PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Big Hurt (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Zhenya Tsiunchik (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Tsiunchik has a niggling injury. He would have liked to come in 100% fit but that's not always possible. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Hurt
vs
Tsiunchik

176 cm
19
197 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

185 cm
19
200 lbs
0 - 3 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Enjoys gardening

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Big Hurt!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Zhenya Tsiunchik!
The judges for this bout are Fedor Mirinova, Viktor Lagutenko and Aleksei Zolotukhin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Tsiunchik dives in and grabs Hurt's left leg, looking for a takedown. Hurt pushes down on Tsiunchik's head and hops out.
Tsiunchik looks gassed!

Hurt closes the distance and clinches.
Tsiunchik is looking for a takedown up against the cage. Hurt gets underhooks though and prevents the takedown attempt.

Hurt has clasped his hands together around Tsiunchik's back... aaand, he's got a takedown into side control. Nicely done.

Hurt has had enough of the ground for now and decides to stand.

Hurt shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Tsiunchik napping and manages to drive through into side control!
Hurt cracks Tsiunchik with an elbow. That is naaassty.
Tsiunchik is letting Hurt control him for a moment.
Tsiunchik takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Hurt scoring with punches from side control.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Hurt wants to control but Tsiunchik is keeping him busy.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Hurt working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

Hurt is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Tsiunchik knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Tsiunchik tries to buck Hurt off but Hurt is having none of it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hurt in side control lands a decent elbow.

Hurt is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Tsiunchik is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.

Hurt stands up and we're back to a striking position.

Hurt scores a takedown into full mount!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hurt landing strikes from the mount and Tsiunchik is in trouble!
A nice elbow there by Hurt.
Hurt cracks Tsiunchik with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
The referee warns Tsiunchik that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.

Hurt has control of Tsiunchik's right arm, working for a kimura. It's a bit of a token attempt though and Tsiunchik regains control of the situation pretty easily.
Hurt raining down shots from the mount!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tsiunchik is squirming around, avoiding Hurt's attempts to control the action.
Hurt controlling from mount.
Hurt pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Big Hurt dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Hurt rushes Tsiunchik and presses him up against the cage.

Hurt gets the body lock takedown. After a quick scramble, Tsiunchik regains guard.

Tsiunchik is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Hurt defends well.
Hurt postures up and lands a big shot to Tsiunchik's brow.
Hurt passes easily into side control. Nice work.

Hurt decides to stand back up. Hurt steps back and let's Tsiunchik get back to his feet.
Hurt works over Tsiunchik's head and body with a nice combination.
Big Hurt is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

Hurt drives through and clinches with Tsiunchik against the cage.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Hurt has double underhooks and is working for a body lock takedown. He's got it. The fighters land in half guard but Tsiunchik regains guard immediately.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Hurt thows a big elbow that misses.

Tsiunchik looking for a guillotine here but Hurt defends easily.
Hurt is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Big Hurt overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Hurt is working Tsiunchik over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hurt not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
Hurt trying to control the position from guard on top but Tsiunchik is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Hurt knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Tsiunchik on the ground.

Tsiunchik has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Hurt can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Hurt forces his way into half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Tsiunchik is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Hurt pulls his head out easily.
Ground and pound from Hurt.

Tsiunchik looking for submissions off his back.

Hurt is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and Tsiunchik defends it well.

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.
Hurt tries to stand and escape but Tsiunchik actually recovers to full guard.
Hurt trying to control the position from guard on top but Tsiunchik is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Hurt scoring with some ground and pound.
Tsiunchik keeping moving, preventing Hurt from controlling successfully.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Big Hurt dominated that second round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. This is the final round!

Hurt moves into the clinch.
Hurt gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Tsiunchik.

Hurt gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.

Hurt is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Tsiunchik has managed to free his arm - good work.

Tsiunchik looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Tsiunchik on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hurt working the head and body with strikes.

Hurt is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and Tsiunchik defends it well.

Tsiunchik makes some distance and scrambles quickly back to his feet. Nice work!
Tsiunchik misses with a takedown

and Hurt counters with a nice double leg into side control. Tsiunchik won't be happy with that.
Tsiunchik tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Hurt wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hurt creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Tsiunchik sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
Hurt working the strikes but Tsiunchik uses the opportunity to regain half guard.

Hurt is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.
Hurt scoring with strikes to the body and head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Hurt postures up and decides to stand up, from the half guard. The ref calls for Tsiunchik to stand up.
Tsiunchik misses with a takedown attempt

and Hurt counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
Big Hurt has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Zhenya Tsiunchik.

Hurt turns his hips and lands a very nice judo throw into side control!

Hurt looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.
Zhenya Tsiunchik has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

Tsiunchik explodes and escapes back to his feet! Nice escape there!
Tsiunchik has his takedown stuffed

and Hurt counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Tsiunchik!
This has been an exciting period of action!
Tsiunchik keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Hurt trying to control but Tsiunchik is having none of it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hurt working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Tsiunchik tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Hurt landing punches.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
A nice elbow there by Hurt.
Big Hurt is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Hurt trying to control but Tsiunchik is having none of it.

And that's the end of the fight!
Big Hurt showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Hurt has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Fedor Mirinova scores the fight 30:26
Judge Viktor Lagutenko scores the fight 30:26
Judge Aleksei Zolotukhin scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Big Hurt!