PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rami Raakalainen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rogerio dos Santos (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Rogerio dos Santos will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Raakalainen
vs
dos Santos

192 cm
22
205 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

195 cm
21
217 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Self confident

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Solid 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 Rio de Janeiro, Rami Raakalainen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Rogerio dos Santos!
The judges for this bout are Leandro Rodrigues, Edson Gomes and Paulo Santos.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Raakalainen tries to bum rush dos Santos with a series of wild strikes but dos Santos uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
dos Santos walks forward and throws out a flicking leg kick. Raakalainen checks it nicely though, as he moves to the side.
Raakalainen shoots in and drives through. dos Santos sprawls well.
dos Santos misses with a low kick.
Raakalainen looking to land some kicks to the body here.

Raakalainen instigates a clinch.

Raakalainen jumps guard and drags dos Santos to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
Raakalainen tries to land a sweep but no joy.
dos Santos wants to control from the top but Raakalainen keeps moving.
dos Santos trying to stand up but can't free himself from Raakalainen's guard.
Raakalainen wants to improve his position but instead dos Santos has moved into half guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
dos Santos trying to control the pace.

Raakalainen looking for submissions off his back.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raakalainen is trying to get back to full guard.

Raakalainen actively working from the bottom here.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Raakalainen does a little shimmy and throws a leg kick. The leg kick missed by a considerable margin though, making him look a little bit silly for doing the shimmy.
Raakalainen throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.

Raakalainen moves into the clinch successfully.
Raakalainen has dos Santos pressed up against the ropes and is working for takedown. dos Santos manages to improve position though and keeps the fight standing.
dos Santos gets underhooks to prevent Raakalainen's takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Rami Raakalainen. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Raakalainen managing to block the knees to the body from dos Santos.
dos Santos content to slow the pace in the clinch.
dos Santos blocks an uppercut.
dos Santos misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Raakalainen.
Raakalainen goes for a takedown attempt but dos Santos pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.
Raakalainen is breathing heavily.
Raakalainen throws a head kick but dos Santos moves out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
dos Santos tries to clinch but Raakalainen is having none of it.
dos Santos tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Raakalainen closes the distance looking to clinch
and dos Santos counters with an outside leg kick.
dos Santos clinches but Raakalainen breaks the clinch
and Raakalainen counters with a thumping low kick.
Raakalainen looks for a takedown but dos Santos sprawls well.

dos Santos gets a clinch.
Raakalainen is trying to work for a single leg takedown but dos Santos pulls him back up using the underhooks.
Raakalainen fails to pull the fight into his guard.
A quick uppercut on the inside from Raakalainen.
Raakalainen misses with a hook to the ribs.
dos Santos lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Raakalainen tries to break the clinch but dos Santos is controlling the position.

Raakalainen gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Raakalainen looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks dos Santos with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
dos Santos taking some punishment here, with Raakalainen in his half guard.

Raakalainen is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.
Raakalainen throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Raakalainen is working for a kimura but dos Santos is defending it quite comfortably.
Raakalainen tries to pass to full mount but dos Santos defends it.

dos Santos kicks off Raakalainen and gets to his feet.
dos Santos tries to close the distance and clinch but Raakalainen swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Raakalainen wants to clinch
and dos Santos counters with a leg kick.
dos Santos tries a head kick but it misses.
Raakalainen closes the distance and clinches up with dos Santos, looking for a takedown. Raakalainen pushes dos Santos against the ropes but dos Santos circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raakalainen shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has dos Santos pinned against the cage. dos Santos gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.

dos Santos rushes Raakalainen and presses him up against the ropes.

Raakalainen decides to pull guard.
Raakalainen throws a couple of weedy looking strikes off his back.

Raakalainen pushes dos Santos off and scrambles back to his feet.
Raakalainen knocks dos Santos to the floor with a head kick! Can he finish him!?
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.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
dos Santos defending against the ground and pound.
An elbow from Raakalainen crashes against the mat.

Raakalainen is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but dos Santos is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Raakalainen throws an elbow but dos Santos slips to the side and avoids it well.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Raakalainen working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
Sloppy strikes there by Raakalainen.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Rami Raakalainen will probably get the nod.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Raakalainen darts in trying to clinch

and dos Santos counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
dos Santos misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Raakalainen.
Raakalainen lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of dos Santos backwards.
Raakalainen on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
dos Santos pushes off an throws an elbow but Raakalainen leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the ropes.
dos Santos prevents Raakalainen from breaking the clinch.
Raakalainen can't get the takedown.
Raakalainen tries to break the clinch but dos Santos is controlling the position.
Raakalainen has had enough of the clinch but dos Santos keeps him there for the moment.

Raakalainen manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.

Raakalainen is looking for a triangle but dos Santos pushes his legs off easily.
Raakalainen doesn't do any damage with a couple of strikes from the bottom.
dos Santos must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
dos Santos distracts Raakalainen with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Raakalainen is looking to sweep but instead, dos Santos has passed into half guard.
Raakalainen is trying to get back to full guard.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raakalainen works his way to full guard. Good work.
Raakalainen is looking to sweep but instead, dos Santos has passed into half guard.
Raakalainen is looking to get full guard. It looks like he might be successful but at the last minute dos Santos jumps into side control!
dos Santos gets to mount! Raakalainen was on the offensive and wasn't defending properly.
dos Santos trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Raakalainen swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
dos Santos tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Raakalainen keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.

That's two 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.
dos Santos looking to control and managing it successfully.
Raakalainen really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Raakalainen regains half guard.
Raakalainen looks like he's trying to stand up.
dos Santos trying to control from half guard but Raakalainen is working away.
Raakalainen manages to get to full guard.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Raakalainen throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.
Raakalainen is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
dos Santos has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Raakalainen is proving hard to escape from.
Raakalainen thows some rabbit punches from the bottom but they don't do any damage.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Some bone on bone action there as Raakalainen checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
dos Santos showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Raakalainen.
dos Santos circles away from the clinch attempt.

Raakalainen pushes dos Santos up against the ropes in a clinch.
dos Santos tries to land knees in the clinch but Raakalainen avoids the damage to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Raakalainen managing to block the knees to the body from dos Santos.
Raakalainen misses with an elbow strike.
dos Santos missing with knees to the body.
dos Santos holding his opponent close, against the ropes.
dos Santos using the Thai clinch to land knees to the body.
Knees in the clinch landing for Raakalainen.
dos Santos missing with knees to the body.

Raakalainen manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Raakalainen tries to land a sweep but no joy.

Raakalainen has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but dos Santos can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Raakalainen wants to sweep but no luck.
dos Santos wants to control from the top but Raakalainen keeps moving.

Raakalainen looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
dos Santos wants to stand but Raakalainen has a closed guard, so he can't escape.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rami Raakalainen dominated that second round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

Raakalainen fails with a takedown attempt.
Good work by Raakalainen as he checks the leg kick.
Raakalainen shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Raakalainen fails in his attempt to clinch.
Raakalainen takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
dos Santos seems to be stalking Raakalainen here. He circles momentarily and then unleashes a devastatic head kick! Raakalainen drops like a stone, out cold! WOW! Are you kidding me!? What a knockout!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:31 of round 3, we have a winner by way of KO (Head Kick). Rogerio dos Santos!