PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Branko Popovic (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nate Great (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Popovic kept the crowd waiting but all that was forgotten when his ring entrance music started. The incomparable musical genius that is None. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the ring.

Popovic
vs
Great

193 cm
29
192 lbs
17 - 15 - 1

185 cm
28
180 lbs
7 - 4 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
KO power

Good takedowns
Counter striker
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the middleweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 17 - 15 - 1, fighting out of Tokyo, Branko Popovic!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Nate Great!
The judges for this bout are Taro Takaoka, Kenichi Hosakawa and Shigeki Sano.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A jab from Great misses.
Popovic comes forward and lands a shot to the body, then darts back out of range.
Popovic misses with a wild combination.
Great slips under a jab.
Popovic connects with a good right hand that stumbles Great. Great circles away out of range and recomposes himself.
Popovic throws a hook to the side of Great's head but Great sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Popovic tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Great was well out of range. Poor timing from Popovic.
Popovic fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Popovic is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Great.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Popovic scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Great doesn't seem bothered though.
Popovic avoids the body shot from Great.
Great shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Popovic sprawls well. Popovic wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Great gets slowly back to his feet.
A big right from Popovic misses.
Great takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
Nice shot lands for Popovic.
Great looks gassed!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Great uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Popovic.

A jab-cross combination lands for Popovic and sends Great crashing to the mat! Popovic follows him down to the mat - Great regains half guard but he's not out of trouble yet!

It looks like Nate Great has been cut.
Popovic looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Great with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

Great is rocked!
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Popovic works his foot free and advances to mount.
Great is still in real trouble! Can Popovic finish him?
Great wants to hold on but Popovic pushes him away.
Great seems to have recovered his senses.
Popovic lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.

Popovic is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Great can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.
Popovic avoids the attempt from Great to control.
Popovic landing shots from mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Popovic with a couple of short strikes.
Popovic is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Popovic can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Great is looking to escape.
Popovic unloading with bombs!
Great is wriggling around trying to escape.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Popovic cracks Great with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Great gets back to half guard.
Popovic throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Popovic wants to free his trapped foot but Great is holding on for dear life with his legs.
Popovic seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Great does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Popovic lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Popovic wants to pass to mount but Great is defending the position.

Popovic is working for a submission of some sort.
Popovic lands strikes from half guard.
Great tries to roll over but Popovic keeps him under control.
Popovic throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Popovic trying to pass the guard but Great defending well.
Popovic working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Popovic trying to mount his opponent but Great defends it.
Great works his way to full guard. Good work.

Great escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Popovic gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Branko Popovic dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Nate Great's cut.
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.

Great on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Popovic works Great's body with a nice hook.
Popovic lands the left hand.
Popovic throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Popovic lands a nice shot that snaps Great's head back.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Popovic cracks Great with an open hand slap.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Popovic scores with a decent looking hook.
Popovic throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Great.
Popovic is using his height advantage well here, landing a good percentage of his punches.
Great throws a body punch but Popovic moves out of range.
Popovic swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Popovic is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Great can do to turn this around?
Popovic uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.
Branko Popovic seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Popovic throws a body punch but Great moves out of range.
Popovic scores with a nice head shot.
Branko Popovic is winning the standup battle so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Popovic missing with a left hand there. Great was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
A swing and a miss from Popovic.
Boom, another hit is landed. "You're gunna get knocked out" taunts Popovic, as that shot connected.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Great misses with a hook
and Popovic makes him pay by landing a nice hook to the body before moving out of range.
Popovic takes a swing at Great's ribcage but misses.
Popovic tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Great was well out of range. Poor timing from Popovic.
Popovic takes a swing at Great's ribcage but misses.
Popovic works the jab nicely.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Great keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Great keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Great gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Great misses with a wild body shot.
A looping hook to the body misses from Popovic. Great does a little dance to reset his feet.
Popovic ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Great moves away.
A punch lands to the side of Great 's head but he takes it in his stride.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Popovic swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Popovic lunges at Great with a hook that half lands and is half blocked by Great's hand.
Great misses the jab.
Great uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Popovic.
Great tries to score a power double leg takedown but Popovic sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Great somewhat.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Popovic connects with a hook to the side of his opponent's head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Branko Popovic dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Nate Great's cut.
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.

Popovic throws a series of punches but Great moves out of range.
Great moves out of range of the strikes.
Popovic scores with a nice strike.
Great takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
The fighters circling - Popovic throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Great tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Popovic was well out of range. Poor timing from Great.
Great slips a jab and a cross from Popovic.
Popovic looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Popovic swings widly with a right hand
and Great counters with a nice body shot.
Great throws a big shot that misses.
Popovic misses with a straight left.
Great thows a body shot but no joy.
Popovic looks to land a combination but Great avoids it well.
Great misses with a wild body shot.
Popovic moves into range and throws a combination. A nice jab followed by a hook to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Great throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Popovic takes a swing at Great's ribcage but misses.
Great with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Popovic to score with a decent uppercut.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

Great gets caught napping as Popovic dives in and scores a takedown. Great manages to retain guard.
Popovic has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

Great throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Popovic stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Great swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Popovic is looking to stand up but Great won't let him.

Great is looking for a triangle but Popovic pushes his legs off easily.
Great takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Great is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Great manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Popovic manages to get himself to full guard.

Great is holding a leg here, probably looking for an ankle lock - he drops back and goes for it! Popovic is in trouble! Is it all over??? No! Popovic has escaped and now he's on top!
Popovic wanted to stand there but Great had control of the position.
Popovic lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Popovic trying to control but Great is working from the bottom.

Great looking for a guillotine here but Popovic defends easily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Popovic sitting in guard, not really doing much.

Popovic avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Popovic is in close to Great's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Popovic keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Great's head.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Popovic wants to control from the top but Great keeps moving.
Popovic distracts Great with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Popovic postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Branko Popovic clearly takes that round.
The cut man is working on Nate Great's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Popovic connects with a crisp jab.
Great misses with a body shot
and Popovic counters with a straight that turns Great's legs to rubber! Popovic pushes forward with more strikes and Great goes down, battered and bloody! That's a wrap folks!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:14 of round 4, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Branko Popovic!
Branko Popovic retains his middleweight title!