PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Alonso Ballard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Zvone Koban (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). This should be a great matchup!

Ballard
vs
Koban

153 cm
18
214 lbs
1 - 3 - 0

188 cm
24
205 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Likes comics

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Intelligent

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 1 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Alonso Ballard!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Zvone Koban!
The judges for this bout are Fedor Mirinova, Vladimir Khabensky and Valeri Chadov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Koban looking to score a takedown here. Ballard is defending well but Koban drives through and ends up in Ballard's guard.
We may be looking at a referee standup if the pace doesn't pick up soon.
Ballard is trying to control the position but Koban postures up.
Koban trying to control but Ballard is working from the bottom.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Koban wants to pass the guard but Ballard is keeping the position.
Ballard utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Koban controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Koban throwing strikes but missing.
Ballard is looking to stand up but Koban isn't so interested in that idea.
Koban passes Ballard's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Koban not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ballard is looking to improve his position.
Koban sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Ballard defending well though.
Ballard knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Koban on the ground.
Koban works his foot free and advances to mount.
Koban has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Koban tries to control but Ballard wriggling away.
Ballard holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Koban tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
Koban throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Ballard because Koban loaded up on that one.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Koban throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Koban throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Poor strikes thrown by Koban there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Ballard is breathing heavily.
Koban throwing sloppy strikes here. Perhaps if he tightened up his striking from such a dominant position, he'd be able to finish easier.
Ballard could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Koban looking to ground and pound but Ballard is blocking nicely.
Koban throwing sloppy strikes here. Perhaps if he tightened up his striking from such a dominant position, he'd be able to finish easier.
Koban controlling his opponent.
Koban throwing strikes here but Ballard is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Koban looking to finish with strikes here!
Koban punching from mount but Ballard doing a good job of avoiding damage.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Poor strikes thrown by Koban there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Koban misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Ballard wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Koban.
Ballard is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.
Koban tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Ballard blocking the ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Koban controlling the position easily from mount.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Koban thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Koban looking to finish with strikes here!
Koban thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Koban tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Ballard might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Poor strikes thrown by Koban there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Zvone Koban dominated that round.
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.

Koban shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Koban showed some decent athleticism there.
Ballard keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Koban is thwarting Ballard's attempts to control the position.
Koban thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Koban thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Ballard's head.
Koban thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Ballard's head.
Koban sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Ballard defending well though.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Koban slows the pace down in half guard.

Koban stands up from half guard... He's had enough of that ground malarky for the time being.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ballard takes a jab right on the kisser.

Koban closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Koban sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Ballard defending well though.
Koban slows the pace down in half guard.
Koban thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Ballard's head.
Koban lands with a punch from half guard.
Zvone Koban has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Koban decides to stand up.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Ballard gets tackled into the cage by Koban. Koban maintains the clinch.

Koban breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.

Koban looking to score a takedown here. Ballard is defending well but Koban drives through and ends up in Ballard's guard.

Ballard is rocked!
Koban engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
Oh Ballard is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!

Koban is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Koban is looking to work some ground and pound but Ballard has wrist control.
Ballard seems to have got his legs back now.
Ballard utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Ballard wants to sweep here but Koban controlling him for the moment.
Koban is looking to work some ground and pound but Ballard has wrist control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Koban gets to his feet - Ballard follows without any prompting.
Koban lands a jab to the nose.

Koban closes the distance looking for a takedown. Ballard stuffs it but Koban still has hold of him. Koban picks Ballard up in a fireman's lift! The crowd roars in approval. Koban slams Ballard to the floor and that's really hurt Ballard - he doesn't know where he is! Koban throws a couple of strikes and the referee steps in to save him! This one is in the books!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:20 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Zvone Koban!