PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rakastaja Nurminen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Gabriel Salwa (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Nurminen might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to It's Time for War. Rakastaja Nurminen has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Nurminen
vs
Salwa

194 cm
29
217 lbs
21 - 6 - 0

184 cm
21
198 lbs
7 - 1 - 0

Decent wrestler
Solid boxing
Very quick

Powerful takedowns
Lethal high kicks
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 21 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Rakastaja Nurminen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Gabriel Salwa!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Blasius, Radbod Blank and Nard Betker.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Salwa shoots in looking for a single leg takedown. Nurminen is trying to defend but Salwa finishes it well and ends up in half guard. Let's see if he can advance position further.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.
Salwa trying to control the action but Nurminen is working from the bottom.
Nurminen wants to get back to full guard.

Salwa seems to be looking for submissions.
Nurminen is looking for a sweep. Salwa is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Salwa is figuring out what he wants to do next.
Nurminen is looking to escape.
Salwa perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Nurminen wants to get back to his feet.

OK we're going to have a standup here. Gabriel Salwa hasn't been effective enough on the ground and the referee wants a restart.
Nurminen moves out of range as Salwa throws a body kick.
Salwa takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nurminen wants to land a leg kick but Salwa is out of range.
A head kick by Nurminen misses
and Salwa counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Nurminen misses with an uppercut
and Salwa counters with a nice body shot.
Salwa misses with a wild body shot.
Salwa dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Nurminen. That did some damage!
A looping hook to the body misses from Nurminen. Salwa does a little dance to reset his feet.
Salwa lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.

Salwa shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Salwa was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Salwa lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Salwa tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Nurminen tries to reverse the position but Salwa maintains control.
Salwa content just to control the position here.
Nurminen on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Nurminen tries to get out of the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Salwa looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Salwa tries to control but Nurminen wriggling away.
Salwa looking to control and managing it successfully.
Let's hope that Salwa has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Salwa working away from the top, dropping strikes.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Salwa cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Salwa lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.

Salwa is working for a guillotine from mount but Nurminen frees his head quite easily.
Salwa controlling the position easily from mount.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nurminen tries to improve his position but instead Salwa has taken his back!
Nurminen knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Salwa on the ground.
Nurminen has his hands over his head blocking the strikes from Salwa.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Salwa working for a choke but Nurminen is defending well.

Salwa has the hooks in and he's looking for a rear naked choke here. Nurminen is defending well but eventually Salwa manages to get an arm under the chin and he's locked on the RNC! Nurminen has no choice but to tap now! He does! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:37 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). Gabriel Salwa!
An out of breath Gabriel Salwa thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.