PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Aleksander Kowalczyk (ranked 24416 p4p, 1721 weight class) and Adrian Sterling (ranked 459 p4p, 159 weight class). Sterling has chosen Snake by Lil Keed as his entrance music. Adrian Sterling has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Aleksander Kowalczyk's chin.

Kowalczyk
vs
Sterling

168 cm
20
148
0 - 1 - 0

177 cm
23
150
4 - 4 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Very quick

Excellent grappler
Counter fighter
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 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Aleksander Kowalczyk!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 4 - 0, fighting out of New York, Adrian Sterling!
The judges for this bout are Jack Bonds, Don Winkell and Timothy Bukovac.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Kowalczyk lets the fists fly and connects with a left straight followed by a right hook.
Sterling throws a jab but it's blocked by Kowalczyk.
Kowalczyk misses with a combination

and Sterling decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Kowalczyk's guard.
Sterling is just sitting in guard, looking to avoid any submissions.
Sterling slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
The referee tells the fighters to keep busy.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
It looks like Sterling might be adopting somewhat of a lay and pray gameplan here, which I'm sure won't go down too well with the paying fans in attendance... Or the ring announcers come to think of it.
Let's hope that Sterling has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Sterling's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

Sterling scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.
Sterling looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Sterling is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Kowalczyk!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Sterling controlling from the full mount.
We've been informed that Sterling has been working hard on his conditioning in the buildup to the fight.
More stalling from Sterling.
Sterling is continuing to stall.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Adrian Sterling dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Sloppy strikes from Kowalczyk. Those never looked like landing.
Kowalczyk throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped

and Sterling counters with a nice double leg into side control. Kowalczyk won't be happy with that.
Kowalczyk being controlled for a moment.
Adrian Sterling has got the better of the ground game so far.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Sterling has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

Sterling has worked his way into a potential kimura here. Kowalczyk is trying to get out of the position but his squirming has just got him deeper into trouble. Sterling yanks on the arm and Kowalczyk is forced to tap due to a very painful looking submission! Nice work by Sterling.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:58 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Adrian Sterling!
Adrian Sterling was full of energy after the big win and talked about how he thinks he can do big things in this sport. The crowd were appreciative of his determination to succeed.