PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Phil Mcracken (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Damian Nitschke (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Mcracken might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to DJ Hi-Tek Rulez [Die Antwoord]. Phil Mcracken has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Mcracken
vs
Nitschke

187 cm
35
195 lbs
18 - 5 - 0

181 cm
34
184 lbs
30 - 22 - 1

Great wrestler
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

Excellent grappler
Lethal high kicks
Good gas tank

Project Mayhem
Tokyo United Fightwear

BeastMode

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 18 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Phil Mcracken!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 30 - 22 - 1, fighting out of Sydney, Damian Nitschke!
The judges for this bout are Ben Hemmingworth, Winston Howard and Steve Erwin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A bone on bone clash there as Mcracken blocks the leg kick.
Mcracken connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.

It looks like Damian Nitschke has been cut.
Nitschke throws a decent looking leg kick but it doesn't land clean.
Well, he's not going to score with shots like that. A lazy body kick attempt from Nitschke.
Nitschke walks into a jab.
Mcracken throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Nitschke sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Mcracken fakes a jab and throws a low kick but Nitschke checks it well.
Mcracken moves out of range of the body kick.
Mcracken moves into range and lands a nice leg kick.
A leg kick checked by Mcracken.
Mcracken takes a jab right on the nose. That must have hurt but he shrugs his shoulders and looks to return the favor.
Mcracken lands a right hook to the body.
Nitschke misses with an attempted mid kick.
Nitschke loads up on a big right hand but Mcracken slips the punch.
Nitschke's corner calls for a 1-2. Nitschke obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Nitschke looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.

Mcracken gets tackled into the cage by Nitschke. Nitschke maintains the clinch.
Nitschke tries to throw a body punch but Mcracken avoids it by throwing Nitschke back against the cage.
Nitschke looking to stall.
Mcracken lands with a short punch from the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nitschke working aggressively here.
Mcracken swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Nitschke blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Nitschke blocks a punch to the side of the head.
I was talking to Mcracken's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Nitschke lands a body shot.
Nitschke goes for a takedown attempt but Mcracken pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.
Mcracken throws a jab when Nitschke was well out of range.
A slow jab from Nitschke misses its intended target.
Nitschke has been spending a lot of time sparring his boxing in the run up to the fight, trying to sharpen up those hands and look for a knockout.
Mcracken walks straight into a jab right on the nose. That one stung - he's blinking and trying to clear his head.
Nitschke staying out of range there.
Nitschke moves away from the strike by Mcracken.
Both fighters circling a little - Nitschke finishes the exchange with a kick to the body.
Mcracken is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
Nitschke lands with a shot to the body.
Mcracken throws a jab when Nitschke was well out of range.
The fighters circling - Mcracken throws out the jab but it was never going to land.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A shot to the liver by Nitschke. Beautiful body shot.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Nitschke jabs Mcracken right on the nose. Mcracken blinks but takes it well.

Nitschke moves into range and clinches up with Mcracken.
A nice right hand lands inside from Nitschke.
Mcracken throws a punch but it's blocked by Nitschke.
Mcracken doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Mcracken fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Come on Nitschke - let's have some action - none of this stalling nonsense.
Mcracken lands with a left to the head.
Nitschke works for underhooks and lands a body shot in the process.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Mcracken creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Mcracken tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Nitschke misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Nitschke throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
Mcracken is breathing heavily.
Nitschke misses with a hook to the ribs.
Mcracken tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Both fighters working to control the clinch.
Nitschke throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nitschke scores with a shoulder strike.
Still in the clinch, Nitschke scores with a nice short uppercut.
Nitschke lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Mcracken or not.
Nitschke lands a body punch.
Nitschke lands a body punch.
Nitschke misses with a punch to the body.
Nitschke lands with a left to the head.
A nice right hand lands inside from Nitschke.
Nitschke lands with a short head shot on the inside.
Nitschke lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Nitschke tries to work over Mcracken's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
Nitschke avoiding damage.
Nitschke blocks an uppercut.
Nitschke trying to stall but Mcracken improves his position.
Nitschke misses with a hook from the clinch.
Nitschke lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.
Mcracken misses with a knee to the head.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Nitschke misses with a hook from the clinch.
Mcracken takes a shot to the head.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Mcracken as Nitschke tries to tie him up.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nitschke working aggressively here.
Nitschke lands a hook to the side of the head.
Nitschke working aggressively here.
Nitschke misses with a shot to the kidneys.
A short right from Mcracken.
Nitschke has a couple of punches blocked by Mcracken.
Nitschke has dropped down and is looking to force the takedown but it's defended by Mcracken after a bit of a struggle.
Nitschke throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from Nitschke.
Nitschke goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Nitschke taking a breather.
Nitschke misses with a hook to the ribs.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Nitschke.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Nitschke has a couple of punches blocked by Mcracken.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Mcracken as Nitschke tries to tie him up.
A left hand lands to the body for Nitschke.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Damian Nitschke dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Damian Nitschke's cut.
That's time! Mcracken's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Nitschke gets a clinch.
A short right from Mcracken.
Nitschke swings wildly with an uppercut but Mcracken uses good head movement to avoid it.
Mcracken lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Mcracken scores with an uppercut up the middle.
Mcracken throws a punch but it's blocked by Nitschke.
Both fighters working to control the clinch.
Nitschke has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Nitschke manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
The crowd are getting on Nitschke's back here. They're not happy about his lack of aggression in the clinch.
Mcracken misses with a hook from the clinch.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Nitschke is leaning against Mcracken and scores with a nice uppercut to the body.
Nitschke lands a body punch.
Nitschke has a couple of punches blocked by Mcracken.
A head punch on the inside from Mcracken fails to land.

Nitschke has hold of one of Mcracken's legs. Mcracken is fighting the takedown attempt but Nitschke gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nitschke working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Nitschke in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Mcracken utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Nitschke has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Mcracken seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.
Nitschke throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Nitschke stopping the sweep attempt from Mcracken.
Mcracken controls Nitschke momentarily but Nitschke frees himself.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Nitschke trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.

The referee has decided to stand the fighters back up, so we'll restart on the feet.
Nitschke lands a slapping body shot.
A good leg kick by Nitschke.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Mcracken does a little shimmy and throws a leg kick. The leg kick missed by a considerable margin though, making him look a little bit silly for doing the shimmy.
Nitschke pivots, looking for a leg kick but Mcracken is out of range and Nitschke settles back down.
Good work by Mcracken as he checks the leg kick.
Mcracken takes a nasty kick to the mid section... That should keep him thinking. Does he try and block and risk a head kick landing?
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
That kick from Nitschke tenderised Mcracken's leg. Mcracken is trying to keep his angry face on.
Nitschke thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Mcracken if he has to take too many more of those.
Nitschke throws a shot to the body.
Nitschke feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Mcracken's calf.
Nitschke shoots in looking for a takedown but Mcracken manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Nitschke's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Mcracken walks forward, straight into a front kick from Nitschke.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Nitschke lands with a right hand.
A nice leg kick lands there from Nitschke.
Mcracken takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Mcracken on the wrong end of an overhand right that came out of nowhere.
Nitschke's jab looks to have found its range, popping Mcracken under the eye.

Mcracken is rocked!
Nitschke connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Oh Mcracken is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mcracken gets clipped by a big right hand and goes down spinning to the canvas! Nitschke gets the back mount and begins to drop bombs on his rocked foe! Mcracken is too out of it to defend against the strikes and the referee jumps in to save him from the beatdown!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:06 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Damian Nitschke!
Damian Nitschke made sure to mention his sponsor, BeastMode in his post fight interview.
Phil Mcracken spoke after the fight, saying 'You were good in there... my butt hurts... and that's hard to do to a greek!'.