PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Toni Linhares (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Marcin Najman (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Linhares comes to the cage accompanied by The Prodigy's Spitfire. Toni Linhares could well score a knockout today. He has the power to get to Marcin Najman's chin.

Linhares
vs
Najman

180 cm
22
174 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

187 cm
19
165 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
KO power

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Toni Linhares!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Marcin Najman!
The judges for this bout are Johanna Lukiainen, Arvi Lind and Matti Vanhoillinen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Linhares lands with a kick to the temple. Najman shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"

It looks like Marcin Najman has been cut.
Linhares lets the fists fly and connects with a left straight followed by a right hook.

Najman is rocked!
Najman fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Najman is still on wobbly legs! Can Linhares finish him?
Linhares misses with a jab, cross combination.
Linhares scores with a kick to the midsection.
Najman seems to have recovered his senses.
Najman fakes high and shoots in for a takedown but Linhares avoids it really well and circles away.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Linhares fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Najman has his takedown stuffed

and Linhares counters with a series of strikes that sends Najman to the canvas! Linhares follows down into guard, looking to finish the fight!
Toni Linhares has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Marcin Najman.
Najman is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Najman looks gassed!
Linhares pushes down on Najman's leg and manages to get into half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Linhares slips a nice elbow through Najman's hands, connecting with Najman's forehead.
Linhares wants to pass to mount but Najman is defending the position.
Linhares wants to get back to his feet.
Linhares looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
Najman tries to get to full guard but Linhares has control of the leg.
Linhares scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Linhares trying to control from half guard but Najman is working away.
Linhares is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Najman is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.
Najman regains full guard. Nicely done.
Najman keeping moving, preventing Linhares from controlling successfully.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Najman is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Linhares defends well.
Linhares tries to stand but Najman is controlling from the bottom.
Najman is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Linhares seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
Najman trying to control the position.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Toni Linhares wasn't doing enough on the ground.
Linhares throws a series of punches but Najman avoids them all with ease.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Linhares's corner calls for a 1, 2 combination and Linhares duly obliges.
Najman avoids a punch combination nicely.
Najman tries for a takedown but Linhares circles away easily
and Linhares counters with a body kick.
Linhares getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Linhares throws a right and a left that both miss.
Linhares thuds a mid kick into his opponent's body. That will wear on Najman if he has to take too many more of those.
Linhares throws a combination. Najman tries to block but a couple of punches get through.
Linhares scores with a jab to the head.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

A jab-cross combination lands for Linhares and sends Najman crashing to the mat! Linhares follows him down to the mat - Najman regains half guard but he's not out of trouble yet!
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Linhares looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Najman with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Linhares tries to stand and escape but Najman is controlling the position.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Ground and pound from Linhares.
Linhares seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.
Najman wants to sweep but Linhares has passed to side control!

Linhares stands up and we're back to a striking position.
Linhares looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Najman looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Linhares is fending him off so far but Najman persists. Nope, Linhares circles away and we're back to standing.
Linhares throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Linhares's corner calls for a 1, 2 combination and Linhares duly obliges.
Linhares lands a jab to the head.
Linhares lets the fists fly and connects with a left straight followed by a right hook.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Toni Linhares dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Marcin Najman's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Sloppy strikes from Linhares. Those never looked like landing.
Linhares throws a right hand that Najman ducks under and follows up with a left that Najman also avoids with ease.
No joy there for Linhares, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Najman shoots in for a takedown but Linhares shows good takedown defense.
Linhares throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Najman stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Linhares will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Najman takes one on the chin but seems OK.
Linhares throws a head kick that misses.
Najman dodges the punch combination from Linhares.
Linhares looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Linhares throws a predictable looking body shot

and Najman counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
Linhares wants to improve his position but Najman is controlling well.
Najman looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
Linhares manages to get to full guard.
Linhares wants to stand but Najman is controlling the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Linhares is looking for a triangle here but Najman uses the submission attempt to pass into side control.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Najman tries to advance to mount but can't.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Linhares tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Linhares struggling a bit here.
Linhares is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Linhares is working hard here to advance position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Linhares is looking to slip a leg under and get half guard but Najman is one step ahead and moves to full mount!
Toni Linhares overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Linhares tries to hold on but Najman pushes him away.
Najman sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Linhares working to try and regain half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Toni Linhares will probably get the nod.
The cut man is working on Marcin Najman'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. The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

A jab-cross combination lands for Linhares and sends Najman crashing to the mat! Linhares follows him down to the mat - Najman regains half guard but he's not out of trouble yet!
Linhares seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Najman can do anything to dispel that myth.
Najman is trying to control but can't.

Linhares is looking for a kimura here.
Najman holds on for dear life, maintaining half guard for now.
Linhares winds up and cracks Najman with a swinging punch to the side of the head.

Najman looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Linhares working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Najman moves into full guard.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

Najman throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.
Najman takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Linhares accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

Najman is active off his back here, looking for submissions.

Najman has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Linhares can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Linhares tries to free his leg and advance position but Najman is retaining full guard.
Najman keeping moving, preventing Linhares from controlling successfully.
Linhares has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Linhares looking to pass the guard.
Linhares tries to stand but Najman is controlling from the bottom.
Najman looking to control the pace of the fight rather than finish it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Najman looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.

Najman had isolated an arm as going for a kimura. Linhares defends it easily.
Linhares has decided he wants to stand but the closed guard of Najman is proving hard to escape from.
Najman wants to control but instead he gets his guard passed and Linhares is now in half guard.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Linhares wants to pass the guard but Najman is defending well.
Linhares wants to stand but Najman has hold of a leg and an arm, so he's trapped for now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Najman slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Najman trying to keep a closed guard but Linhares is proving a slippery customer.

Najman working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Linhares doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Linhares manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Najman not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.

Linhares thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Linhares in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Najman has momentary wrist control but Linhares slips an elbow through the middle.
Najman trying to control the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Linhares wants to control from the top but Najman keeps moving.
Linhares in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Najman is trying to keep Linhares in close.
Linhares landing with the ground and pound.
Linhares throwing strikes but missing.
Najman is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.
Najman keeping moving, preventing Linhares from controlling successfully.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Najman trying to control the position.

And that's the end of the fight!
Toni Linhares showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Linhares 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 Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 30:27
Judge Arvi Lind scores the fight 30:27
Judge Matti Vanhoillinen scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Toni Linhares!
An out of breath Toni Linhares thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.