PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Mikael Johansson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Musta Surma (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.

Johansson
vs
Surma

175 cm
30
156 lbs
15 - 12 - 0

167 cm
27
152 lbs
14 - 14 - 1

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
World class MT
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 15 - 12 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Mikael Johansson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 14 - 1, fighting out of Helsinki, Musta Surma!
The judges for this bout are Marco Blurström, Arvi Lind and Roosa Järviläinen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Surma misses with a series of wild punches.
Surma dodges the punch combination from Johansson.
Surma is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Johansson.
Decent striking displayed by Surma there.
Surma keeps his opponent at a distance with a nice jab.
Johansson lands a right hook to the body.
Surma throws a big shot that misses.
Johansson tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Surma throws a one two combo.
Johansson lands with a slapping head kick.

It looks like Musta Surma has been cut.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Surma ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Johansson moves away.
Johansson is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
Surma misses with a double jab.
Surma throws out a powerful jab.
Johansson throws a head kick that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Johansson swings for the body but Surma moves out of range.
Johansson lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
Johansson doesn't manage to clinch there - Surma circles away.
Johansson scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Mikael Johansson is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Johansson throws a shot from downtown. Surma moves away and avoids it.
Surma is looking to clinch.
Surma tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Johansson moves away from the strike by Surma.
Surma throws a good cross that connects.
Johansson tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Surma was well out of range. Poor timing from Johansson.
Johansson looks shocked there as he takes a right hand to the temple.

Johansson lands a big head kick that sends Surma tumbling to the mat! Johansson takes a step backwards and waves Surma back to his feet - he wants the finish!

Surma is rocked!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Surma throws a right hand that Johansson ducks under and follows up with a left that Johansson also avoids with ease.
Surma is still on wobbly legs! Can Johansson finish him?
Surma cracks Johansson with a right hand to the side of the head.
Surma seems to have recovered his senses.
Johansson tries to land a leg kick but Surma saw it coming and moves away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Jab, jab by Surma - just one landing.
Surma throws a hook to the side of Johansson's head but Johansson sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Surma is landing a lot of head punches in this opening round! Johansson had better start moving his head a bit unless he wants his face to turn into pâté.
Surma looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.
Surma tries to clinch up.
A telegraphed right hand from Johansson misses the target.
Surma misses with a straight left.
Johansson misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Johansson thows a left - swing and a miss!
Johansson lands a vicious shot with the stealth of a sniper and the strength of a viper. Are vipers that strong? I can think of lots of things that are stronger than a viper - not many rhyme with sniper though.
Johansson connects with a looping right hand.
Surma throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Surma takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Johansson throws a leg kick but Surma sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Johansson avoids a punch combination nicely.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Johansson takes a swing at Surma's ribcage but misses.
Surma digs a good hook to Johansson's body.
Johansson misses the body punch
and Surma counters with an outside leg kick.
Surma misses with a two punch combination.
Johansson throws a hook but Surma avoids it easily.
Johansson takes a body punch but keeps moving.
Johansson misses with a jab, cross combination.
Surma takes a kick to the side of the head.

Johansson gets tackled into the cage by Surma. Surma maintains the clinch.
Johansson goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Surma lands an elbow that stopped Johansson in his tracks for a moment.

It looks like Mikael Johansson has been cut.
Surma missing with knees to the body.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Johansson misses with a punch to the body.
Surma blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Johansson tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Surma landing knees to the body.
Johansson trying to land knees to the body.
Surma lands an elbow inside.
Johansson misses with a knee strike.
Johansson is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Surma is defending well for now.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Surma creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Johansson taking a breather.
Johansson blocks an elbow strike from Surma.
Johansson misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Surma.
Surma avoiding damage as Johansson throws knees to the body.
Surma misses with an elbow strike.
Johansson throws a knee to the head but misses.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Johansson avoiding damage as Surma throws knees to the body.
Johansson lands a right hand that snaps the head of Surma backwards.

Surma pulls guard effortlessly.
The referee is pacing around the two fighters - he looks like he's thinking about a standup.
Johansson wants to control from the top but Surma keeps moving.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Mikael Johansson will probably get the nod.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Some bone on bone action there as Surma checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Surma looks to score with a jab to the body but Johansson is just out of range.
Surma tries to clinch but Johansson is having none of it.
Johansson tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Surma was well out of range. Poor timing from Johansson.
Johansson throws a chopping leg kick but Surma manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Johansson circles away from the clinch attempt.
Johansson fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
No joy there for Surma, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Surma swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Surma wants to clinch.
Surma throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Johansson listening to his corner there, landing a nice uppercut.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sloppy strikes from Johansson. Those never looked like landing.
Surma tries a head kick but it misses.
Surma connects with a good right hand that stumbles Johansson. Johansson circles away out of range and recomposes himself.
Johansson misses with a looping right.
Surma tries a head kick but it misses.
Surma takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Surma dips to his left and cracks Johansson with an uppercut!
Mikael Johansson is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

Johansson instigates a clinch.
Johansson can't find room to land a body shot as Surma controls the action.
Johansson working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Johansson blocks the elbow strike.

Surma breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Johansson is looking to land body kicks.
Surma avoids a punch combination nicely.
Surma throws a head kick that misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johansson does a little shimmy and throws a leg kick. The leg kick missed by a considerable margin though, making him look a little bit silly for doing the shimmy.
Johansson lands with a thumping leg kick.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Surma connects with a slap. Keep your fist closed son.
Surma waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Johansson.
Johansson lands a jab to the nose.
Johansson throws a head kick that misses.
Surma moves away from the strike by Johansson.
Johansson just misses with a punch to the body.
Johansson slips a jab and a cross from Surma.
Johansson misses with a kick to the body
and Surma cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Johansson lands a right hook to the body.
Surma tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Jab by Johansson.
Surma throws a push kick but Johansson slaps the foot to one side.
Surma tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Johansson paws at him with a jab and circles away.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Some wild striking there from Surma.
Johansson is looking to clinch but Surma is avoiding it.
Johansson throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Johansson misses with a looping right.
Surma swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Johansson tries a head kick but it misses.
Surma scores with the left hand. Johansson knows he should have avoided that one.
Johansson throws a series of punches but Surma avoids them all with ease.
Surma fails to land with a series of punches.
Johansson misses with a body kick.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Surma doesn't manage to clinch there - Johansson circles away.
Johansson misses with a head kick.
Surma scores with a straight right hand, right through his opponent's guard.
Johansson misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Surma.
Surma connects with a hook to the side of his opponent's head.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Nice uppercut there from Johansson.
Johansson connects nicely with a jab. Noted by the judges no doubt.
Johansson blocks a head kick by Surma.
Nice defenses there by Johansson.
Johansson moves out of range as Surma strikes.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Johansson jabs Surma right on the nose. Surma blinks but takes it well.
Surma tries to close the distance and clinch but Johansson swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Johansson attempts a low kick but it misses it's target.
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 Mikael Johansson will probably get the nod.
Both fighters have cut men working on them during the interval.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

Surma throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Johansson.
Surma throws a big shot that misses.
Mikael Johansson is winning the standup battle so far.
Surma thuds a left hand into Johansson's body.
Johansson jabs at Surma's body.
Johansson throws a nice looking combination but Surma bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Surma takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
Surma on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Johansson misses with a series of wild punches.
Johansson slips a jab and a cross from Surma.
Johansson takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.
Surma shoots in for a takedown but Johansson shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
A looping hook to the body misses from Surma. Johansson does a little dance to reset his feet.
Nice shot lands for Johansson.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Horrible takedown by Surma or perhaps it was just good defense by Johansson which made him look bad.
Surma throws a series of punches but Johansson avoids them all with ease.
Surma takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Johansson tries a head kick but it misses.

Johansson gets a clinch.
Johansson blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Surma lands a damaging elbow.
Johansson tries to land a knee to the head but Surma blocks with his arms.
A short right from Johansson on the inside.
Johansson swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Surma gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Johansson misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Johansson misses with a short punch on the inside.
Surma avoiding damage as Johansson throws knees to the body.
Mikael Johansson is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Surma tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Johansson avoids it.
Surma tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Johansson avoids it.
Surma misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Johansson.
Surma takes a shot to the head.
A head punch on the inside from Johansson fails to land.
Surma on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Surma avoiding damage as Johansson throws knees to the body.
Johansson misses with a knee to the head.
Johansson blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Johansson dodges an elbow strike from Surma.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Surma pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Surma throws a sloppy head kick and Johansson moves out of range easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Surma keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Johansson tries to clinch but Surma is having none of it.
Surma misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Surma looks shocked there as he takes a right hand to the temple.
Surma has his head slapped from side to side by a 3 punch combination. That must have hurt him.
Johansson is looking to clinch.
Johansson connects with a high kick.
Johansson lands a nice looking body shot.
Surma tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Surma looks to land a combination. Johansson sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.
Surma closes the distance and clinches up with Johansson, looking for a takedown. Surma pushes Johansson against the cage but Johansson circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Mikael Johansson has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Musta Surma.

Surma clinches up against the cage.
Johansson is using his height advantage well here, landing a good percentage of his punches.
Johansson avoids the elbow strike from Surma, against the cage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Surma lands an elbow inside that Johansson shrugs off.
Surma misses with a hook from the clinch.
Musta Surma has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

Johansson pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Surma getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Johansson wants to clinch.
Surma fails in his attempt to clinch.
Johansson lands a two punch combo.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Johansson has his head snapped back a nice jab. A little nod from Johansson there as he acknowledges the shot.
Johansson tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Surma manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Surma misses with a shot to the body
and Johansson counters with a straight right hand.

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 Mikael Johansson.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Johansson, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Marco Blurström scores the fight 30:27
Judge Arvi Lind scores the fight 30:27
Judge Roosa Järviläinen scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by split decision... Mikael Johansson!
Mikael Johansson thanked the fans post fight for their support.