PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a bantamweight MMA rules bout between Joonas Karjalainen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Justina Vanovcan (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Karjalainen's entrance music is Eminem: Go to Sleep. A fine choice. Vanovcan has chosen Moskau as his entrance music. Justina Vanovcan is the more experienced fighter, so let's see if that makes a difference tonight.

Karjalainen
vs
Vanovcan

171 cm
20
145 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

153 cm
30
130 lbs
11 - 5 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Powerful takedowns
Solid Muay Thai
Powerful

Beast Body

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the bantamweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Joonas Karjalainen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Justina Vanovcan!
The judges for this bout are Tarja Halkonen, Johanna Lukiainen and Marco Blurström.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Karjalainen listening to his corner there, landing a nice uppercut.
Vanovcan shoots in and drives through. Karjalainen sprawls well.
Vanovcan shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Karjalainen sprawls well. Karjalainen wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Vanovcan gets slowly back to his feet.
Karjalainen swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Karjalainen lands a nice hook to Vanovcan's body. Vanovcan takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Vanovcan tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Karjalainen manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Karjalainen misses the jab.
The fight stays on the outside here - Vanovcan looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Vanovcan dives in and grabs Karjalainen's left leg, looking for a takedown. Karjalainen pushes down on Vanovcan's head and hops out.
Joonas Karjalainen has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Justina Vanovcan.
Nice shot by Karjalainen.
Vanovcan with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Karjalainen to score with a decent uppercut.
Karjalainen misses with a left hand

and Vanovcan counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Karjalainen!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Karjalainen blocking the ground and pound.
Karjalainen on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Karjalainen tries to get out of the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Vanovcan punching from mount but Karjalainen doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Vanovcan wants to control the pace but Karjalainen is squirming around nicely.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Karjalainen wants to hold on but Vanovcan pushes him away.
Vanovcan throwing sloppy strikes here. Perhaps if he tightened up his striking from such a dominant position, he'd be able to finish easier.
Vanovcan lands a big shot there that rocks Karjalainen but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.
Karjalainen avoids a series of strikes thrown by Vanovcan.
Vanovcan sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Vanovcan thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!

Vanovcan looking for an armbar but decides to keep the dominant position instead.
Vanovcan landing punches.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Vanovcan is landing with some decent strikes but Karjalainen is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Vanovcan has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Vanovcan unloads with some shots from mount but Karjalainen bucks and avoids them well.

Vanovcan working for a submission but Karjalainen is keeping him at bay.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Vanovcan thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Vanovcan postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Karjalainen looks a forlorn figure.
Karjalainen tries to buck Vanovcan off but he can't manage it.

Vanovcan looking for a guillotine from mount but Karjalainen is having none of it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Vanovcan moves into side control, trying to work for a kimura. That looks painful! Will he finish!!?? No, Karjalainen has worked his arm free - good work by Karjalainen!
Vanovcan 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.
Vanovcan looks up at the clock and then as Karjalainen takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Vanovcan smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
Karjalainen tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Vanovcan tries to score with some ground and pound. Karjalainen controls his posture well this time though and the shots don't do any damage.

Vanovcan tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Karjalainen avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Vanovcan.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Karjalainen is looking for a sweep.

Vanovcan swings around for an armbar but Karjalainen sees it coming a mile off and turns beautifully into Vanovcan's guard.
Karjalainen stopping the sweep attempt from Vanovcan.
Vanovcan is trying to keep Karjalainen in close.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Vanovcan is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Justina Vanovcan dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Good standup being displayed there by Karjalainen as he connects with a hook.
Vanovcan shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Vanovcan takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Vanovcan fails with a takedown attempt.

Vanovcan dives in and scores a takedown into Karjalainen's guard.
Vanovcan wants to control from the top but Karjalainen keeps moving.
Vanovcan throws a big right hand that misses.

Vanovcan is trying to work a guillotine from the top, or something like that? Don't know how he thinks he's going to get a finish from there.
Justina Vanovcan has got the better of the ground game so far.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Vanovcan accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.
Karjalainen tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Vanovcan loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Vanovcan looking to pass the guard.
Karjalainen wants to sweep here but Vanovcan controlling him for the moment.
Karjalainen is working hard here to advance position.
Vanovcan is stalling in the full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Vanovcan looking to pass the guard.
Karjalainen knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Vanovcan on the ground.
Vanovcan throwing strikes from guard but Karjalainen blocks nicely.
Vanovcan trying to control the position from guard on top but Karjalainen is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Karjalainen scores with the left hand. Vanovcan knows he should have avoided that one.
Karjalainen missing with a left hand there. Vanovcan was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Karjalainen looks to land a combination but Vanovcan avoids it well.
Karjalainen takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Karjalainen gets tackled into the cage by Vanovcan. Vanovcan maintains the clinch.
Vanovcan fails to pull guard.
Joonas Karjalainen has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Justina Vanovcan.

Karjalainen breaks the clinch.
Vanovcan shoots in looking for a takedown. Karjalainen tries to sprawl out of it but Vanovcan keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Karjalainen manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Nice jab there from Karjalainen.
Justina Vanovcan is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Karjalainen moves out of range of the leg kick from Vanovcan.
Vanovcan tries to clinch up.
Karjalainen takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.

Karjalainen gets caught flat footed, as Vanovcan shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.
Vanovcan wants to control from the top but Karjalainen keeps moving.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Vanovcan passes into half guard.
Vanovcan looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Karjalainen is concentrating on defense, preventing Vanovcan from advancing position.
Vanovcan is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Vanovcan wants to control but Karjalainen is keeping him busy.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Justina Vanovcan showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. So, we enter the final round. Let's see if either fighter can bring us a finish, or whether we're going to the judges scorecards.

Vanovcan closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Vanovcan working the ground and pound.
Vanovcan creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Karjalainen sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
The strikes coming from Vanovcan are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Vanovcan sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Karjalainen is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.
Karjalainen tries to buck Vanovcan off but Vanovcan is having none of it.
Vanovcan works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.
Karjalainen is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Karjalainen dodges the ground and pound from Vanovcan.
Vanovcan looks up at the clock and then as Karjalainen takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Vanovcan smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Vanovcan postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.
Vanovcan in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Vanovcan misses with the ground and pound.
Karjalainen managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Vanovcan.

Vanovcan tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Vanovcan has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!
Karjalainen avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Vanovcan.
Vanovcan working the head with strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Vanovcan creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Karjalainen sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
Vanovcan wants to lay and pray for a moment but Karjalainen keeps working.
Vanovcan throws a strike aimed at the side of Karjalainen's head but Karjalainen avoids it well.
Vanovcan tries to land with some ground and pound but misses.

Vanovcan tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Karjalainen is trying to improve his position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Vanovcan in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Vanovcan controls the position.
Justina Vanovcan is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.
Karjalainen dodges the ground and pound from Vanovcan.

Vanovcan tries for a kimura but Karjalainen is defending well.
Karjalainen is trying to control Vanovcan's posture but Vanovcan avoids it.
Vanovcan is looking to take a break and control but Karjalainen is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Joonas Karjalainen has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
You can see the frustration on Karjalainen's face as Vanovcan controls the position.
Vanovcan trying to control the action but Karjalainen is working from the bottom.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Justina Vanovcan.
Vanovcan tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.

And that's the end of the fight!
Justina Vanovcan comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Vanovcan winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Tarja Halkonen scores the fight 27:30
Judge Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 27:30
Judge Marco Blurström scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Justina Vanovcan!