PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Marcin Held (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Murav Nurmanov (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Held's entrance music is Bob Marley - Buffalo soldier. A fine choice. Man, I cannot wait for this one!

Held
vs
Nurmanov

175 cm
20
155 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

175 cm
20
150 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter fighter
Experienced

Good wrestler
Basic striking
Determined

Arcticus University: London

AnonymouS

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Marcin Held!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Murav Nurmanov!
The judges for this bout are Fedor Mirinova, Igor Prikhodko and Konstantin Menshow.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Nurmanov clinches with his opponent.
Held has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Nurmanov avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
A knee to the head by Nurmanov.
Nurmanov lands a nice knee to the body.
Held jumps guard but Nurmanov turns him against the ropes and keeps the fight standing.
Nurmanov lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Nurmanov's coach down at Mo's ($499) was telling us pre-fight that they have been working on Nurmanov's balance. Obviously they view that as a key factor in the outcome of this fight.
Held is working for takedown but Nurmanov is calmly controlling the position for now.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Marcin Held. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Nurmanov just leaning against Held, taking a breather.
Nurmanov is pushing Held up against the ropes, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
Held tries to pull guard but Nurmanov holds him up against the ropes and eventually Held drops back down to his feet.
A right hook to the body lands for Nurmanov.
We've been hearing reports that Held has been drilling takedowns in recent sessions so let's see if that has an impact on the result of this fight.
Held is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Nurmanov is keeping busy.

Held manages to pull guard.
Held is breathing heavily.

Nurmanov avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Nurmanov postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Nurmanov trying to control but Held is working from the bottom.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Held escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Nurmanov gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.

Nurmanov stands up and waves to Held to follow him.

Nurmanov drives through and clinches with Held against the ropes.
A short left from Nurmanov.
Nurmanov taking a breather.
A nice left hand lands by Nurmanov.
Held's head jolts backwards as he takes an uppercut right on the button!
A nice left hand lands by Nurmanov.

Held is rocked!

Held has Nurmanov pressed up against the ropes. He's trying to work for a single leg takedown. Held pulls back from the ropes and twists to the side, sending Nurmanov tumbling to the mat - Held dives into Nurmanov's guard.
Nurmanov wants to get back to his feet but Held is in a dominant position and won't allow it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nurmanov looking for a sweep. Not yet Nurmanov, not yet.
Held throwing strikes from guard but Nurmanov blocks nicely.
Nurmanov looking to control.
Held trying to control but Nurmanov is working from the bottom.

Nurmanov has his feet on Held's hips. He pushes off and gets to his feet. Nice work.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Nurmanov moves into range and clinches up with Held.
Held fails to pull the fight into his guard.
Held jumps guard but Nurmanov turns him against the ropes and keeps the fight standing.
Nurmanov is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Nurmanov scores with a nice hook to the head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Held is working on a single leg takedown against the ropes. Nurmanov can't fight it off and eventually Held manages to take the fight to the floor. Nurmanov looks annoyed but at least he's managed to land in guard.
Held trying to control the position from guard on top but Nurmanov is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Nurmanov is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

Held trying to hold on to Nurmanov's head to control him but Nurmanov postures up.
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.
Held is refusing to be controlled, as Nurmanov sits in half guard.
Nurmanov wants to stand up but Held is controlling the position.
Nurmanov looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Nurmanov drops an elbow to the side of Held's head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nurmanov is thwarting Held's attempts to control the position.

Held looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Nurmanov frees up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Held regains half guard.
Held is trying to get back to full guard.
Nurmanov drops an elbow to the side of Held's head.

Held looking for submissions off his back.
Nurmanov working over Held with some ground and pound. Held looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Murav Nurmanov dominated that round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

Nurmanov gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Held fails to pull the fight into his guard.
A short uppercut from Nurmanov.
Nurmanov working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Nurmanov scores with a knee to the head.
Oh Held is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Nurmanov has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Nurmanov has Held tight in a Thai clinch... and there's a huge knee which drops Held to the floor. He's out cold!! I hope he's still got all his teeth!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:24 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Knee). Murav Nurmanov!
Marcin Held was interviewed post fight and said 'I'm back, trust me, I'm back.'.