PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Roger Miles (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mario Balotelli (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Miles
vs
Balotelli

175 cm
26
153 lbs
4 - 7 - 0

190 cm
25
150 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Solid boxing
Experienced

Decent wrestler
Decent boxing
Very confident

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Roger Miles!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Mario Balotelli!
The judges for this bout are Tarja Halkonen, Marco Blurström and Arvi Lind.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Miles bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Balotelli's head.
Balotelli fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Miles manages to avoid it.
Miles ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Miles slaps away a takedown attempt from Balotelli, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Balotelli shoots in but no luck this time.
Balotelli fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Roger Miles has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Mario Balotelli.
Balotelli sees a low kick coming and goes to check it, but it's actually a body kick and it thuds into his unprotected ribs.
Balotelli swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Balotelli is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Balotelli dives in and grabs Miles's left leg, looking for a takedown. Miles pushes down on Balotelli's head and hops out.
Balotelli takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.
Miles throws a nice head kick!
No luck with that takedown attempt from Balotelli.
Balotelli looks gassed!
Balotelli takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
Nice uppercut there from Miles.
A solid leg kick lands there for Miles.
Balotelli fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Miles throws a body kick that digs right into the meat.
Miles throws a right high kick that is partially blocked by Balotelli.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Balotelli fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Miles throws a nice outside leg kick.
Roger Miles is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Balotelli stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Miles.
Miles fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Balotelli has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Miles scores with a crisp jab that stopped Balotelli in his tracks.
Miles ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Miles swinging wildly here.
Miles connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Mario Balotelli seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Miles lands a nice leg kick that just misses Balotelli's sensitive parts.
Miles lands a nice leg kick that just misses Balotelli's sensitive parts.
Balotelli takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
Miles throws a nice inside leg kick.
Horrible takedown by Balotelli or perhaps it was just good defense by Miles which made him look bad.
Miles throws a series of punches but Balotelli avoids them all with ease.
Balotelli throws the left hand but Miles avoids the punch easily.
Miles with a hook.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Miles scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Balotelli takes a body kick right on the floating rib. Ouchie.
Miles lands with a two punch combination before moving back out of range.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Miles scores with a nice strike.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!
Miles with a jab.
Balotelli takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Miles lands a right hook to the body.
Miles lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Balotelli circles away quickly and effectively.
Balotelli shoots for a double leg takedown but Miles sprawls well. He's pushed Balotelli's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Balotelli is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Miles's jab looks to have found its range, popping Balotelli under the eye.
Balotelli takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Balotelli takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
Balotelli shoots in for a takedown but Miles shows good takedown defense.
Miles fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Balotelli.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Miles scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Miles darts in and out, connecting with a jab.
Miles scores with the left hand. Balotelli knows he should have avoided that one.

Balotelli moves into the clinch.

Balotelli pulls guard effortlessly.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
Miles trying to control but Balotelli is working from the bottom.
Miles loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Miles postures up in Balotelli's guard and throws a big left but Balotelli blocks it.
Miles throws an elbow that misses. Balotelli uses the momentum to reverse the position. He's now in Miles's guard. Nice move by Balotelli!
Balotelli lands a couple of elbows.
Miles avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Balotelli has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Miles wants to stand up but Balotelli is controlling him.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Balotelli postures up in Miles's guard and throws a big left but Miles blocks it.
Miles is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Miles trying to keep a closed guard but Balotelli is proving a slippery customer.
The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Balotelli working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Balotelli throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Miles works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Balotelli preventing the sweep.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Miles is trying to keep Balotelli in close.
Miles tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Balotelli in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Balotelli throwing strikes from guard but Miles blocks nicely.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Balotelli missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Roger Miles dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Miles scores with a spinning back kick!
No joy there for Miles, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Balotelli lands a beauty of a right hand that gets the crowd cheering.

Balotelli closes the distance and clinches.
Miles looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Miles swings wildly with an uppercut but Balotelli uses good head movement to avoid it.
Miles tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Miles tries a body shot but Balotelli blocks it.
Balotelli softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.

Balotelli breaks the clinch.
Balotelli on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Balotelli takes a push kick to the midsection and stumbles backwards.
A big left from Miles misses.
Balotelli takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Balotelli takes one to the chin there.
Miles tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.

Balotelli moves into the clinch.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Balotelli decides to pull guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Balotelli uses the cage to get back to his feet.
Miles digs a good body shot into Balotelli's ribs.
Miles stuffs the takedown.

Balotelli fakes an overhand right and shoots for a takedown. Miles sprawls well initially but Balotelli persists and gets the takedown into half guard.
Balotelli is breathing heavily.
Miles is trying to get back to full guard.
Balotelli 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.
Miles trying to control from the bottom.
Miles taking some punishment here, with Balotelli in his half guard.
Miles wants to get back to his feet.
Miles keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Balotelli not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Miles is looking for a sweep. Balotelli is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Miles might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Miles has hold of Balotelli's hands but Balotelli slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.

Miles is rocked!
Balotelli lands strikes from half guard.
Oh Miles is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Balotelli is sitting in half guard. He's postured up and lands a nice elbow. Oh, Miles is hurt! He's hurt bad - Balotelli fires away with more strikes and the referee jumps in to save Miles from any more punishment! Congratulations to Balotelli! Great finish!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:31 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Mario Balotelli!
During a confident post fight interview, Mario Balotelli thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.