PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between JanPeter Balkenende (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and mike swick (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Balkenende kept the crowd waiting but all that was forgotten when his ring entrance music started. The incomparable musical genuis that is another 1 bites the dust. mike swick acknowledges the crowd's support as he enters the cage.

Balkenende
vs
swick

160 cm
20
140 lbs
1 - 3 - 0

150 cm
19
130 lbs
3 - 7 - 0

Decent wrestler
Basic striking
Intelligent

BJJ White Belt
Good kicks
Granite chin

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 - 3 - 0, fighting out of London, JanPeter Balkenende!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 7 - 0, fighting out of London, mike swick!
The judges for this bout are Richard Clark, Sam Margolis and Chris Edwards.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
swick tries a head kick but it misses.

Balkenende closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Balkenende working the ground and pound but swick is defending the strikes.

Balkenende is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but swick is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Balkenende throwing shots but missing, from side control.
Balkenende has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Balkenende landing strikes from the mount and swick is in trouble!
Balkenende fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Balkenende trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Balkenende is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Balkenende with a couple of short strikes.
Balkenende scoring with strikes but swick is staying in there.

Balkenende working for a submission but swick is keeping him at bay.

Balkenende looking for an armbar but decides to keep the dominant position instead.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Balkenende sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Balkenende lands a big elbow.
Balkenende 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.
swick looks gassed!
swick blocking the ground and pound.
Balkenende with good strikes from the mount here!
Balkenende lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Balkenende throwing strikes here but swick is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.
Balkenende lands with some strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Balkenende working away from the top, dropping strikes.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Balkenende controlling the pace for now.
Balkenende has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.
Balkenende working away from the top, dropping strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Balkenende working the ground and pound effectively.
swick in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
swick avoids a series of strikes thrown by Balkenende.
Balkenende looking to control and managing it successfully.
Balkenende looking to control but swick is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

Balkenende with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

swick tries to close the distance and clinch but Balkenende swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Balkenende takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.

Balkenende darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Balkenende is controlling the pace.
Balkenende looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks swick with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Balkenende in particular looking to stall.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Balkenende connects with a nice short shot to swick's temple.
Balkenende controlling the pace.
swick keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
Balkenende missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.

Balkenende looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Balkenende stalling.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Balkenende not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Balkenende working swick over with strikes.
swick is breathing heavily.
Balkenende seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Balkenende throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Balkenende passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for swick!
Balkenende is in the full mount, landing strikes.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Balkenende postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. swick looks a forlorn figure.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

JanPeter Balkenende dominated that second round.
That's time! Back to the action! The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

Balkenende gets in close and instigates a clinch.
swick with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Balkenende blocks a couple of punches on the inside.

Balkenende ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Balkenende no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Balkenende has his hands on swick's head, controlling the position.
swick should think about turning a few of those tyres round his middle into muscle if he wants people to take him seriously as an athlete.
Balkenende wants to sweep but no luck.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Balkenende is working hard here to advance position.
swick takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Balkenende trying to punch from his back but it's not doing any damage.
Balkenende on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Balkenende tries to get out of the position.
Balkenende wants to sweep but no luck.
Balkenende bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in swick's guard.
Balkenende lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Balkenende lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Balkenende postures up in swick's guard and throws a big left but swick blocks it.
Balkenende loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
swick wants to get back to his feet but Balkenende is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Balkenende wants to control from the top but swick keeps moving.
Balkenende looking to pass the guard.
Balkenende throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as swick works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Balkenende controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Balkenende won't allow swick to get back to his feet.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fight is doing enough on the ground.
swick closes the distance but Balkenende moves to the side

and Balkenende counters with a shoot takedown. swick fights it but they end up in guard.
Balkenende seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
JanPeter Balkenende overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

Balkenende gets to his feet and steps away from his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Balkenende shoots in for a takedown and gets it.
Balkenende perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
swick keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Balkenende moves nicely into side control.
Balkenende in side control lands a decent elbow.

And that's the end of the fight!
JanPeter Balkenende showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Balkenende, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Richard Clark scores the fight for JanPeter Balkenende!
Judge Sam Margolis scores the fight for JanPeter Balkenende!
Judge Chris Edwards scores the fight for JanPeter Balkenende!

JanPeter Balkenende wins by unanimous decision!