PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between John Henry (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Esa Tikkanen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Henry's ring entrance music is that housewives' favourite, Unashamed. Well, I have no idea who's going to take this one!

Henry
vs
Tikkanen

173 cm
29
223 lbs
18 - 12 - 0

186 cm
38
208 lbs
37 - 21 - 1

Great wrestler
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Excellent grappler
World class MT
Good gas tank

Milwaukee's Best 160 (80% laundry)

Bos Energy MMA159.4

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 18 - 12 - 0, fighting out of New York, John Henry!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 37 - 21 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Esa Tikkanen!
The judges for this bout are Frank Antenori, Jack Bonds and Timothy Bukovac.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Tikkanen avoids the body shot from Henry.
We've been informed that Tikkanen has been sparring a lot of Muay Thai in the buildup to this fight so let's see if that has an impact on the result.
Henry throws a series of punches but Tikkanen moves out of range.
Tikkanen chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Tikkanen chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Henry attempts a low kick but it misses it's target.
Henry takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
A lazy body kick from Tikkanen
and Henry counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Tikkanen throws a predictable looking body shot
and Henry counters with an inside leg kick.
Henry swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Tikkanen looked like he wanted to counter with a punch but didn't throw it.
Henry lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Tikkanen at a distance.
Henry takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Tikkanen lands with a cross.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Henry walks forward, straight into a front kick from Tikkanen.
Tikkanen connects with a right hand. Henry shakes it off.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henry uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Tikkanen.
Tikkanen throws a solid leg kick but Henry takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Tikkanen.
Henry tried to counter with a leg kick but Tikkanen avoided it.
Tikkanen scores with a jab to the jaw of his opponent.
Henry throws a chopping leg kick but Tikkanen manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Henry misses with a hook to the body
and Tikkanen counters with a nice uppercut.
Tikkanen scores with a nice strike.
Tikkanen scores with a punch to the gut of his opponent.
Tikkanen has used his reach advantage pretty well so far tonight.
Tikkanen tests Henry's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Henry misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Tikkanen.
Tikkanen misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Henry.
Henry throws out a leg kick but Tikkanen moves out of range and Henry only half commits.
Henry scores with a hook.
We've been told by Henry's head coaches at Mello MMA that he's been working on his takedown defense in preparation for this fight.
Tikkanen wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Henry takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Tikkanen connects with a crisp jab.
Henry thows a leg kick but Tikkanen checks it
and Tikkanen counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Tikkanen works his jab well there, keeping his opponent at a distance.
Tikkanen takes a shot to the body in his stride.
Tikkanen throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Henry tries a head kick but it misses.
Henry blocks the body kick.
Henry scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Tikkanen doesn't seem bothered though.
Tikkanen shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Henry pinned against the cage. Henry gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tikkanen feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Henry's calf.
Good shot there by Tikkanen.
Henry swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Henry throws a sloppy head kick and Tikkanen moves out of range easily.
Tikkanen uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Henry.
Tikkanen throws a series of strikes that have Henry backpedaling.

It looks like John Henry has been cut.
A decent looking cross lands there for Tikkanen.
Tikkanen takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.
Tikkanen throws a leg kick but he was too far away and it doesn't land.
Tikkanen swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Henry throws a leg kick
and Tikkanen counters with a lovely shot to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tikkanen tries a low kick but Henry avoids it.
Henry throws a leg kick which misses Tikkanen's front leg but catches the back leg as Tikkanen tries to avoid it.
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!
Henry ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Tikkanen moves away.
Henry throws a low kick but Tikkanen avoids it.
Tikkanen is using his reach advantage to land shots from outside his opponent's range.
Tikkanen tries a head kick but it misses.
As Tikkanen backs away, Henry returns fire with a leg kick that just misses.
Tikkanen scores to the head and body with a nice combination!
Henry misses with a right hand
and Tikkanen counters with a body kick that stops Henry in his tracks momentarily.
Tikkanen throws out a leg kick but Henry moves out of range and Tikkanen only half commits.
Tikkanen wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
Tikkanen takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Henry is looking to wear down Tikkanen with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.
Henry throws a leg kick but Tikkanen moved away.
Tikkanen connects with a good right hand that stumbles Henry. Henry circles away out of range and recomposes himself.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Esa Tikkanen dominated that round.
The cut man is working on John Henry's cut.
That's time! Back to the action!

Henry throws a leg kick which misses Tikkanen's front leg but catches the back leg as Tikkanen tries to avoid it.
Tikkanen shoots in and drives through. Henry sprawls well.
A nice leg kick lands there from Henry.
This entire fight has taken place on the feet so far and you wonder whether Henry might be better served trying to take this one to the ground because he's losing the standup battle so far.
Henry tried to score with a low kick but Tikkanen checks it.
Henry looks for the body kick but Tikkanen saw that one coming.
Tikkanen takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.
Henry throws a low kick but his opponent is out of range.
Henry shakes his hands off, looking to compose himself, but takes a jab to the jaw whilst he does it.
A low kick from Tikkanen is predictable there
and Henry finishes the little exchange by landing a big kick to the body.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Tikkanen misses with a body punch
and Tikkanen takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
Henry uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.
Henry on the receiving end of a decent leg kick there by Tikkanen. Tikkanen obviously looking to wear him down.
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!
Tikkanen misses with a two punch combination.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Henry throws a solid leg kick but Tikkanen takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Henry.
Esa Tikkanen seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Tikkanen lands an overhand left. A wild punch that just about connected.
Some bone on bone action there as Henry checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Tikkanen throws a leg kick but Henry sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Tikkanen has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Tikkanen chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Tikkanen 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.
Henry takes a jab right on the nose. That must have hurt but he shrugs his shoulders and looks to return the favor.
Tikkanen avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Esa Tikkanen seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Henry scores with a nice strike.
Tikkanen swings wildly with a couple of big hooks
and Henry counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Tikkanen avoids the head kick by Henry.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Tikkanen.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Tikkanen misses with an attempted mid kick.
Tikkanen lands a kick to the ribs of his opponent. Nice work there - in and out in a flash.
Tikkanen connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Henry avoids the head kick by Tikkanen.
Henry fakes a jab and throws a low kick but Tikkanen checks it well.
Tikkanen throws out a counter right but Henry avoids it with no problem.
Henry throws a nice outside leg kick.
Tikkanen throws a quick inside leg kick.
Henry swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Tikkanen cracks a nice hook into Henry's ribs.
Tikkanen lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.
Henry scores with a head kick. Tikkanen tried to block it but didn't get his arm up in time.

It looks like Esa Tikkanen has been cut.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tikkanen ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Henry moves away.
Henry tries to check a leg kick but that clearly hurt him.
John Henry is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Henry works Tikkanen's body with a nice hook.
Tikkanen scores with a push kick.
Tikkanen keeps the fight on the outside.
Oooooooooooh, not good. A low kick from Henry lands where it shouldn't have, right in the... well, you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis. He's injured, injured bad. The referee sends both fighters to their corners and Tikkanen has 5 minutes to recover. He's OK now though... a thumbs up from Tikkanen and we're back underway with a touch of gloves.
It seemed like Tikkanen was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.
Tikkanen misses with a wild body shot.
Tikkanen 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.
Henry with a jab.
Tikkanen connects with a single shot there.
A combination from Tikkanen does no damage.
A little feinted left hand from Henry on the counter but he doesn't commit to it.
Tikkanen scores with a punch to the gut of his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Henry scores with a body shot.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
A good leg kick by Tikkanen.
Tikkanen is looking to score with low kicks.
That kick from Tikkanen tenderised Henry's leg. Henry is trying to keep his angry face on.
Tikkanen walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
Henry throws a hook but Tikkanen blocks it.
Henry tries to score with a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Henry walks into a jab.
Tikkanen throws a left and a right that both miss
and Henry counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Tikkanen thinking.
Henry attempts a leg kick but it's missed by a good margin.
Tikkanen misses with a shot to the body
and Henry counters with a stiff right hand.
Henry throws a monster overhand right that drops Tikkanen! Henry follows up with more strikes from mount and the fight is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:56 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). John Henry!
John Henry thanked the fans post fight for their support.