PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Frank Ricard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and John Howard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Ricard comes into the arena with Frank The Tank blaring out of the sound system. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Ricard
vs
Howard

191 cm
32
267 lbs
15 - 16 - 0

185 cm
33
247 lbs
21 - 12 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Very strong

Powerful takedowns
Decent boxing
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 15 - 16 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Frank Ricard!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 21 - 12 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, John Howard!
The judges for this bout are Jack Bonds, Don Winkell and .

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Howard shoots in for a double leg but Ricard sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Nice sprawl there from Howard as Ricard shoots in.
Ricard misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Ricard punishes Howard's body with a nice straight punch.
Ricard rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Howard moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Howard takes one to the side of the head.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!

Ricard forces Howard back against the cage and clinches.

Ricard pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

Ricard closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Ricard is looking for the mount but instead finds himself back in full guard.
Ricard trying to stand up but can't free himself from Howard's guard.
Ricard wants to control from the top but Howard keeps moving.

Ricard stands up from guard. Let's bang!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Howard circles away from the clinch attempt.
Ricard tries to score a power double leg takedown but Howard sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Ricard somewhat.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Frank Ricard. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Howard throws the left hand but Ricard avoids the punch easily.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!
Ricard misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Ricard pushes forward with a 1-2 combination that forces Howard back to the cage. Ricard follows up with a solid lead hook to the liver.

It looks like John Howard has been cut.
Howard misses with a hook. Ricard ducked under it nicely.
Ricard fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Howard.
Ricard displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Howard.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Ricard drops Howard with a left and a right! Oh, Howard is hurt - Ricard dives into side control looking to finish!
Howard avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Ricard.
Ricard scores with a couple of short elbows.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ricard scoring with punches and elbows.
Check out the look on Ricard's face as he threw that strike - that's one determined fighter!
Ricard tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.
Ricard fails to land a wild elbow strike.

Ricard decides to stand back up.

Ricard closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Howard quickly recovers to half guard.
Howard regains full guard, whilst avoiding punches from Ricard.
Ricard 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.
Ricard throwing strikes from guard but Howard blocks nicely.
Ricard trying to control but Howard is working from the bottom.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ricard trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Ricard postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Howard preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.

Ricard stands up and waves to Howard to follow him.
Frank Ricard seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Some wild striking there from Ricard.
Ricard scores with a leg kick.
Ricard misses with a double jab

and Howard counters with a takedown into side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Ricard throws his opponent off and manages to get back to his feet! Nicely done!
Ricard's corner calls for a 1, 2 combination and Ricard duly obliges.
Howard walks forward and throws out a flicking leg kick. Ricard checks it nicely though, as he moves to the side.
Ricard throws a nice looking combination but Howard bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Howard showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Ricard.
Ricard lets the fists fly and connects with a left straight followed by a right hook.
Ricard is breathing heavily.
Howard misses the jab.
Ricard misses with a wild combination.
Ricard throws a series of punches but Howard avoids them all with ease.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Howard avoids a punch combination nicely.
Ricard shoots in looking for a takedown but Howard manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Ricard's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Howard circles away from the clinch attempt.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Frank Ricard dominated that round.
The cut man is working on John Howard's cut.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

Ricard throws a right and a left that Howard avoids nicely.
Howard motions for Ricard to come forward. Howard throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Ricard throws a body kick that misses.
Frank Ricard is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Howard dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Ricard throws a hook to the side of Howard's head but Howard sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
A big right from Howard misses.
Ricard ducks under a wild hook from Howard.
Ricard tries to clinch but Howard moves out of range.
A combination from Ricard does no damage.

Ricard ducks straight into an uppercut from Howard and tumbles to the canvas! It’s a flash knockdown though - Ricard manages to regain guard straight away.

It looks like Frank Ricard has been cut.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Howard is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.

Ricard manages to escape and get back to his feet.
Ricard throws a series of punches but Howard avoids them all with ease.
Ricard fails with the takedown.
Howard misses the jab.

Howard shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Howard showed some decent athleticism there.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ricard has hold of Howard's hands but Howard slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Ricard has hold of Howard's hands but Howard slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Ricard is trying to stand.
Frank Ricard overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Howard takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Ricard trying to control from the bottom.
Howard 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.

Ricard is rocked!
Howard lands a massive shot from half guard that has rocked Ricard! More strikes land and this one is all over! Howard jumps to his feet and is applauded loudly by the crowd!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:47 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). John Howard!
John Howard really struggled to get his t-shirt on before his hand was raised. Making sure that BioPharm Nutrition logo gets some air time is pretty tricky when you're all sweaty.