PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Travis Hunter (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ivan ORourke (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighter's entrance songs getting the crowd jumping here.

Hunter
vs
ORourke

170 cm
18
135 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

180 cm
21
135 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Intelligent

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Intelligent

Uncle Sam's Nutrition Superstore

O'Brannigan's Fightwear

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Travis Hunter!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Ivan ORourke!
The judges for this bout are Aleksei Zolotukhin, Vladimir Khabensky and Konstantin Menshow.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
ORourke keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
ORourke moves in looking to clinch but Hunter pushes him off.
ORourke is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
ORourke lands with a shot to the body.
ORourke throws a feint and then finishes with a kick to the body.
ORourke tries to clinch up.
ORourke lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.
Hunter misses with a double jab.

ORourke drives through and clinches with Hunter against the cage.
Hunter is trying to break free.
Hunter wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but ORourke has him pressed against the cage.
ORourke lands with a short shot to the head.
ORourke taking a break, stalling in the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hunter takes a shot to the head.
ORourke will no doubt start fighting again in a minute but for now he's just having a little rest, leaning Hunter up against the cage.
ORourke lands a left hand that snaps the head of Hunter backwards.
Hunter jumps guard but ORourke stands there with Hunter around his waist. Hunter gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
ORourke lands a shoulder strike.
ORourke lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Hunter backwards.
Hunter jumps guard but ORourke stands there with Hunter around his waist. Hunter gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Travis Hunter. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Hunter wants to break the clinch but can't.
ORourke is stalling here.
A right hand to the body from ORourke.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from ORourke.
ORourke leaning against his opponent.
Hunter can't break the clinch.
Hunter jumps guard but ORourke stands there with Hunter around his waist. Hunter gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
ORourke working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from ORourke.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A right hand to the body from ORourke.
Hunter is looking to break free of the clinch but ORourke has double underhooks.
ORourke softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
The fighters are pressed against the cage, as the pace of the fight slows.
Hunter has had enough of the clinch but ORourke keeps him there for the moment.
ORourke manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
ORourke lands a left hand.
A short uppercut from ORourke.
Hunter tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
ORourke lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Hunter.
Hunter tries to break the clinch but ORourke is controlling the position.
ORourke lands a nice uppercut.
ORourke lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Hunter letting ORourke take a breather here.

Hunter's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hunter walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
ORourke moves in looking to clinch but Hunter pushes him off.
ORourke tries to clinch up but Hunter circles away and keeps his distance.
ORourke is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
ORourke tries to close the distance and clinch but Hunter swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Ivan ORourke is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Hunter keeps the fight on the outside.
ORourke is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
ORourke feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Hunter's calf.
ORourke tries to close the distance and clinch up but Hunter swats him away and circles back towards the center.
ORourke tries to clinch but Hunter is having none of it.
Hunter misses with a double jab.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
ORourke tries to close the distance and clinch up but Hunter swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Hunter circles away from the clinch attempt.
ORourke is looking to clinch but Hunter is avoiding it.
ORourke fails in his attempt to clinch.
Hunter circles away from the clinch attempt.
ORourke moves in looking to clinch but Hunter pushes him off.
Hunter swats away the attempt to clinch by ORourke.
ORourke tries to close the distance and clinch but Hunter swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Hunter swats away the attempt to clinch by ORourke.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ivan ORourke dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

ORourke is looking to take this fight into the clinch.

ORourke gets a clinch.
ORourke softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
Hunter is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Hunter tries to break the clinch but ORourke is controlling the position.
Hunter is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Hunter tries to break the clinch but ORourke is controlling the position.
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as ORourke takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.
Hunter wants to break free but ORourke has control.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
ORourke lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.
ORourke lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Hunter wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.

Hunter is working on a single leg takedown against the cage. ORourke can't fight it off and eventually Hunter manages to take the fight to the floor. ORourke looks annoyed but at least he's managed to land in guard.

Hunter drops back looking for a heel hook - he quickly realises he's not going to get it but ORourke manages to dive on top of him before he can escape and now Hunter has ORourke in his guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
ORourke controls from within his opponent's guard.
Hunter wants to hit a switch here but ORourke passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Hunter there!
Hunter can't escape the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Hunter is working hard here to advance position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
ORourke controlling the position easily from mount.
Hunter is wriggling around trying to escape.

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.
ORourke really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Hunter. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ivan ORourke showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Hunter tries to keep at a distance but ORourke has taken the fight into the clinch.
ORourke working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Hunter jumps guard but ORourke stands there with Hunter around his waist. Hunter gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Hunter wants to break the clinch but can't.
ORourke lands on the inside with an uppercut.
ORourke lands a body shot.
ORourke lands with a good tight uppercut to the head.
Hunter is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Still in the clinch, ORourke scores with a nice short uppercut.
ORourke lands with a short punch from the clinch.
ORourke digs a right hand underneath Hunter's ribcage. Hunter let out a lung full of air as it connected.
Hunter has ORourke pressed up against the cage and is working for takedown. ORourke manages to improve position though and keeps the fight standing.
A nice left hand lands by ORourke.
Hunter is trying to break free.
ORourke stalling the fight.
Hunter tries to break the clinch but ORourke is controlling the position.
Hunter tries to break the clinch but ORourke is controlling the position.
Hunter has had enough of the clinch but ORourke keeps him there for the moment.
ORourke lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Hunter backwards.
ORourke keeps control of Hunter as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.

That's one minute gone in the round.
ORourke throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
ORourke stalling against the cage.
Hunter wants to break the clinch but can't.
Hunter wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
A short right hand to the side of the head by ORourke.
ORourke softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.

Hunter manages to pull guard.
Hunter wants to hit a switch here but ORourke passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Hunter there!
Hunter is wriggling around trying to escape.
ORourke controlling the pace for now.
Travis Hunter has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Hunter is in all sorts of trouble here.
Hunter throwing hammer fists to the chest of ORourke. What's that going to do exactly?
Hunter is desperately trying to improve his position but ORourke has a good base and remains in mount.
Hunter slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
Hunter is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hunter wants to get back to full guard but ORourke has mounted him!
Hunter tries to get back to half guard but can't.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
ORourke content just to control the position here.
Hunter tries to reverse the position but ORourke maintains control.
ORourke sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Hunter tries to reverse the position but ORourke maintains control.

And that's the end of the fight!
Ivan ORourke comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got ORourke winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 27:30
Judge Vladimir Khabensky scores the fight 27:30
Judge Konstantin Menshow scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Ivan ORourke!