PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Alexander Karelin (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Grigori Belikov (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Karelin comes to the cage accompanied by Terminator 2. Grigori Belikov will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Karelin
vs
Belikov

194 cm
22
286 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

201 cm
20
298 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

Good wrestling
Brawler
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Very confident

Valhalla War Gear
Valhalla War Gear

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Alexander Karelin!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Grigori Belikov!
The judges for this bout are Vladimir Khabensky, Illya Tyunina and Dmitry Maklakov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Karelin shoots for a double leg takedown but Belikov sprawls well. He's pushed Karelin's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Belikov has his takedown stuffed

and Karelin counters with a driving takedown into guard. Nice work there by Karelin.
Karelin lands a couple of decent looking shots.

Belikov is rocked!
Karelin trying to stand up but can't free himself from Belikov's guard.
Belikov is still in real trouble! Can Karelin finish him?
Karelin lands a couple of digs.
Belikov is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Belikov trying to control the action but Karelin is working from the bottom.
Karelin tries to roll over but Belikov keeps him under control.
Belikov seems to have recovered his senses.
Karelin is trying to stand back up but Belikov is controlling him
Karelin wants to improve his position but Belikov is controlling well.
Karelin missing with punches from the bottom.
Karelin is looking to improve his position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Karelin is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Belikov's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Belikov's back!
Karelin knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Belikov on the ground.
Karelin lands strikes to the head.
Belikov is keeping busy.
Karelin lands a couple of good shots to his opponent's body and a final shot to the head. Good little attack there by Karelin.
Belikov turns into Karelin and is now in his guard.
Karelin on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Karelin tries to get out of the position.
Karelin is looking to stand up but Belikov isn't so interested in that idea.
Karelin keeping moving, preventing Belikov from controlling successfully.
Karelin wants to stand and escape but Belikov is having none of it.
Karelin wants to sweep here but Belikov controlling him for the moment.
Karelin throws a couple of shots from the bottom but they don't land.
Karelin is breathing heavily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Belikov wants to pass the guard but Karelin is keeping the position.
Karelin looking to sweep here. No luck so far.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Belikov lands with a nice body punch.
Belikov doesn't succeed with the takedown

and Karelin counters with a single leg into guard. Belikov didn't expect that.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Karelin stands up over Belikov, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Karelin's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Karelin with a nice head shot there.
Karelin is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Karelin postures up in Belikov's guard and throws a big left but Belikov blocks it.
Karelin makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Karelin thows a big elbow that misses.
Belikov is trying to control the position but Karelin postures up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Karelin is in close to Belikov's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Karelin has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Karelin is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Karelin would like to get this fight back to the feet but can't get free from the closed guard.
Karelin throwing strikes from guard but Belikov blocks nicely.

Belikov has his foot on Karelin's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Karelin works his way back into a safe position though.
Belikov is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Karelin working some strikes from top position.
Karelin keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Belikov's head.
Karelin stands up over Belikov, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.

Belikov isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Karelin stacks Belikov on his neck as he steps over and passes to the side. He's now in a much more dominant position where he can look to do some serious damage. Nice move by Karelin!
Belikov takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Karelin has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Karelin lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Belikov hang on?
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Karelin with good strikes from the mount here!
Belikov is bucking up trying to escape but Karelin cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Karelin fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Karelin lands a big elbow.
Karelin landing strikes, looking to finish!
Belikov keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Belikov in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Karelin avoids the attempt from Belikov to control.
Karelin with the ground and pound from mount.
Belikov tries to reverse the position but Karelin maintains control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Alexander Karelin dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Karelin looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Karelin shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Karelin misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Alexander Karelin. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Horrible takedown by Karelin or perhaps it was just good defense by Belikov which made him look bad.
Karelin fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
No luck for Karelin with that takedown attempt.
Karelin shoots for a double leg takedown but Belikov sprawls well. He's pushed Karelin's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Karelin shoots for a double leg takedown but Belikov sprawls well. He's pushed Karelin's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Karelin shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Belikov counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Karelin is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Belikov is controlling him.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Karelin looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Belikov is fending him off so far but Karelin persists. Nope, Belikov circles away and we're back to standing.
Karelin tries for a takedown but Belikov sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Karelin fails to land the takedown.
Alexander Karelin is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Karelin misses with a takedown attempt - Belikov sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Karelin shoots in for a double leg but Belikov sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Karelin fails with the takedown.
Karelin fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Karelin has a takedown stuffed.
Horrible takedown by Karelin or perhaps it was just good defense by Belikov which made him look bad.
Karelin fails with a takedown attempt.
Karelin shoots in for a takedown but Belikov shows good takedown defense.
Horrible takedown by Karelin or perhaps it was just good defense by Belikov which made him look bad.
Karelin tries for a takedown but Belikov sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Karelin will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.

Karelin closes the distance and looks for a trip takedown... aaaand he's got it - Karelin lands in his opponent's guard.

Belikov is looking for a triangle but Karelin pushes his legs off easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Belikov working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Karelin doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Karelin manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Belikov looking to control.
Karelin loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.

Karelin stands up and waves to Belikov to follow him.
Belikov throws a body kick but he wasn't in range.

Karelin closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Belikov manages to land a sweep and he's now on top! Lovely Jiu Jitsu!
Belikov seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Karelin does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.

Belikov seems to be looking for submissions.
Karelin flails away from the bottom but he's not doing any damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Karelin is staying active underneath Belikov, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
Karelin is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Belikov's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Belikov's back!
Karelin connects with a big shot to the side of Belikov's head.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for leaving it all in the cage!
Belikov trying to control but he's just got himself in more trouble.
Belikov is trapped and Karelin is scoring with shots to the head and body.
Karelin scores with some strikes to the side of the head there. Good, points scoring shots.
Karelin is throwing strikes from the back here. Oh that last one was to the back of the head. Karelin gets a warning from the referee. He throws another strike to the back of the head straight away though and the referee has seen enough. He breaks up the two fighters and stands them back up. Karelin gets a real talking to here and is lucky not to get a point deducted. Karelin apologises and we restart here on the feet.
Karelin shoots for a double leg takedown but Belikov sprawls well. He's pushed Karelin's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Belikov shoots in looking for a takedown. Karelin tries to sprawl out of it but Belikov keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Karelin manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Karelin closes the distance and clinches up with Belikov, looking for a takedown. Karelin pushes Belikov against the cage but Belikov circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Belikov clinches but Karelin breaks the clinch

and Karelin changes levels and lands a brilliant counter slam that knocks Belikov senseless! The eyes are open but nobody's home! Karelin is victorious and celebrates with his fans in the crowd. Congratulations that man!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:51 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Slam). Alexander Karelin!