PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Steve Drake (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ilmari Laine (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Drake comes to the cage accompanied by Roky Erickson - Bloody Hammer. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Drake
vs
Laine

200 cm
25
329 lbs
7 - 3 - 0

209 cm
28
300 lbs
11 - 7 - 0

Decent wrestler
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

Good wrestler
Decent boxing
Powerful

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 7 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Steve Drake!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Ilmari Laine!
The judges for this bout are Anni Minnemäki, Tarja Halkonen and Ben Zyskovitsi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Laine lands with a straight right. Drake didn't see that one coming.
Laine fakes a head punch and goes low to the body. Nicely done.
Laine looks to land a combination but Drake avoids it well.
Laine takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.

It looks like Ilmari Laine has been cut.
Drake thows a left - swing and a miss!
Drake pulls out of a head kick attempt.

Laine closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
An elbow from Laine crashes against the mat.
Laine misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.
Laine lands some shots froms side control.
Laine has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Laine throws a knee to the body but it doesn't do much damage.
Laine scores with a couple of short elbows.
Laine in side control, throwing shots but Drake defends.
Drake knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Laine on the ground.
Drake is breathing heavily.
Laine lands some shots froms side control.
Drake takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Drake on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Drake tries to get out of the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Laine sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Drake is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.
Laine scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Drake to see if he's OK.
Drake takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Laine tries to score with some ground and pound. Drake controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Laine wants to control but Drake is keeping him busy.
Drake is not in a great position here, taking some shots.
Laine working the ground and pound from side control.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Laine tries to score with some ground and pound. Drake controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.
Laine misses with an attempted head punch from side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Laine lands an elbow.
Laine misses with an attempted head punch from side control.
Laine lands some shots froms side control.
Laine looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Drake is avoiding damage well.
Drake taking a bit of punishment here - Laine scoring with strikes.
Laine in side control, throwing shots but Drake defends.
Laine looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Drake is avoiding damage well.

Laine tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Laine has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Laine fails to land a wild elbow strike.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Laine working the ground and pound but Drake is defending the strikes.
Laine wants to lay and pray for a moment but Drake keeps working.
Laine cracks Drake with a big elbow.
Laine misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.
Drake on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Laine wants to control but Drake is keeping him busy.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Laine fails to land a wild elbow strike.
The ground and pound from Laine seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.
Drake takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Drake is not content to let Laine control the position.
Laine staying calm.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Laine working the ground and pound.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ilmari Laine dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Ilmari Laine's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Laine shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Drake's guard.
Laine throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Drake works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Laine with a flurry of punches that miss.
Laine throws a big right hand that misses.
Laine trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
Laine working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Laine slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
Laine takes a little break here. Drake wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

Laine has an Americana. Drake didn't react quickly enough there and he's in big trouble now! He tries to squirm out but is forced to tap! Laine is delighted and gyrates in front of the ring girls. They seem to like the attention - it'll be interesting to see if Laine hooks up with any of them at the after show party.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:04 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Americana). Ilmari Laine!