PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Akseli Kukkonen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Andrij Golotov (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Kukkonen comes to the cage accompanied by Fintelligens - Kaikki Peliin. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Kukkonen
vs
Golotov

182 cm
20
184 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

180 cm
22
190 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Tends to cut

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Akseli Kukkonen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Andrij Golotov!
The judges for this bout are Matti Vanhoillinen, Tarja Halkonen and Marco Blurström.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Golotov clinches up with Kukkonen and pushes him back against the cage.

Golotov breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

Golotov closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Kukkonen to the mat! Kukkonen manages to get full guard.
Golotov with a flurry of punches that miss.
Kukkonen looking to control.
Golotov tries to free his leg and advance position but Kukkonen is retaining full guard.

Golotov drops back for a leg! It's a sloppy attempt though and Golotov jumps back into guard quickly, to retain the dominant position.
Kukkonen seems keen to control rather than go for a submission, at least for now.
Kukkonen not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Golotov wants to pass the guard but Kukkonen is keeping the position.
Kukkonen is trying to control the position from the bottom.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.
Kukkonen misses with a takedown

and Golotov counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Kukkonen's guard now.
Kukkonen seems keen to control Golotov's posture.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kukkonen keeping moving, preventing Golotov from controlling successfully.
Golotov has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Golotov postures up in Kukkonen's guard and throws a big left but Kukkonen blocks it.
Golotov throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Kukkonen works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Kukkonen is trying to control the position but Golotov postures up.

Kukkonen scrambles and gets back to his feet.
Kukkonen fails with the takedown

and Golotov counters into the clinch. Nicely done.

Golotov breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Kukkonen lands with a nice body kick.
Golotov misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
A decent looking cross lands there for Golotov.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Golotov moves out of range of the body kick.
Kukkonen with a lazy takedown attempt

and Golotov counters with a takedown into side control.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Akseli Kukkonen. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Golotov is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Kukkonen has escaped the position, nice work there.
Kukkonen is looking to regain half guard here but Golotov keeps moving and retains side control.
Kukkonen avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Golotov.
Kukkonen tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Golotov wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Golotov has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Kukkonen wants to control but Golotov is having none of it.
Kukkonen is breathing heavily.
Golotov with the ground and pound from mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Golotov has control of Kukkonen's right arm, working for a kimura. It's a bit of a token attempt though and Kukkonen regains control of the situation pretty easily.
Golotov avoids the attempt from Kukkonen to control.
Golotov postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Kukkonen looks a forlorn figure.

Golotov is going oldschool here, as he tries to force Kukkonen to tap using a forearm choke. This isn't 1993 though, so Kukkonen shrugs it off.
Kukkonen wants to control but Golotov is having none of it.
Kukkonen working to try and regain half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.

Golotov looking for a guillotine from mount but Kukkonen is having none of it.
Golotov tries to control but Kukkonen wriggling away.
Kukkonen sneaks a leg under to get to half guard.
Kukkonen works his way to full guard. Good work.
Golotov trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Golotov trying to control the position from guard on top but Kukkonen is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Kukkonen has Golotov pulled in close to control his posture.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Andrij Golotov 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.

Kukkonen gets the takedown into side control.
Golotov is trying to control Kukkonen's posture but Kukkonen avoids it.
An elbow from Kukkonen crashes against the mat.
Kukkonen throws a strike aimed at the side of Golotov's head but Golotov avoids it well.
Kukkonen scores with a couple of short elbows.
Golotov tries to improve position but can't.
Kukkonen lands some shots froms side control.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

Kukkonen wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Golotov, who protects the arm well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Golotov parries the strikes from Kukkonen easily there. Kukkonen is wary of posturing up too much because it might enable Golotov to escape.
Golotov tries to improve position but can't.
Kukkonen working away.
Kukkonen looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Golotov is avoiding damage well.
Sloppy strikes there by Kukkonen.
Kukkonen is staying tight to Golotov's torso, preventing him from escaping.
Golotov struggling a bit here.

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.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Golotov shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Kukkonen counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Golotov!
Kukkonen unloads with some shots from mount but Golotov bucks and avoids them well.
Kukkonen throwing strikes but Golotov uses the opportunity to regain half guard.
Golotov is not content to let Kukkonen control the position.
Kukkonen wants to pass to mount but Golotov is defending the position.
Kukkonen not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Golotov trying to control here.
Kukkonen not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Golotov avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Kukkonen.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Kukkonen has his takedown stuffed

and Golotov counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Golotov.
Golotov cracks Kukkonen with a solid left hand.

Golotov thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Kukkonen looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.
Kukkonen is trying to keep Golotov in close.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Golotov drops back looking for a submission - "I'm sorry sir, but I'm gunna break your leg" says Golotov as he cranks on the unfortunate limb! Kukkonen screams and taps out before any major damage is done! Don't mess with Golotov! Nice submission victory there!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:30 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kneebar). Andrij Golotov!