PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Tom Bowman (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joe Risley (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Bowman
vs
Risley

178 cm
31
177 lbs
15 - 7 - 1

179 cm
36
177 lbs
24 - 11 - 1

Abu Dhabi Champ
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Olympic wrestler
World class MT
Good gas tank

Urban Fighter

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the welterweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 15 - 7 - 1, fighting out of New York, Tom Bowman!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 24 - 11 - 1, fighting out of Amsterdam, Joe Risley!
The judges for this bout are Paul Aken, Aafke Stam and Albert Achterberg.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Bowman walks straight into a jab right on the nose. That one stung - he's blinking and trying to clear his head.
Risley fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.

Bowman shoots in with a lovely double leg takedown. Risley manages to land in full guard to minimise the damage.
Risley looking to hit a scissor sweep but Bowman is one step ahead there.
Bowman trying to control the position from guard on top but Risley is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
We've been hearing good reports from Bowman's training camp. Apparently he has been rolling around with some good quality BJJ practitioners and has been sharpening his skills. Let's see if that has an impact on the fight today.
Risley not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Risley keeping moving, preventing Bowman from controlling successfully.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Risley isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Bowman stacks Risley on his neck as he steps over and passes to the side. He's now in a much more dominant position where he can look to do some serious damage. Nice move by Bowman!
Bowman tries to advance position but instead Risley slips a leg back in to half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The fighters are battling for position here. Risley manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Risley looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Bowman trying to control but Risley is working from the bottom.
Bowman is really struggling to control Risley but he's trying to hold on to the position.
Bowman stopping the sweep attempt from Risley.
Bowman trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Bowman is working hard here to advance position.
Bowman trying to control but Risley is working from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Bowman advances position into side control!
Risley tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Bowman wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.

Bowman thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.

Bowman tries for a kimura but Risley is defending well.

Bowman tries for a kimura but Risley is defending well.
Risley is looking for a sweep.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Bowman tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.

Bowman tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Bowman has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Risley is not content to let Bowman control the position.

Bowman is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Risley has escaped the position, nice work there.

Bowman tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.

Bowman has worked his way into a potential kimura here. Risley is trying to get out of the position but his squirming has just got him deeper into trouble. Bowman yanks on the arm and Risley is forced to tap due to a very painful looking submission! Nice work by Bowman.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:27 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Tom Bowman!
Tom Bowman retains his welterweight title!
After winning the bout, Tom Bowman thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.