PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Kenny Hendricks (ranked 6380 p4p, 6322 weight class) and Clyde Piper (ranked 604 p4p, 601 weight class). Hendricks comes to the cage accompanied by This Fire Burns. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Hendricks
vs
Piper

185 cm
19
170
2 - 2 - 0

185 cm
21
175
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Big heart

BJJ White Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Kenny Hendricks!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Clyde Piper!
The judges for this bout are Robert Twigg, Chris Downing and Tiny Johnson.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hendricks misses with the combination.
Piper throws a counter combo.

Hendricks gets a clinch.

Hendricks has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Piper uses from the top position.
Piper looking to sit in guard and control but Hendricks gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.

Piper looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Piper keeping moving, preventing Hendricks from controlling successfully.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Hendricks stands up over Piper, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Hendricks content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Piper really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Hendricks. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Hendricks distracts Piper with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Hendricks content to stall in guard here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hendricks distracts Piper with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Piper is trying to control the position from the bottom.

Hendricks thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Hendricks lands a couple of digs.
Hendricks works over Piper with some ground and pound from guard.
Hendricks pushing down on Piper's thigh, trying to pass to half guard. He's managed it... Nice work.
Nice strikes from Hendricks there.
Hendricks slows the pace down in half guard.
Piper on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hendricks looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Piper with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

Piper looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Hendricks scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Hendricks seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Hendricks has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.

Hendricks is trying to work for a kimura but Piper is defending well.
Hendricks working Piper over with strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hendricks working the head and body with strikes.
Hendricks winds up and cracks Piper with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Hendricks is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!
Piper is bucking up trying to escape but Hendricks cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Hendricks tries to control but Piper wriggling away.
The referee warns Piper that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Piper tries to reverse the position but Hendricks maintains control.
Hendricks fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Hendricks is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Hendricks postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Piper looks a forlorn figure.
Piper in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
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!
Piper is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Hendricks landing shots from mount.
Hendricks avoids the attempt from Piper to control.
Hendricks cracks Piper with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Hendricks in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Hendricks working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Hendricks raining down shots from the mount!
Hendricks breaks from Piper's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Hendricks is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Piper can't stay in a position like this for much longer.

Hendricks is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Piper can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.

Hendricks looking for a guillotine from mount but Piper is having none of it.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Kenny Hendricks dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Hendricks throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.

Hendricks scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Piper tries to push off, looking to stand up, but Hendricks manages to move to mount!
Hendricks working Piper over with strikes here.
Hendricks has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
A nice elbow there by Hendricks.
Piper is bucking up trying to escape but Hendricks cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Hendricks lands a big elbow.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

Hendricks has control of Piper's right arm, working for a kimura. It's a bit of a token attempt though and Piper regains control of the situation pretty easily.
Hendricks with the ground and pound from mount.
Hendricks lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Hendricks is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Piper has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Hendricks lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.

Hendricks working for a submission here. He's tucked his head under his opponent's arm, looking for an arm triangle. He's hopped off into side control, looking to tighten the submission... is it going to work? He's given up a good position looking for it. Piper looks OK. Oh, I spoke too soon, he's out! That must have been tighter than I thought! Excellent work there by Hendricks! Submission of the night perhaps?

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:37 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Arm Triangle). Kenny Hendricks!
Kenny Hendricks made sure to give a little speech post fight, saying 'This is everything I predicted. Assad is strong with his Muay Thai but my grappling is just so much better. He's a hell of a competitor and he will be back!'.