PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Juha Sipila (ranked 826 p4p, 910 weight class) and Zheko Melondov (ranked 114 p4p, 129 weight class). Juha Sipila has a significant reach advantage - let's see if he can make it count.

Sipila
vs
Melondov

224 cm
28
265
9 - 3 - 0

200 cm
29
274
27 - 7 - 0

Great wrestler
World class MT
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Granite chin

Brooklyn Apothecary
Brooklyn Threads

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Juha Sipila!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 27 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Zheko Melondov!
The judges for this bout are Donald Grub, Steven Brown and Paul Tew.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Sipila closes the distance and clinches.
Melondov manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Sipila blocks a body shot from Melondov.
Sipila lands on the inside with an uppercut.
Melondov stays in close to his opponent and throws a right hand to the body.
Melondov lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Sipila swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Sipila lands a nice elbow from the clinch.

It looks like Zheko Melondov has been cut.
Sipila misses with a short punch on the inside.
Melondov lands with a left to the head.
Sipila misses with some punches.
Both fighters working to control the clinch.

Melondov pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Sipila looks to score with a jab to the body but Melondov is just out of range.
Melondov throws a head kick that misses.
Melondov avoids the head kick by Sipila.
Melondov moves out of range of the strikes.
A little jabbing left from Melondov on the counter but it doesn't find it's target.
Sipila swings and misses with a hook to the body.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
A kick lands to the mid section there for Sipila.
Sipila lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sipila tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Melondov swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Sipila throws a predictable looking body shot

and Melondov counters with a crisp one two that drops Sipila! Melondov thinks about following him to the mat for a moment but instead steps back and waves Sipila to his feet! Sipila is in big trouble!
Sipila misses with an attempted mid kick.
Juha Sipila seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Well, he's not going to score with shots like that. A lazy body kick attempt from Sipila.
Sipila scores with a nice right hand.
Melondov fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Melondov drops a shoulder and throws an uppercut that cracks Sipila right on the button. Sipila goes down! Melondov follows him to the mat and finishes the job with more strikes! Melondov gets the win via TKO!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:34 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Zheko Melondov!
Our winner, Zheko Melondov, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.