PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Karl Kennedy (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Sam Neckpunch (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Sam Neckpunch told me before the fight that he's been watching a lot of DVDs so let's see if that helps him in this one! I can't wait to find out!

Kennedy
vs
Neckpunch

190 cm
22
196 lbs
5 - 1 - 0

183 cm
20
185 lbs
7 - 1 - 1

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Cuts easily

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

BioPharm Nutrition
Hellbent, Inc.

TFP Graphics - Pit Inc
BioPharm Nutrition

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the middleweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Karl Kennedy!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 1 - 1, fighting out of New York, Sam Neckpunch!
The judges for this bout are Columbo Gatti, Steve Montenegro and John Roberts.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Neckpunch throws a head kick that misses.
Sam Neckpunch seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Neckpunch jabbing away but nothing is landing.
Neckpunch misses with a hook.
Kennedy looks for the body kick but Neckpunch saw that one coming.
Neckpunch avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Kennedy avoids a lazy jab quite easily.

Neckpunch closes the distance and clinches.
Neckpunch tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Kennedy trying to land knees to the body.
Neckpunch tries to stall but Kennedy uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
Neckpunch managing to block the knees to the body from Kennedy.
Neckpunch on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.

Kennedy's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Kennedy tries to clinch up.

Neckpunch closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Kennedy to the mat! Kennedy manages to get full guard.
Kennedy wants to stand up but Neckpunch is controlling him.

Kennedy is edging up against the cage. He's using the cage to get back to his feet. Nice work there - the fighters are clinched.
Neckpunch avoiding damage as Kennedy throws knees to the body.
Kennedy trying to land knees to the body.
Kennedy looking to throw knees to the head but Neckpunch is blocking nicely.

Neckpunch drags the fight down to the ground.
Kennedy is looking to stand up but Neckpunch won't let him.

Neckpunch looking for a guillotine here but Kennedy defends easily.
Neckpunch looking for a sweep. Not yet Neckpunch, not yet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kennedy wants to stand but Neckpunch has a closed guard, so he can't escape.

Neckpunch has his foot on Kennedy's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Kennedy works his way back into a safe position though.
Neckpunch lands some strikes from the bottom.
Neckpunch wants to sweep but no luck.
Kennedy wanted to stand there but Neckpunch had control of the position.
Neckpunch is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Neckpunch has his hands on Kennedy's head, controlling the position.
Neckpunch looking for a sweep. Not yet Neckpunch, not yet.
Neckpunch is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Kennedy wants to stand but Neckpunch has a closed guard, so he can't escape.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Neckpunch throws the left hand but Kennedy avoids the punch easily.

Kennedy closes the distance and pushes Neckpunch back into the cage.
A left hand lands to the body for Kennedy.
Kennedy is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Kennedy misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Neckpunch.
Kennedy with the Thai clinch, lands a knee to the head.

It looks like Sam Neckpunch has been cut.
Neckpunch on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Neckpunch swings wildly with an uppercut but Kennedy uses good head movement to avoid it.

Kennedy's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Kennedy will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Kennedy throws a sloppy head kick and Neckpunch moves out of range easily.
Neckpunch misses with a body shot.
Kennedy goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.

Neckpunch drops down and drives through with a powerful takedown into guard.
Kennedy is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Neckpunch is controlling him.

Kennedy is edging up against the cage. He's using the cage to get back to his feet. Nice work there - the fighters are clinched.
Kennedy is breathing heavily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Neckpunch stalling in the clinch but Kennedy improves position.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Neckpunch trying to control the position but instead, Kennedy has worked for underhooks and has pushed Neckpunch into the cage.
Neckpunch lands a shoulder strike.
Kennedy wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Neckpunch throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Kennedys head.
Neckpunch is trying to stall.
Kennedy throws a knee to the head but misses.
Neckpunch blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
A bit of stalling here from Neckpunch.
Neckpunch lands a hook to the side of the head.
Kennedy scores a nice knee to the body.
Neckpunch has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Kennedy avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
Kennedy looking to throw knees to the head but Neckpunch is blocking nicely.
Neckpunch fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Kennedy lands a nice uppercut.
Neckpunch looking to slow down the pace here.

Neckpunch jumps into guard, dragging Kennedy to the mat.
Neckpunch has a closed guard, preventing Kennedy from standing up.
Neckpunch manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Kennedy manages to get himself to full guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neckpunch works over Kennedy with some ground and pound from guard.
Neckpunch slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
Neckpunch tries to move into full mount but can't pass Kennedy's legs.
Neckpunch landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.
Neckpunch throws a strike aimed at the side of Kennedy's head but Kennedy avoids it well.

Neckpunch working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.
Kennedy is trying to buck Neckpunch off.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

Kennedy bucks up and manages to escape back to his feet!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Sam Neckpunch dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Sam Neckpunch's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Neckpunch stalks Kennedy and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Kennedy's face. Kennedy staggers backwards, shaken.

It looks like Karl Kennedy has been cut.
Neckpunch throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Neckpunch blocks a head kick by Kennedy.
Neckpunch misses the jab.
Neckpunch throws a shot from downtown. Kennedy moves away and avoids it.
Kennedy steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Neckpunch.
Kennedy throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Neckpunch connects with a straight left hand counter down the middle.
Neckpunch takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
Kennedy digs a good hook to Neckpunch's body.
Kennedy tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Neckpunch counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Neckpunch thows a left - swing and a miss!
Kennedy tries to clinch but Neckpunch is having none of it.
Neckpunch falls off balance throwing a combination
and Kennedy counters with a good low kick that Neckpunch was not able to check.
Neckpunch throws a sloppy head kick

and Kennedy counters by clinching up.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A left hand lands to the body for Kennedy.
Kennedy throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Neckpunch blocks it with crossed arms.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Neckpunch misses with some punches.
Neckpunch working aggressively here.
Neckpunch lands a body shot in the clinch.
Neckpunch stalling in the clinch.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Kennedy as Neckpunch tries to tie him up.
Kennedy trying to land knees to the body.
Kennedy wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Neckpunch scores with a shot to the side of Kennedy's head.

Kennedy pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
A head kick by Neckpunch misses

and Kennedy counters by clinching up.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.

Neckpunch lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Neckpunch is looking to advance position but Kennedy won't allow it.
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. Neckpunch connects with a nice short shot to Kennedy's temple.
Neckpunch passes to full mount!
Neckpunch working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Kennedy really wants to buck Neckpunch off and get back to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neckpunch in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Neckpunch unloading with bombs!
Kennedy knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Neckpunch on the ground.
Neckpunch landing strikes from the mount and Kennedy is in trouble!
Neckpunch scores with a couple of good head shots there.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Neckpunch in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
A nice elbow there by Neckpunch.
Neckpunch tries to control but Kennedy wriggling away.
Kennedy wants to try and get back to his feet.
Kennedy taking shots to the head.
Neckpunch putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!

Kennedy is rocked!
Neckpunch landing strikes from the mount.
Oh Kennedy is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Neckpunch lands a big shot there that rocks Kennedy but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Neckpunch lands a big shot to the head and Kennedy winces in pain. He's tapped out due to strikes!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:05 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Strikes). Sam Neckpunch!
Sam Neckpunch is the new middleweight champion!