PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight kickboxing rules bout between Akseli Suokas (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Brady Battaglia (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Suokas
vs
Battaglia

165 cm
25
160 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

175 cm
25
143 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Excellent MT
KO power

Excellent boxer
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 2 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Akseli Suokas!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of The Island, Brady Battaglia!
The judges for this bout are David Hoff, Peter Branson and Daniel Franklin.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Suokas struggles to land a body shot inside as Battaglia controls his hands.
Suokas looking to stall.
Suokas keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Battaglia's efforts to push away.
Battaglia managing to block the knees to the body from Suokas.
Battaglia working hard to break the clinch.
Suokas is looking to control Battaglia's arms but Battaglia gets an underhook and turns him. Now Suokas has his back to the cage.
Battaglia is trying to force a seperation but Suokas has the dominant position.
A head punch on the inside from Suokas fails to land.
Suokas keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Battaglia's efforts to push away.
Battaglia is trying to force a seperation but Suokas has the dominant position.
A shot in the inside from Suokas.
Suokas is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Battaglia is keeping busy.
Battaglia looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Battaglia can't break the clinch.
Battaglia blocks an uppercut.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Battaglia wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Suokas lands a nice uppercut.

Battaglia is rocked!
Battaglia is trying to force a seperation but Suokas has the dominant position.
Battaglia is still on wobbly legs! Can Suokas finish him?
Battaglia is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Suokas lands a shot to the body.
A head punch on the inside from Suokas fails to land.
Battaglia seems to have recovered his senses.

Suokas creates a bit of space and cracks Battaglia with an uppercut that drops him to the canvas! Battaglia is wobbled and seems to be struggling to get back to his feet. 3,4,5. He's up! Phew, his manager will be relieved but they're no doubt wondering whether he'll be able to recover properly and get back in the fight!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
A chopping leg kick lands by Suokas.

Battaglia pushes Suokas up against the cage in a clinch.
Suokas swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Suokas prevents Battaglia from breaking the clinch.
Battaglia is trying to push Suokas away but Suokas has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.
Suokas is looking to control Battaglia's arms but Battaglia gets an underhook and turns him. Now Suokas has his back to the cage.
Battaglia wants to get back to striking at distance but Suokas won't allow it.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Suokas.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Suokas obliges.
Suokas misses with a hook from the clinch.
Battaglia is trying to break the clinch but Suokas is controlling him.
Suokas trying to stall but Battaglia improves his position.
Battaglia is trying to force a seperation but Suokas has the dominant position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Suokas misses with the head strike.
Suokas stalling in the clinch but Battaglia improves position.
Suokas tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Battaglia is trying to break the clinch but Suokas has him pressed against the cage.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Battaglia as Suokas tries to tie him up.
Suokas misses with a short punch on the inside.
Suokas lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Suokas keeps control of Battaglia as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Battaglia can't break the clinch.
Suokas swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Suokas is looking to control Battaglia's arms but Battaglia gets an underhook and turns him. Now Suokas has his back to the cage.
Battaglia is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
A real battle for position is taking place between these two warriors.
Battaglia blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Battaglia wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Suokas has him pressed against the cage.
Suokas using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Battaglia has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Suokas has Battaglia pressed against the cage, preventing Battaglia from circling away and getting back to striking at range.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Battaglia is trying to force a seperation but Suokas has the dominant position.
A frustrated look appears on Battaglia's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Battaglia is trying to break the clinch but Suokas is controlling him.
Suokas working aggressively here.
Battaglia working hard to break the clinch.
Suokas trying to control the position but instead, Battaglia has worked for underhooks and has pushed Suokas into the cage.
Suokas looking to throw knees to the head but Battaglia is blocking nicely.
Battaglia is trying to break the clinch but Suokas has him pressed against the cage.
A knee to the head by Suokas.
Suokas has Battaglia pressed against the cage, preventing Battaglia from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Battaglia tries to circle away but Suokas has him pinned against the cage.
Suokas lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Battaglia backwards.
Suokas lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Suokas keeps control of Battaglia as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Suokas tries to work over Battaglia's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
Suokas tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
A head punch on the inside from Suokas fails to land.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Both guys are working to get underhooks.
Suokas tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Battaglia avoids it.
Battaglia can't break the clinch.
Suokas tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Battaglia wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Suokas has him pressed against the cage.
Suokas misses with a knee to the head.
Suokas swings wildly with an uppercut but Battaglia uses good head movement to avoid it.
A nice left hand lands by Suokas.
Suokas looking to slow down the pace here.
Suokas prevents Battaglia from breaking the clinch.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Suokas keeps control of Battaglia as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Battaglia is trying to push Suokas away but Suokas has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.
Battaglia wants to break free but Suokas has control.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Suokas obliges.
Suokas swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Battaglia can't break the clinch.

That's five minutes gone in the round.
Battaglia tries to break the clinch but Suokas is controlling the position.
Battaglia wants to break free but Suokas has control.
Suokas misses with a punch on the inside.
Suokas fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Battaglia is trying to break free.

Suokas drops Battaglia with a big knee! Will Battaglia beat the count? Yep, he's up already and we're only at 3... let's see if he's just faking it or if he's actually OK.

It looks like Brady Battaglia has been cut.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Suokas closes the distance and catches Battaglia with a lead hook that drops him to the canvas! Battaglia is clearly dazed and struggling here! 3,4,5,6,7 and Battaglia is up to his feet but the referee has called it off! Battaglia is still far too wobbly and he's not going to allow the fight to continue! Suokas takes it!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 5:28 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Punch). Akseli Suokas!