PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Chris Florence (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mike Houston (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Houston has chosen Here Comes the Pain as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Mike Houston 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!

Florence
vs
Houston

182 cm
25
179 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

185 cm
21
154 lbs
8 - 6 - 0

Decent wrestler
Solid boxing
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Decent boxing
Solid 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 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Chris Florence!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Mike Houston!
The judges for this bout are Nard Betker, Aafke Stam and Radbod Blank.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Houston scores with a nice head shot.
Florence swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Houston throws an overhand right that lands on Florence's shoulder, as Florence tries to avoid the shot.

Houston drops Florence with a right and a left! Houston comes rushing in but Florence regains his composure and manages to keep Houston in guard.

It looks like Chris Florence has been cut.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
Houston loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Florence is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Houston postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Houston trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Houston throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Florence works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Houston postures up in Florence's guard and throws a big left but Florence blocks it.

Florence had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Houston defends it easily.
Florence knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Houston on the ground.
Houston working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Houston won't allow Florence to get back to his feet.
Houston cracks Florence with a solid left hand.
Houston distracts Florence with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.

Houston gets to his feet and steps away from his opponent.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Florence displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Houston throws out the jab.
Houston throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Florence.
Houston scores with a straight right hand, right through his opponent's guard.
Houston connects with a looping right hand.
Florence takes one to the side of the head.
Houston has been working on his striking defense in training and it's paying off as Florence is landing a low percentage of strikes.
Sloppy strikes from Houston. Those never looked like landing.
Mike Houston seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Houston listening to his corner there, landing a nice uppercut.
Houston leaves Florence with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Houston misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Houston swinging wildly here.
A big left from Florence misses.
Florence slips a jab and a cross from Houston.
Florence showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Houston.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Houston lands a two punch combo.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Horrible takedown by Florence or perhaps it was just good defense by Houston which made him look bad.
Florence misses with an attempted mid kick.

Florence decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
Florence is breathing heavily.
Florence is looking to stall here but Houston recovers full guard.
Florence looking to sit in guard and control but Houston gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Houston lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Houston is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Houston forces his way into half guard.
The fighters are trapped in the ropes so we're going to have a reposition here. The ref calls for a break and repositions the fighters in the center of the ring.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Houston slips a nice elbow through Florence's hands, connecting with Florence's forehead.
Houston throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Florence on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Florence tries to get out of the position.
Houston working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Houston lands with a punch from half guard.
Houston working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Houston lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
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!
Houston lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Houston working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Houston working Florence over with strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Houston takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Nice strikes from Houston there.
Florence taking some punishment here, with Houston in his half guard.
Florence is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Houston is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Houston slips a nice elbow through Florence's hands, connecting with Florence's forehead.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Houston is thwarting Florence's attempts to control the position.
Florence is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Houston scores with a couple of nice shots.
Florence taking some punishment here, with Houston in his half guard.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Houston scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Houston working Florence over with strikes.
Houston scoring with strikes to the body and head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mike Houston dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Chris Florence's cut.
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.

Nice cross by Houston.
Houston throws a nice looking combination but Florence bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Florence motions for Houston to come forward. Florence throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Nice sprawl there from Houston as Florence shoots in.
Houston is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
No joy there for Houston, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Houston thows a body shot but no joy.
Houston looks to score with a jab to the body but Florence is just out of range.
Florence takes a shot to the body in his stride.
Houston throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Houston throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Houston has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Houston stalks Florence and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Florence's face. Florence staggers backwards, shaken.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Florence closes the distance and takes a jab right on the nose as he does so.
Houston throws a series of punches but Florence moves out of range.
Mike Houston seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Houston jabs Florence to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Houston misses with a double jab.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Houston throws a right and a left that both miss.
Florence closes the distance and clinches up with Houston, looking for a takedown. Florence pushes Houston against the ropes but Houston circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.

Florence shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Let's see what he's got on the mat.

Houston pushes Florence off and gets back to his feet.
Florence is on the wrong end of a nice combination from Houston.
Houston cracks a nice hook into Florence's ribs.
Houston lands a head shot.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Houston lands with a two punch combination before moving back out of range.

Florence is rocked!
Houston goes for a small jab and connects. Now Houston goes in closer pressing the issue. Left hook, right straight! Florence stumbles back but Houston runs in with a huge uppercut knocking Florence to the ground! What a finish! You have to wonder if Florence will ever be the same after a knockout like that.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:54 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Punches). Mike Houston!
Mike Houston thanked the fans post fight for their support.