PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between TJ Crawford (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Raje Malapitan (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Crawford comes to the cage accompanied by John Legend - Who Do We Think We Are . Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Crawford
vs
Malapitan

179 cm
31
155 lbs
13 - 15 - 0

168 cm
33
130 lbs
9 - 19 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Very quick

Good wrestler
Decent boxing
Knockout power

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 13 - 15 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, TJ Crawford!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 9 - 19 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Raje Malapitan!
The judges for this bout are Timothy Bukovac, Don Winkell and .

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Crawford wants to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a nice uppercut.
Crawford darts in trying to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
Crawford tries to clinch
and Malapitan counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Malapitan circles away from the clinch attempt
and Malapitan cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Crawford darts in trying to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Crawford wants to clinch
and Malapitan cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Crawford moves away from the strike by Malapitan.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan moves out of range.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Crawford uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Malapitan.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan moves away
and Malapitan counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Crawford tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Malapitan manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Malapitan keeps the fight on the outside.
Nice defenses there by Crawford.
Crawford tries to clinch up but Malapitan circles away and keeps his distance.
Crawford tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
TJ Crawford seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Crawford darts in trying to clinch
letting Malapitan counter with a right hand.
Malapitan circles away from the clinch attempt
letting Malapitan counter with a right hand.
Crawford wants to clinch but Malapitan slips to the side
and Malapitan counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
Crawford closes the distance looking to clinch
letting Malapitan counter with a right hand.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Crawford tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Malapitan counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Crawford wants to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Crawford thinking.
Malapitan circles away from the clinch attempt
and Malapitan counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
Crawford closes the distance but Malapitan moves to the side
and Malapitan counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Crawford tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Malapitan counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Malapitan misses with a looping right.
Crawford wants to clinch but Malapitan slips to the side
and Malapitan counters with a stiff right hand.
Crawford tries to grapple but his opponent circles
enabling Malapitan to counter with a crisp jab.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Malapitan tries to keep at a distance but Crawford has taken the fight into the clinch.
Malapitan tries to break free but Crawford pushes him back against the cage.
Malapitan has had enough of the clinch but Crawford keeps him there for the moment.
Malapitan misses with an elbow over the top.
Crawford lands a knee to the head.
Crawford prevents Malapitan from breaking the clinch.
Crawford tries a knee to the head but Malapitan blocks it.

Malapitan breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Crawford tries to grapple but his opponent circles
enabling Malapitan to counter with a crisp jab.
Crawford wants to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
Crawford tries to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a stiff right hand.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan moves away
and Malapitan counters with a straight right hand.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Crawford moves in looking to clinch but Malapitan pushes him off.
Crawford tries to clinch up
and Malapitan counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Malapitan is landing a lot of head punches in this opening round! Crawford had better start moving his head a bit unless he wants his face to turn into pâté.
Crawford tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Malapitan counters with a right hand to the body.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan moves away
letting Malapitan counter with a right hand.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan moves out of range.
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!
Crawford moves in looking to clinch but Malapitan pushes him off.
Malapitan swats away the attempt to clinch by Crawford.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Crawford tries to clinch
and Malapitan cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Malapitan looks to throw the jab but Crawford is out of range.
A jab from Malapitan misses.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Raje Malapitan will probably get the nod.
That's time! Crawford's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Crawford tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Malapitan counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Crawford avoids the body shot from Malapitan.
TJ Crawford is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Crawford darts in trying to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Malapitan scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Crawford closes the distance looking to clinch
and Crawford takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
We are yet to see a takedown attempt from Malapitan in the fight. On paper you would think he is the more dominant ground fighter so let's see if these unusual tactics pay off.
Crawford tries to close the distance and clinch but Malapitan swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Crawford tries to clinch
and Malapitan counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Crawford moves to clinch but Malapitan breaks away
and Malapitan counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Crawford thinking.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Crawford fails with an attempt to clinch.
Crawford fails in his attempt to clinch.
Crawford steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Malapitan.

Crawford pushes Malapitan up against the cage in a clinch.
Malapitan can't break the clinch.
Crawford crunches a lovely knee into Malapitan's ribcage.
Crawford landing knees to the head.
Malapitan takes a knee to the side of the body.
Malapitan missing with knees to the body.
Malapitan blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

Malapitan breaks the clinch.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan moves away
and Malapitan counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
The fight stays on the outside here - Crawford looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Crawford fails with an attempt to clinch.
Crawford tries to clinch but Malapitan is having none of it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Crawford tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Malapitan counters with a nice uppercut.
Crawford tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Malapitan cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Crawford wants to clinch but Malapitan slips to the side
and Malapitan counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Crawford displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Malapitan throws out the jab.
Malapitan throws a right hand that misses
and Crawford counters with a head kick. That will keep Malapitan thinking before he tries any more sloppy attacks!

Malapitan is rocked!

Crawford has taken the fight to the clinch.
Malapitan is still on wobbly legs! Can Crawford finish him?
Crawford jerks Malapitan's head down, straight into the path of a devastating knee! Malapitan drops to the floor in a crumpled heap! Crawford goes to throw a finishing haymaker but pulls out - good sportsmanship from Crawford because Malapitan was completely out of it. That was a nice finish - just the right level of brutality to send everyone home happy.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:49 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Knee). TJ Crawford!
TJ Crawford tried to hype himself up post fight but didn't word it too well and it ended up with him sounding like a bit of a tool.