
Hermano moves out of range of the strikes.
Hermano feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Henley's calf.

Henley gets caught flat footed, as Hermano shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.

Henley is active off his back here, looking for submissions.

Henley throws his legs up looking to secure a triangle. Oh, that looks pretty tight, I gotta say! Hermano escapes and throws Henley's legs to the side, diving into side control!
Henley tries to improve position but can't.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Hermano lands a few punches from side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hermano lands a nice forearm strike.
Hermano wants to lay and pray for a moment but Henley keeps working.
Henley tries to bench press Hermano off him but Hermano keeps the position.
Henley takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Henley manages to get back to half guard.
Henley holds on for dear life, maintaining half guard for now.
Henley is not content to let Hermano control the position.
Pelle Hermano has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Henley regains full guard. Nicely done.
Henley wants to control but Hermano passes easily into half guard.
Hermano is trying to control the action in half guard but Henley is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Hermano thows a huge punch but Henley dodges it nicely.
Hermano is just content to waste time from the top position. Henley takes advantage of the situation and regains full guard.
Hermano wants to control from the top but Henley keeps moving.
Henley not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Hermano connects with a couple of short punches.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Henley has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Hermano can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Henley looking to control.

Henley looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Hermano passes into half guard.
Henley trying to hold on to Hermano's head to control him but Hermano postures up.
Henley wants to control the action here but instead Hermano manages to pass to full mount!
Henley is trying to escape the mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hermano breaks from Henley's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Hermano punishing his opponent with strikes.
Henley is in all sorts of trouble here.
Henley gets back to half guard.

Henley has hold of a guillotine but he's not going to be able to crank on it really with only half guard, so it's no trouble for Hermano. Oh but Henley has got full guard now! Oh boy! This one could be over very soon! Hermano goes limp - he's gone! Henley jumps up and celebrates with the crowd - fantastic submission finish!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:51 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Guillotine). Ben Henley!
Ben Henley really struggled to get his t-shirt on before his hand was raised. Making sure that Milwaukee's Best 160 logo gets some air time is pretty tricky when you're all sweaty.