PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Pekka Pekkanen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and James Riley (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.

Pekkanen
vs
Riley

175 cm
18
150 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Basic striking
Inexperienced

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Heavy handed

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 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Pekka Pekkanen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, James Riley!
The judges for this bout are Tarja Halkonen, Ben Zyskovitsi and Anni Minnemäki.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pekkanen turns his hip over beautifully as he lands a nice leg kick.
Pekkanen thows a leg kick but Riley checks it
and Riley counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Pekkanen misses with an uppercut. Riley saw that one coming.

Pekkanen clinches up against the cage.

Pekkanen pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Pekkanen cracks the inside of Riley's front leg.
Pekkanen takes one on the chin but keeps coming.
A slapping leg kick lands for Pekkanen.
Pekkanen scores with a leg kick.
Nice straight punches there by Riley. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Riley.
Pekka Pekkanen seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Pekkanen wants to land a leg kick but Riley is out of range.
Some wild striking there from Riley.
Pekkanen throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Riley lands a jab to Pekkanen's midsection.
Riley misses with the combination.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pekkanen lands a nice leg kick that just misses Riley's sensitive parts.
Riley misses with a series of wild punches.
Pekkanen appeared to be looking to counter that last move with a leg kick.
Pekkanen fails to land with a series of punches.
Riley throws a counter combo.
Pekkanen will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.

Pekkanen instigates a clinch.
Pekkanen just leaning against Riley, taking a breather.
Pekkanen slowing the pace effectively.
Riley takes a knee to the side of the body.
Pekkanen is pushing Riley up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
The pace really dropping off here, momentarily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Riley wants to stall.
Pekkanen trying to land knees to the body.
Riley avoiding damage as Pekkanen throws knees to the body.
Riley managing to block the knees to the body from Pekkanen.
Riley tries to break free but Pekkanen pushes him back against the cage.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Riley.
Riley can't break the clinch.
Pekkanen tries to land a knee to the head but Riley blocks with his arms.
Riley blocks the elbow strike.
Pekkanen tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Pekkanen tries to land knees in the clinch but Riley avoids the damage to the body.
Pekkanen stalling in the clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A frustrated look appears on Pekkanen's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Pekkanen just leaning against Riley, taking a breather.
Riley managing to block the knees to the body from Pekkanen.
Pekkanen tries to land knees in the clinch but Riley avoids the damage to the body.
Riley wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Pekkanen has him pressed against the cage.
Pekkanen misses with a knee to the head.
Pekkanen is breathing heavily.

Pekkanen breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Pekkanen takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
Pekkanen throws a left and a right that both miss
and Riley counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Riley lands with a cross.
Pekkanen looks shocked there as he takes a right hand to the temple.
Riley stalks Pekkanen and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Pekkanen's face. Pekkanen staggers backwards, shaken.
You can follow us on Twitter at...Ooooooh Pekkanen got wobbled bad by a big combination! Riley presses forward with punches and knees until Pekkanen stumbles to the ground! The ref watches Pekkanen closely before deciding to step in and end the fight!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:58 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). James Riley!