PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Mike Barnes (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Musta Surma (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Barnes comes to the cage accompanied by Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be. I don't know about you partner, but I'm pumped for this one!

Barnes
vs
Surma

178 cm
28
158 lbs
17 - 13 - 2

167 cm
23
152 lbs
6 - 7 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
Great elbows
Good gas tank

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 17 - 13 - 2, fighting out of Helsinki, Mike Barnes!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Musta Surma!
The judges for this bout are Tarja Halkonen, Arvi Lind and Ben Zyskovitsi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Barnes swings wildly with a couple of big hooks
and Surma counters with a straight right hand.
Barnes throws a body punch but Surma moves out of range.
Surma fails with an attempt to clinch.
Barnes misses with a wild combination.
Surma moves in looking to clinch but Barnes pushes him off.
Barnes misses with a hook.

Barnes gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Barnes is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Surma is keeping busy.
Barnes avoiding damage as Surma throws knees to the body.
Barnes works on Surma's body with a couple of short punches.
Surma stops a takedown attempt from Barnes.
Surma lands an elbow inside that Barnes shrugs off.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Surma as Barnes tries to tie him up.
Barnes tries for a takedown but Surma manages to get underhooks.
Barnes misses with a body punch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Surma is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Barnes is defending well for now.
Barnes tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Surma missing with knees to the body.
Surma trying to land knees to the body.
Surma misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Barnes.
Surma creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Barnes's defenses.
Surma lands a nice elbow from the clinch.

It looks like Mike Barnes has been cut.
Barnes trying to control the position but instead, Surma has worked for underhooks and has pushed Barnes into the cage.
Surma working aggressively here.
Surma lands with a short shot to the head.
Barnes misses with a body punch.
Barnes throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Barnes working hard to break the clinch.
Surma gets through Barnes's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Barnes drops down for a takedown but doesn't get it.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Mike Barnes. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Barnes content to slow the pace in the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Barnes misses with a hook to the ribs.
Surma throws a knee to the head but misses.
A right hand to the body from Barnes.
Surma missing with knees to the body.
Barnes tries to score a body lock takedown but Surma shows good agility there to stay on his feet.
Surma has Barnes pressed against the cage, preventing Barnes from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Barnes blocks an elbow strike from Surma.

Barnes breaks from the clinch.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Barnes scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Surma doesn't seem bothered though.
Barnes throws the left hand but Surma avoids the punch easily.
Surma's corner calls for a 1-2. Surma obliges with the 1 part as he scores the single shot and moves back out of range.

Barnes drives through and clinches with Surma against the cage.
Barnes tries to throw a body punch but Surma avoids it by throwing Barnes back against the cage.
Surma prevents the takedown attempt.
A quick uppercut on the inside from Barnes.
Barnes takes an elbow to the forehead.
A short right from Barnes on the inside.
Surma lands an elbow that stopped Barnes in his tracks for a moment.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Barnes tries to throw a body punch but Surma avoids it by throwing Barnes back against the cage.
Surma with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Surma misses with an elbow strike.
Barnes blocking some punches.
Surma lands an elbow inside that Barnes shrugs off.
Barnes lands with a short shot to the head.
Barnes takes an elbow to the forehead.
Surma missing with knees to the body.
Surma lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Surma lands an elbow inside that Barnes shrugs off.

Barnes breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Barnes fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.

It looks like Musta Surma has been cut.
Barnes looks to land a right hand but Surma moved out of range.
Barnes misses with the combination.
Barnes will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Surma jabbing away but nothing is landing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Surma closes the distance but Barnes moves to the side
and Barnes counters with a nice low kick that buckles Surma's knee momentarily.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Surma throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Barnes looks to throw the jab but Surma is out of range.
Barnes keeps the fight on the outside.
Surma looks to throw the jab but Barnes is out of range.
Barnes throws a head kick that half lands.

Barnes forces Surma back against the cage and clinches.
A short right from Surma.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Surma keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Barnes's efforts to push away.
Barnes tries to stall but Surma uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
Barnes blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Barnes misses with a body punch.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mike Barnes dominated that round.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Surma with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Barnes to score with a decent uppercut.
Barnes misses with a low kick.
Surma wants to clinch.
Surma dodges the punch combination from Barnes.
A low kick from Barnes misses
and Surma counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Surma looks to land a right hand but Barnes moved out of range.
Barnes scores with a nice looking left hook and follows it up with an uppercut!
Mike Barnes seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Barnes gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Surma throws an elbow that misses.
Surma lands an elbow just above Barnes 's eye.
Surma throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Barnes's head jolts backwards as he takes an uppercut right on the button!
Barnes wants a takedown.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Barnes can't find room to land a body shot as Surma controls the action.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Barnes managing to block the knees to the body from Surma.
Surma misses with some punches.

The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Barnes breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Surma throws a shot from downtown. Barnes moves away and avoids it.
Surma tries to clinch up.

Barnes drives through and clinches with Surma against the cage.
Surma pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.

Surma is fighting off a takedown attempt but Barnes is just too persistent for him and manages to trip Surma to the mat. Surma regains guard as soon as the fighters hit the mat.
Surma wants to sweep here but Barnes controlling him for the moment.
Surma is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Surma lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Barnes!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Barnes sneaks a leg under to get to half guard.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Surma sitting and controlling from the half guard.
Barnes is trying to control but can't.
Barnes tries to roll over but Surma keeps him under control.
Barnes trying to control here but he's found himself mounted! Oh no!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Barnes bucks up and manages to get a nice reversal! He's in guard on the top - nicely done!
Surma looking to hit a scissor sweep but Barnes is one step ahead there.

Barnes has gone for a leg lock! Surma slips out almost immediately though and dives into Barnes's guard.
Barnes is trying to control the position but Surma postures up.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Barnes wants to improve his position but instead Surma has moved into half guard.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Surma in particular looking to stall.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Barnes is looking to improve his position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mike Barnes dominated that second round.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. This is the final round!

Barnes throws a decent looking leg kick but it doesn't land clean.
Barnes just misses with a punch to the body.
Surma tries to clinch there but Barnes circles away.
Surma displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Barnes throws out the jab.
Barnes keeps the fight on the outside.
Barnes changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.

Barnes clinches with his opponent.
Barnes controlling the action here for a moment.
Barnes lands with a left to the head.
Barnes takes an elbow to the forehead.

Barnes manages to break the clinch.
Surma blocks a low kick nicely.

Surma instigates a clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Barnes struggles to land a body shot inside as Surma controls his hands.
Barnes lands a left hand that snaps the head of Surma backwards.
Surma creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Barnes's defenses.
Surma blocks a body shot from Barnes.
Barnes misses with a body punch.
Surma throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Barnes blocks it with crossed arms.
Barnes tries to stall but Surma uses the opportunity to gain a better position.
Surma pushes Barnes back against the cage and unloads with a body punch.
Nice elbow from Surma.
Barnes has a couple of punches blocked by Surma.
Surma gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Barnes lands a right hand that snaps the head of Surma backwards.
Surma prevents a body shot from Barnes.
Surma trying to land knees to the body.
Surma missing with knees to the body.
Barnes goes for a takedown attempt but Surma pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.

Barnes tries to keep at a distance but Surma has taken the fight into the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Barnes managing to block the knees to the body from Surma.
Barnes struggles to land a body shot inside as Surma controls his hands.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Surma lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Barnes works on Surma's body with a couple of short punches.
Surma tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Barnes avoids it.
Barnes misses with a punch to the body.
Surma pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Surma tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Barnes avoids it.
Surma misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Barnes.
Surma throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Surma throws a knee to the head but misses.
Barnes tries to throw a body punch but Surma avoids it by throwing Barnes back against the cage.
Surma pushes off an throws an elbow but Barnes leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Mike Barnes has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Barnes taking a breather.
Surma has Barnes pressed against the cage, preventing Barnes from circling away and getting back to striking at range.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Surma is pressed up against the cage. Barnes has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Surma down to the mat. Surma avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.

Surma instigates a clinch.
Surma lands an elbow just above Barnes 's eye.
Barnes blocks the elbow strike.
Surma misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Barnes.
Barnes misses with a punch on the inside.
Barnes is trying to break free.
Barnes avoids the elbow strike from Surma, against the cage.
Surma lands on the inside with an uppercut.
Barnes blocks an elbow strike.

Barnes lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Barnes seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Surma does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Barnes missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Barnes is stalling here. Surma is in no mood to hang around though. He's locked up a kimura from the bottom! Barnes seems to be keeping calm but he's forced to roll out of the hold and Surma has ended up in side control on the top. Nice work.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Surma is moving around in side control but his primary objective seems to be to maintain the position.
Musta Surma has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Barnes is moving his hips around well on the bottom and has managed to get back to half guard.
Surma works his foot free and advances to mount.
Surma controlling the position easily from mount.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Barnes in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.

And that's the end of the fight!
That was a close round. You could make an argument for either fighter but I would give it to Mike Barnes.
Well Barnes 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 Tarja Halkonen scores the fight 29:28
Judge Arvi Lind scores the fight 30:28
Judge Ben Zyskovitsi scores the fight 30:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Mike Barnes!
Mike Barnes took his opportunity to call for a title shot in his post fight interview.