PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Mike Van Rijn (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Riku Haukka (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Van Rijn comes into the arena with Francesco Zappalà - No Way Out blaring out of the sound system. Haukka has chosen Richie Hawtin - The Tunnel as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Riku Haukka told me before the fight that he's been watching a lot of DVDs so let's see if that helps him in this one! I can't wait to find out!

Van Rijn
vs
Haukka

196 cm
25
210 lbs
8 - 3 - 0

195 cm
25
205 lbs
8 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Granite chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

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 8 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Mike Van Rijn!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Riku Haukka!
The judges for this bout are Albert Achterberg, Paulsen Ambrosius and Nard Betker.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Haukka fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Van Rijn manages to avoid it.
Haukka misses with the combination.
A punch lands to the side of Van Rijn 's head but he takes it in his stride.
Haukka circles away from the clinch attempt.
Van Rijn doesn't manage to clinch there - Haukka circles away.

Haukka closes the distance and clinches.
Van Rijn misses with a knee strike.
Haukka blocks an elbow strike.
Haukka wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Van Rijn throws an elbow but it's blocked.
A knee to the head by Van Rijn.
Van Rijn misses with a knee to the head.
Haukka is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Haukka managing to block the knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Haukka wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Van Rijn tries to land knees in the clinch but Haukka avoids the damage to the body.
The referee calls for Haukka to work.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but Haukka blocks with his arms.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Van Rijn utilising his Muay Thai to score with a knee to the body.
Haukka dodges an elbow strike from Van Rijn.
Van Rijn lands an elbow just above Haukka 's eye.

It looks like Riku Haukka has been cut.
Haukka lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Van Rijn throws an elbow that misses.
Van Rijn landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.

Haukka manages to break the clinch.
Van Rijn closes the distance but Haukka moves to the side

and Haukka counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but Haukka blocks with his arms.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Haukka avoids it.
Van Rijn missing with knees to the body.
Van Rijn throws an elbow but it misses.
Haukka wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Van Rijn misses with a knee to the head.
Van Rijn creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Van Rijn misses with a knee strike.
Haukka is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Van Rijn with a knee to the head.
Haukka avoiding damage as Van Rijn throws knees to the body.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Van Rijn using the Thai clinch to land knees to the body.
Van Rijn keeps control of Haukka as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Van Rijn throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Haukka lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Van Rijn or not.

Haukka breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Haukka swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Van Rijn steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Haukka.
Van Rijn throws a sloppy head kick
and Haukka counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Haukka lands a vicious shot with the stealth of a sniper and the strength of a viper. Are vipers that strong? I can think of lots of things that are stronger than a viper - not many rhyme with sniper though.
Van Rijn walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
Van Rijn misses with a few strikes there.
Haukka connects with a crisp jab.
Van Rijn tries to clinch but Haukka moves away
and Van Rijn takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
Haukka throws a right and a left that both miss.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Haukka circles away from the clinch attempt
and Haukka counters with a lovely straight right hand!

Van Rijn rushes Haukka and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.
Haukka avoiding damage as Van Rijn throws knees to the body.
Haukka managing to block the knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Van Rijn obliges.
Van Rijn trying to land knees to the body.
Haukka is trying to force a seperation but Van Rijn has the dominant position.
Van Rijn with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Van Rijn tries a knee to the head but Haukka blocks it.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Haukka avoids it.
Van Rijn is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Haukka is defending well for now.
Haukka wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Van Rijn using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Haukka has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Haukka is trying to break the clinch but Van Rijn is controlling him.
With the fighters up against the cage, Van Rijn throws an elbow but misses.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Van Rijn trying to land knees to the body.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Van Rijn is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Haukka is defending well for now.
Knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Van Rijn misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Haukka.
Van Rijn throws an elbow that misses.
Van Rijn misses with an elbow strike.

Haukka breaks the clinch.
Van Rijn turns his hip over beautifully as he lands a nice leg kick.
Haukka is looking to clinch but Van Rijn is avoiding it.
Haukka on the wrong end of a kick to the body.
Haukka looks gassed!
A looping hook to the body misses from Van Rijn. Haukka does a little dance to reset his feet.
Van Rijn tries to clinch but fails miserably
letting Haukka counter with a right hand.
Van Rijn is looking to clinch but Haukka is avoiding it.
Haukka is landing a lot of head punches in this opening round! Van Rijn had better start moving his head a bit unless he wants his face to turn into pâté.
Haukka throws a series of punches but Van Rijn moves out of range.
A kick lands to the mid section there for Van Rijn.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mike Van Rijn dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Riku Haukka's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

A combination from Van Rijn does no damage.
Van Rijn tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Haukka lands an overhand right.
Haukka scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Van Rijn misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Van Rijn misses with a series of wild punches.
Van Rijn rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Haukka moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Van Rijn tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Haukka moves in looking to clinch but Van Rijn pushes him off.

Haukka gets in close and instigates a clinch.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Van Rijn working Haukka over with knees to the body.
Haukka tries to break free but Van Rijn pushes him back against the cage.
Van Rijn using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Haukka has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Van Rijn lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Haukka is breathing heavily.
Haukka wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Van Rijn missing with knees to the body.
Haukka takes a knee right on the jaw!
Van Rijn unloads a knee to the mid-section.
Van Rijn misses with a knee strike.
Van Rijn landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.
Van Rijn lands an elbow that stopped Haukka in his tracks for a moment.
Knees in the clinch landing for Van Rijn.
Van Rijn unloads a knee to the mid-section. Haukka lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Van Rijn tries to land knees in the clinch but Haukka avoids the damage to the body.
Van Rijn misses with a knee strike.
Van Rijn lands a damaging elbow.
Haukka takes an elbow to the temple.
Van Rijn tries to land knees in the clinch but Haukka avoids the damage to the body.
Haukka blocks the elbow strike.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Van Rijn landing knees to the head.
Van Rijn throws an elbow that misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Van Rijn landing knees to the body.
Haukka takes a knee right on the jaw!
Van Rijn tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
With the fighters up against the cage, Van Rijn throws an elbow but misses.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Haukka is trying to force a seperation but Van Rijn has the dominant position.
Haukka is looking to break free of the clinch but Van Rijn has double underhooks.
Haukka is trying to break the clinch but Van Rijn is controlling him.
Van Rijn misses with a knee strike.
Haukka managing to block the knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Van Rijn trying to land knees to the body.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Van Rijn throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Van Rijn is trying to wear down his opponent with knees to the body.
A hook to the body from Haukka.
Van Rijn creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Haukka's defenses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Van Rijn throws an elbow but it misses.
Van Rijn has Haukka pressed against the cage, preventing Haukka from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Haukka lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Van Rijn looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Haukka has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Van Rijn throws a knee to the head but misses.
Haukka takes a knee to the side of the body.
Van Rijn prevents Haukka from breaking the clinch.

Haukka breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Van Rijn takes a swing at Haukka's ribcage but misses.
Haukka fails to land with a series of punches.
Van Rijn moves away from the strike by Haukka.
Van Rijn takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.
A nice leg kick lands there from Van Rijn.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Van Rijn throws a big shot that misses.
Van Rijn tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Haukka counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Mike Van Rijn is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Haukka moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
Van Rijn walks forward and throws out a flicking leg kick. Haukka checks it nicely though, as he moves to the side.
Van Rijn throws a left and a right that both miss
and Haukka counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.

Van Rijn has managed to clinch.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
A right hand to the body from Haukka.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from Haukka.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Van Rijn misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Haukka.
Nice elbow from Van Rijn.
Haukka avoiding damage as Van Rijn throws knees to the body.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but Haukka blocks with his arms.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Haukka avoids it.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mike Van Rijn dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Riku Haukka's cut.
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. This is the final round!

Van Rijn swings and misses with a shot to the body
and Haukka counters with a straight right hand.
Van Rijn tries to clinch up
and Haukka counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Van Rijn wants to clinch

and Haukka counters by clinching up.
Van Rijn is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Haukka is defending well for now.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Haukka lands a body punch.
Van Rijn missing with knees to the body.
Haukka takes an elbow to the forehead.
Haukka is trying to force a seperation but Van Rijn has the dominant position.
With the fighters up against the cage, Van Rijn throws an elbow but misses.
Haukka is trying to break free.
Haukka avoiding damage as Van Rijn throws knees to the body.
Haukka working hard to break the clinch.
Van Rijn utilising his Muay Thai to score with a knee to the body.
Haukka takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Haukka avoiding damage as Van Rijn throws knees to the body.
Haukka is trying to break the clinch but Van Rijn has him pressed against the cage.
Haukka wants to break the clinch but can't.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Van Rijn keeps control of Haukka as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Van Rijn missing with knees to the body.
Haukka is looking to break free of the clinch but Van Rijn has double underhooks.
Van Rijn lands a good knee to the midsection. Haukka won't want to take too many of those.
Van Rijn prevents Haukka from breaking the clinch.
Van Rijn keeps control of Haukka as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Van Rijn trying to land knees to the body.
Van Rijn misses with an elbow strike.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Haukka avoids it.
Haukka managing to block the knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Van Rijn lands a damaging elbow.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Haukka is working Van Rijn over against the cage.
Van Rijn tries a knee to the head but Haukka blocks it.
Van Rijn landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Mike Van Rijn has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Haukka avoids it.
Van Rijn pushes off an throws an elbow but Haukka leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Haukka wants to break free but Van Rijn has control.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Van Rijn trying to land knees to the body.
Van Rijn missing with knees to the body.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Haukka takes a knee right on the jaw!
Van Rijn prevents Haukka from breaking the clinch.
Van Rijn connects with a nasty looking knee right to Haukka's face.
Van Rijn trying to land knees to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Haukka avoids it.
Van Rijn keeps control of Haukka as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Van Rijn looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Haukka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Good body shot from Haukka.
Haukka managing to block the knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Riku Haukka has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Van Rijn throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Haukka blocks it with crossed arms.
Haukka has had enough of the clinch but Van Rijn keeps him there for the moment.
Haukka has had enough of the clinch but Van Rijn keeps him there for the moment.
Van Rijn has Haukka pressed against the cage, preventing Haukka from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Haukka blocks an elbow strike.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Van Rijn just misses with a elbow thrown towards Haukka's brow.
Haukka managing to block the knees to the body from Van Rijn.
Van Rijn tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Van Rijn landing knees to the body.
Van Rijn misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Haukka.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Van Rijn missing with knees to the body.
Van Rijn looking to throw knees to the head but Haukka is blocking nicely.
Van Rijn is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Haukka is defending well for now.
Van Rijn tries to land knees in the clinch but Haukka avoids the damage to the body.
A hook to the body from Haukka.
Van Rijn misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Haukka.
Haukka avoiding damage as Van Rijn throws knees to the body.
Haukka works on Van Rijn's body with a couple of short punches.

Haukka breaks from the clinch.
Haukka might want to mix his strikes up a bit more. He's just going for head shots at the moment and that can become a bit predictable.
Van Rijn drops his hands and takes a jab to the jaw for his troubles.

Haukka gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Haukka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Haukka is trying to break the clinch but Van Rijn is controlling him.
Van Rijn scores a nice knee to the body.
Haukka is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Van Rijn tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Haukka lands a body punch.
Van Rijn prevents a body shot from Haukka.

And that's the end of the fight!
That was a close round. You could make an argument for either fighter but I would give it to Mike Van Rijn.
Well Van Rijn has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Albert Achterberg scores the fight for Mike Van Rijn!
Judge Paulsen Ambrosius scores the fight for Mike Van Rijn!
Judge Nard Betker scores the fight for Mike Van Rijn!

Mike Van Rijn wins by unanimous decision!