PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Finn Balor (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Hugo Stokes (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Balor comes to the cage accompanied by Monster. There are an array of beautiful celebrities at ringside tonight! I wonder if any of them paid for their tickets.

Balor
vs
Stokes

172 cm
32
152 lbs
16 - 8 - 0

167 cm
24
154 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
Decent boxing
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 16 - 8 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Finn Balor!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Hugo Stokes!
The judges for this bout are Timothy Bukovac, Frank Antenori and Jack Bonds.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Stokes fails to land the takedown.
Balor bobs and weaves and unloads with a good uppercut.
Stokes takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Stokes shoots in looking for a takedown. Balor tries to sprawl out of it but Stokes keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Balor manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Stokes takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Stokes shoots in looking for a takedown but Balor manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Stokes's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Finn Balor has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Hugo Stokes.
Balor lands a nice looking kick to the body. Stokes takes a step back to recover.

Balor shoots in looking for a single leg takedown. Stokes is trying to defend but Balor finishes it well and ends up in half guard. Let's see if he can advance position further.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Stokes looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Balor is stalling here. Stokes is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Balor seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Stokes has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.
Balor gets one leg under and gets the fight to half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Balor has hold of Stokes's hands but Stokes slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

Stokes is trying for a guillotine from the top but the pressure isn't in the right place so Balor is just riding it out for now. Stokes eventually gives up the hold.

Stokes is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Balor sees it coming and defends easily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Stokes seems to be looking for submissions.

Stokes looking for a submission but Balor manages to get full guard, putting an end to that submission attempt.

Balor working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Stokes doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Oh but Balor is tightening it up a little... Stokes has to be careful here... He's got his foot tucked under now, this looks tight! Stokes reacted too slowly and this one could be over in a matter of seconds! YES! Stokes taps out! Nice BJJ there by Balor!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:49 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle Choke). Finn Balor!
A relieved looking Finn Balor thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.