PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Hank Houston (ranked 1659 p4p, 2874 weight class) and Alpyurek Sanli (ranked 229 p4p, 375 weight class). Alpyurek Sanli will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Houston
vs
Sanli

177 cm
18
189
3 - 0 - 0

182 cm
25
185
2 - 1 - 0

Dangerous GnP
Solid boxing
KO power

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Determined

Threads of Fate

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, for the middleweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Montreal, Hank Houston!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Alpyurek Sanli!
The judges for this bout are John Mangel, Hugh Johnson and Summer Carpenter.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Nice body punch from Houston.
Sanli takes a jab right on the nose. That must have hurt but he shrugs his shoulders and looks to return the favor.

It looks like Alpyurek Sanli has been cut.
Houston swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Houston definitely looks more muscular than last time we saw him fight.
Hank Houston seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Houston closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Sanli to the mat! Sanli manages to get full guard.
Houston looking to pass the guard.
Sanli looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
Houston wants to control from the top but Sanli keeps moving.
Sanli preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Houston trying to control the position from guard on top but Sanli is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Houston with a flurry of punches that miss.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Houston throws a big right hand that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Houston working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Sanli's head.
Sanli is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Houston with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Houston is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Houston is looking to work some ground and pound but Sanli has wrist control.
Houston is stalling in the full guard.
Houston in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Houston with a nice head shot there.
Sanli really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Houston. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Sanli is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Houston throwing strikes from guard but Sanli blocks nicely.
Houston trying to control the position from guard on top but Sanli is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Houston lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Sanli looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Houston working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Houston is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.
Houston wants to control from the top but Sanli keeps moving.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sanli throws a low kick but Houston moves out of range easily.
Houston misses with a left hand
and Sanli counters with a leg kick.
Sanli pivots, looking for a leg kick but Houston is out of range and Sanli settles back down.
A looping hook to the body misses from Houston. Sanli does a little dance to reset his feet.
Sanli throws a leg kick which misses Houston's front leg but catches the back leg as Houston tries to avoid it.
Houston throws a lazy right hand but Sanli sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Houston dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Houston tries to score with a low kick but Sanli moves his leg out of the way.
Houston misses with a hook
and Sanli counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Houston cracks Sanli with a hook to the jaw. Both fighters smile at eachother and high-five before getting back down to business.
Houston scores with a shot to the body.
Sanli looks shocked there as he takes a right hand to the temple.
Sanli takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Houston bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Sanli's head.
Houston scores with a jab. Sanli acknowledges it with a nod of the head.
Houston lands a nice looking body shot.
Houston digs a good hook to Sanli's body.
Houston swings away with a body shot that misses
and Sanli counters with a body kick that stops Houston in his tracks momentarily.
Houston swings and misses with a hook to the body.

That's five minutes gone in the round.
Houston throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Sanli stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Houston misses with a straight left.
Sanli only half commits to the counter leg kick.
Alpyurek Sanli is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Sanli throws a leg kick
and Houston counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Houston throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Sanli! But no joy.
Houston misses with an uppercut
and Sanli counters with a nice low kick that buckles Houston's knee momentarily.
Houston swings away with a body shot that misses
and Sanli cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Houston throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Sanli sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Sanli has his head snapped back a nice jab. A little nod from Sanli there as he acknowledges the shot.
Houston misses with a right hand
and Sanli counters with a nice low kick that buckles Houston's knee momentarily.
Sanli avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Sanli throws a big counter head kick but Houston avoids it with no problem.

That's six minutes gone in the round.
Sanli takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.

Houston scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Sanli takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Houston connects with a decent looking elbow from side control that caused Sanli some visible discomfort.
Sanli taking a bit of punishment here - Houston scoring with strikes.
You can see the frustration on Sanli's face as Houston controls the position.
Sanli dodges the ground and pound from Houston.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Sanli taking punishment in the form of punches.
Houston grinds an elbow into Sanli's temple.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Sanli can do anything to dispel that myth.

That's seven minutes gone in the round.
Houston sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Sanli is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.
Houston working the head and body with strikes.
Houston in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Sanli is letting Houston control him for a moment.
Houston scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Sanli to see if he's OK.
Houston cracks Sanli with a big right hand but Sanli just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Houston scores with a couple of short elbows.
Houston lands an elbow.
Houston advances to mount.
Houston working away from the top, dropping strikes.

Sanli is rocked!

That has opened up Alpyurek Sanli's cut even more.

That's eight minutes gone in the round.
Whack. That's a big, big shot from Houston! Sanli is out cold! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 8:28 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Strikes). Hank Houston!
Hank Houston retains his middleweight title!
A very excited looking Hank Houston made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.