PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Sam Lister (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Janne Uusitalo (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Sam Lister looks tired to me. Hopefully he has got enough gas left in the tank to put in a good performance.

Lister
vs
Uusitalo

169 cm
22
200 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

185 cm
22
210 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

Decent wrestler
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Sam Lister!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Janne Uusitalo!
The judges for this bout are Marco Blurström, Johanna Lukiainen and Roosa Järviläinen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Uusitalo keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
Uusitalo has his takedown stuffed

so Lister counters with a double leg into guard. Good agility.

Uusitalo kicks Lister off and gets to his feet.
Janne Uusitalo seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Uusitalo closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Lister to the mat! Lister manages to get full guard.
Uusitalo throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Lister works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Uusitalo's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Uusitalo wants to control from the top but Lister keeps moving.
Uusitalo passes Lister's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Uusitalo is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.

Uusitalo looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Lister on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Lister tries to get out of the position.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Lister tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Uusitalo has advanced to mount. Uh oh.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Uusitalo tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Lister might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Uusitalo cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Uusitalo has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.

That's two 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.
Lister holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Uusitalo tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
Lister avoids a series of strikes thrown by Uusitalo.
Uusitalo takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.

Uusitalo looking for a guillotine from mount but Lister is having none of it.
Uusitalo can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Lister is looking to escape.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Lister is working to get back to half guard.
Uusitalo lands with some strikes.
Lister takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Lister taking shots to the head.
Uusitalo misses with a head shot.
Lister is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.
Uusitalo thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Lister is breathing heavily.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Uusitalo has hold of Lister's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Lister manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
Lister wants to control but Uusitalo is having none of it.
Lister wants to get back to his feet.
Lister regains half guard.
Lister is refusing to be controlled, as Uusitalo sits in half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Janne Uusitalo 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.

Uusitalo doesn't succeed with the takedown

and Lister counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Lister.
Uusitalo seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Uusitalo manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Lister manages to get himself to full guard.

Uusitalo decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Lister misses with a takedown attempt

and Uusitalo counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Lister's guard now.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Uusitalo landing some decent shots from guard.
Uusitalo distracts Lister with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Uusitalo postures up.
Uusitalo lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Uusitalo tries to free his leg and advance position but Lister is retaining full guard.
Lister avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Uusitalo pushes down on Lister's leg and manages to get into half guard.

Uusitalo is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Uusitalo is trying to control the action in half guard but Lister is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.

That's two 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.
Lister slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Uusitalo won't allow Lister to sweep him here.
Uusitalo sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Uusitalo wants to control from the top but Lister keeps moving.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Uusitalo looking to pass the guard.
Lister is controlling Uusitalo's posture.
Uusitalo scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Uusitalo is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Uusitalo wants to control from the top but Lister keeps moving.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Uusitalo accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Lister controls Uusitalo momentarily but Uusitalo frees himself.
Lister avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Lister is pulling down on Uusitalo's head. It's preventing any offense from Uusitalo, at least for the moment.
Uusitalo passes Lister's left leg - he's now in half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Janne Uusitalo showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's time! Back to the action! This is the final round!

Uusitalo shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Lister's guard.
Uusitalo preventing the sweep.
Uusitalo thows a big elbow that misses.

Uusitalo stands up and waves to Lister to follow him.
Lister shoots and misses

and Uusitalo counters with a takedown into side control.
Lister is letting Uusitalo control him for a moment.
Uusitalo wants to control but Lister is keeping him busy.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Uusitalo in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Lister is working to avoid the ground and pound but Uusitalo connects with a decent elbow.
Lister wants to get back to his feet.
Lister takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
You can see the frustration on Lister's face as Uusitalo controls the position.
Uusitalo trying to control the action but Lister is working from the bottom.
Lister struggling a bit here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Uusitalo landing a few strikes.
Lister is looking to slip a leg under and get half guard but Uusitalo is one step ahead and moves to full mount!
Uusitalo content just to control the position here.
Lister is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Lister is in a horrible position here. Uusitalo smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Uusitalo lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Uusitalo is in the full mount, landing strikes.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Uusitalo cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Uusitalo landing punches.
Janne Uusitalo has got the better of the ground game so far.
Uusitalo with the ground and pound from mount.
Uusitalo looking to control but Lister is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Uusitalo has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Lister's face.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Uusitalo raining down shots from the mount!
Uusitalo controlling his opponent.
Uusitalo trying to control but Lister is having none of it.
Lister keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Janne Uusitalo comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Uusitalo has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Marco Blurström scores the fight 27:30
Judge Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 26:30
Judge Roosa Järviläinen scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Janne Uusitalo!