PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Ronnie McDonald (ranked 3956 p4p, 350 weight class) and Jan Pope (ranked 2993 p4p, 286 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think McDonald might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to Get Busy Living. The crowd giving both fighters a great reception on their way into the arena. That's good to see.

McDonald
vs
Pope

165 cm
35
155 lbs
15 - 22 - 0

181 cm
34
153 lbs
19 - 19 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
Excellent MT
Powerful

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 15 - 22 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Ronnie McDonald!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 19 - 19 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Jan Pope!
The judges for this bout are Radbod Blank, Aafke Stam and Albert Achterberg.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pope misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
McDonald looked to counter with a high kick but didn't commit.
McDonald tries to clinch there but Pope circles away.
Pope looks to score with a jab to the body but McDonald is just out of range.
Pope is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
McDonald lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Pope circles away quickly and effectively.
McDonald feints and then cracks Pope's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Pope down.
Pope connects with a looping right hand.
Nice uppercut there from Pope.
McDonald throws a head kick that half lands.

McDonald feints and as Pope raises his hands in defense, McDonald changes levels and drives through with a takedown into guard.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Pope wants to hit a switch here but McDonald passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Pope there!
McDonald controlling the position easily from mount.
McDonald's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.

That's one minute gone in the round.
McDonald cracks Pope with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
McDonald controlling the pace for now.
Pope is flailing around like a fish out of water, trying to land strikes.
McDonald looking to control and managing it successfully.
McDonald lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
McDonald looking to control and managing it successfully.
Pope tries to reverse the position but McDonald maintains control.
Pope tries to hold on but McDonald postures up.
McDonald sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Further stalling from McDonald.
Pope tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Pope keeps trying to improve his position.
McDonald sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Pope taking shots to the head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
McDonald working away from the top, dropping strikes.
McDonald controlling from mount.
McDonald 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.
Pope keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
McDonald lands a couple of good shots and Pope has given up his back, trying to escape the position!
Pope tries to escape the position.
McDonald trying to secure his dominant position for a moment - making sure Pope doesn't escape.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Pope trying to control the hands but McDonald breaks the grip.
McDonald lands a shot to the body.
McDonald lands with a nice looking elbow that stuns Pope.
McDonald is looking to finish with some ground and pound!
Pope tries to break free.
McDonald punishes Pope with strikes from the back mount.
I would not like to be Pope right now.

McDonald looking to break Pope's wrist control so he can sink in the choke. Pope remaining controlled and patient though - he really has to keep calm otherwise McDonald will wrap this one up with the rear naked choke!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

McDonald is persistently looking for the submission but Pope is defending it well.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ronnie McDonald dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Pope cracks a nice hook into McDonald's ribs.
Pope has his hands up protecting his head but a hook from McDonald finds it's way round the side to connect with Pope's head.
Pope stuffs the takedown.
Pope lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
McDonald uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Pope.

Pope gets tackled into the cage by McDonald. McDonald maintains the clinch.
McDonald looks to be in better condition than last time we saw him fight. Obviously he's been working hard on his cardio.

McDonald escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
McDonald fails with a takedown attempt.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
McDonald doesn't manage to clinch there - Pope circles away.

McDonald darts in and clinches Pope up against the cage.
McDonald softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
Pope tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
McDonald fails to pull the fight into his guard.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Ronnie McDonald. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Pope misses with a hook from the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
McDonald lands on the inside with an uppercut.
McDonald lands a hook that snaps the head of Pope backwards.
The fighters are pressed against the cage, as the pace of the fight slows.
McDonald is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Pope can do to turn this around?
McDonald working hard to break the clinch.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.
McDonald is working for takedown but Pope is calmly controlling the position for now.
McDonald blocking some punches.
A head punch on the inside from McDonald fails to land.
McDonald is trying to break the clinch but Pope has him pressed against the cage.
McDonald changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Pope fights it off and pushes away nicely.
McDonald misses with a looping right.
McDonald gets his head snapped back by a nice shot there.
Ronnie McDonald seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

McDonald moves into the clinch.
Pope missing with knees to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Pope lands a nice shot to the body.
Pope blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Pope looking to throw knees to the head but McDonald is blocking nicely.

McDonald escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
McDonald slips a jab and a cross from Pope.
McDonald lands a head kick. Pope smiles back at him and beckons him forward.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Pope scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
McDonald misses with a body kick.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from McDonald.
McDonald throws a head kick that misses.
Pope throws out a powerful jab.
Pope lands a leg kick that knocks McDonald off balance momentarily.
McDonald doesn't manage to clinch there - Pope circles away.
McDonald wants to clinch up but Pope keeps it at a distance.
Pope appeared to try and counter that last move with a leg kick.
McDonald lands with a nice low kick. That'll leave a bruise.

McDonald shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. McDonald showed some decent athleticism there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
McDonald blocks the strikes from Pope.
Pope trying to control from the bottom.
McDonald not doing much here.
Pope wants to get back to his feet.
Pope trying to control from the bottom.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with McDonald in particular looking to stall.
McDonald seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Pope does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
McDonald trying to control the pace.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Pope lands a jab to McDonald's midsection.
McDonald takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
McDonald shoots in looking for a takedown. Pope tries to sprawl out of it but McDonald keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Pope manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
McDonald goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
McDonald wants to clinch.
McDonald is looking to clinch but Pope is avoiding it.
McDonald connects with a leg kick. Pope looked like he was expecting something else and didn't defend it.
Pope looks to land a right hand but McDonald moved out of range.
McDonald tries to clinch up but Pope circles away and keeps his distance.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Jan Pope will probably get the nod - 10:9.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

McDonald throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.
McDonald has a takedown stuffed.
Pope misses with a looping right.
McDonald seemed to be looking to counter by closing the distance.

McDonald shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Pope napping and manages to drive through into side control!
Pope is looking for a sweep.
McDonald trying to control the position but Pope is working away.
Pope is looking for a sweep.
Pope is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
McDonald is moving around in side control but his primary objective seems to be to maintain the position.
McDonald advances to mount.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pope throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
Pope is squirming around, avoiding McDonald's attempts to control the action.
McDonald controlling from the full mount.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Pope throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
McDonald controlling his opponent.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, McDonald cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
McDonald controlling the position easily from mount.
McDonald wants to control the pace but Pope is squirming around nicely.
McDonald takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Pope is trying to escape the mount.
A nice elbow there by McDonald.
McDonald landing strikes from the mount and Pope is in trouble!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
McDonald controlling from the full mount.
McDonald landing strikes, looking to finish!
Pope is looking to improve his position but McDonald isn't that keen on the idea.
Ronnie McDonald overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
McDonald sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Pope is looking to get to half guard.
McDonald working the ground and pound effectively.
McDonald controlling from the full mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
If it seems like I'm not saying a lot, it's just because McDonald is stinking the place up with his stalling.
McDonald with shots to the head and body - Pope looks very uncomfortable down there.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
McDonald sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Pope is desperately trying to get back to half guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Ronnie McDonald showed his dominance in that final round.
I think McDonald has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Radbod Blank scores the fight 29:28
Judge Aafke Stam scores the fight 29:28
Judge Albert Achterberg scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Ronnie McDonald!
Our winner, Ronnie McDonald, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.