PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Melvin Manhoef (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nathan Explosion (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Manhoef comes to the ring accompanied by Melvin Manhoef feat.Lange Frans. Nathan Explosion has the eye of the tiger tonight.

Manhoef
vs
Explosion

180 cm
21
225 lbs
6 - 4 - 0

199 cm
23
225 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Good chin

BJJ White Belt
Good kicks
Granite chin

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 6 - 4 - 0, fighting out of London, Melvin Manhoef!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of London, Nathan Explosion!
The judges for this bout are Steven Brown, Daniel Bishop and Paul Tew.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Manhoef closes the distance and clinches up with Explosion, looking for a takedown. Manhoef pushes Explosion against the ropes but Explosion circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.

Explosion rushes Manhoef and presses him up against the ropes.

Explosion jumps guard and drags Manhoef to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
Explosion will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.
Manhoef might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Manhoef stops Explosion from standing up.

Manhoef avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Explosion looking to hit a scissor sweep but Manhoef is one step ahead there.

Explosion is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Manhoef not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Manhoef stopping the sweep attempt from Explosion.

Explosion had isolated an arm as going for an omaplata. Manhoef is defending the submission well but is in a very vulnerable position. Explosion Is leaning forward trying to finish the omaplata but decides to abandon it, and take Manhoef's back instead.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Manhoef has his hands over his head blocking the strikes from Explosion.

Manhoef is staying cool under pressure, defending well against the rear naked choke attempt from his opponent.
Explosion looks gassed!
Manhoef manages to scramble and ends up in full guard, under a barage of strikes . Great composure from Manhoef.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Manhoef looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Manhoef blocks a head kick by Explosion.
Manhoef looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Melvin Manhoef. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Manhoef fails to land the takedown.

Manhoef scores with a nice takedown into half guard. Let's see what he's got on the ground.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Manhoef takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Explosion is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Manhoef wants to take a breather but Explosion is having none of it.
Manhoef looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Explosion tries to get to full guard but Manhoef has control of the leg.
Manhoef is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Manhoef 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.

Manhoef wants to work for an arm triangle but Explosion is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.

Manhoef seems to be working for a kimura but Explosion defends the submission attempt.
Manhoef is taking a breather. Explosion says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Explosion punching from the bottom.
Manhoef could do with loosing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Explosion has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Manhoef is working away from the top position though.
Explosion misses with some strikes from the bottom.
Explosion is looking to improve his position.

Manhoef is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.
Explosion landing small, sideways elbows.
Manhoef working over Explosion with some ground and pound. Explosion looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Manhoef scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Explosion tries to get to full guard but Manhoef has control of the leg.
Explosion landing rabbit punches to the side of Manhoef's head. Not doing much damage but still scoring a few points.

Manhoef seems to be working for a kimura but Explosion defends the submission attempt.

Manhoef is trying for a guillotine from the top but the pressure isn't in the right place so Explosion is just riding it out for now. Manhoef eventually gives up the hold.
Manhoef prevents Explosion from improving his position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Melvin Manhoef 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.

Manhoef drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Manhoef scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Explosion to see if he's OK.
Explosion taking punishment in the form of punches.
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.
Manhoef prevents Explosion from escaping the position.
Explosion wants to get back to his feet but Manhoef is dominant here and he's now got Explosion's back!
Manhoef lands punches and elbows.
Explosion staying busy and making it hard for Manhoef to control.

Manhoef is staying calm and holding on to the back position, whilst working on a rear naked choke. Explosion is defending well though. Manhoef let's go of the attempt for now.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Explosion wants to control his opponent's hands but Manhoef gets his hands free.
Manhoef doesn't have the hooks in and Explosion manages to turn into his guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Manhoef has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Explosion can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Manhoef trying to control the position.
Manhoef manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Manhoef trying to control but he's not successful this time.

Manhoef is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Explosion has managed to escape the submission attempt.

Manhoef with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Explosion is in all sorts of trouble here.
Manhoef blocks Explosion's feeble attempts to strike from the bottom.
Explosion wants to control but Manhoef is having none of it.
Manhoef is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Explosion can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Explosion is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Manhoef trying to control but Explosion is having none of it.
Explosion is desperately trying to improve his position but Manhoef has a good base and remains in mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Manhoef lands a nice shot to the head.
Explosion is in a horrible position here. Manhoef smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Explosion keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Manhoef putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Manhoef in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Explosion tries to hold on but Manhoef pushes him away.
Explosion swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Manhoef avoids the attempt from Explosion to control.
Explosion is trying desperately to improve position.

Explosion defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Manhoef.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Explosion is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
You get the feeling that Explosion really doesn't like being in this position too much.
Explosion is trying desperately to improve position.
Manhoef lands a big elbow.
Explosion is working to get back to half guard.
Explosion is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Melvin Manhoef dominated that second round.
That's time! Manhoef's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight. The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

Manhoef fails to land the takedown.

Explosion shoots in and bounces Manhoef off the ropes to secure the takedown into guard.
Explosion trying to control but Manhoef is working from the bottom.
Melvin Manhoef overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Explosion pushes down on Manhoef's leg and manages to get into half guard.
Manhoef wants to get back to full guard.
Manhoef is looking to control Explosion's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Manhoef avoid being mounted?
Explosion wants to lay and pray for a moment but Manhoef keeps working.
Explosion tries to pass the half guard into mount. Manhoef knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Explosion looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Manhoef wants to control but Explosion is keeping busy.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Explosion shoots in for a double leg but Manhoef sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Manhoef tries for a takedown but Explosion circles away easily

and Explosion counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
Manhoef moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.

Manhoef looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.

Manhoef had isolated an arm as going for an omaplata. Explosion is defending the submission well but is in a very vulnerable position. Manhoef Is leaning forward trying to finish the omaplata but decides to abandon it, and take Explosion's back instead.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Manhoef trying to control.
Explosion tries to break free.
Manhoef not allowing Explosion to control his hands.
Explosion looking to stop the rear naked choke attempt by controlling the hands.
Explosion is defending well here and trying to improve his position.
Explosion has the hand control, trying to stop the rear naked choke.
Explosion breaks Manhoef's hooks off and manages to turn into his guard.
Explosion passes Manhoef's left leg - he's now in half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Manhoef looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Explosion working over Manhoef with some ground and pound. Manhoef looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Explosion sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Manhoef defending well though.
Explosion trying to control the action but Manhoef is working from the bottom.

Explosion seems to be looking for submissions.

Explosion decides to stand up.

Manhoef closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Manhoef lands in his opponent's guard.
Nathan Explosion has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Explosion throwing lazy shots from the back mount that aren't doing any damage.
Explosion loading up with punches from the back mount - how long can Manhoef hold on?
Explosion missing with strikes.

Manhoef defending nicely against the rear naked choke attempt.
Manhoef tries to escape the position.
Manhoef manages to reverse the position and now he's in Explosion's guard. Nice work there by Manhoef.

And that's the end of the fight!
Nathan Explosion comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Manhoef has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Steven Brown scores the fight 29:28
Judge Daniel Bishop scores the fight 29:28
Judge Paul Tew scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Melvin Manhoef!