PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Wilber Nielsen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Anders Hanssen (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Anders Hanssen will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Nielsen
vs
Hanssen

173 cm
18
193 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

197 cm
18
183 lbs
0 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Very confident

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Wilber Nielsen!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Anders Hanssen!
The judges for this bout are Tarja Halkonen, Matti Vanhoillinen and Anni Minnemäki.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hanssen slaps away a takedown attempt from Nielsen, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Nielsen shoots in and drives through. Hanssen sprawls well.

Hanssen looking for a takedown here - he's got it.

Nielsen has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes Hanssen off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.

Hanssen takes the fight into the clinch.
Nielsen tries to land knees in the clinch but Hanssen avoids the damage to the body.

Hanssen decides to pull guard.
Hanssen is trying to stand up but he's not managed so far.
Nielsen works over Hanssen with some ground and pound from guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nielsen slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.
Hanssen looking for a sweep. Not yet Hanssen, not yet.

Hanssen looking for subs off his back but Nielsen has passed one foot through into half guard.
Hanssen is trying to control but Nielsen passes into side control!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
You can see the frustration on Hanssen's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
You can see the frustration on Hanssen's face as Nielsen controls the position.
Nielsen lands an elbow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nielsen cracks Hanssen with a big elbow.
Hanssen is trying to get back to half guard.
Hanssen is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Hanssen tries to slip a leg under to move to half guard but Nielsen presses down on the leg and jumps into full mount!
Hanssen tries to reverse the position but Nielsen maintains control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Nielsen working Hanssen over with strikes here.
Hanssen is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Nielsen lands a couple of good shots and Hanssen has given up his back, trying to escape the position!
Good control from Nielsen.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Wilber Nielsen dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Hanssen stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Nielsen.

Nielsen tries to keep at a distance but Hanssen has taken the fight into the clinch.

Hanssen pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

Hanssen scores with a takedown into Nielsen's guard.

Nielsen has his feet on Hanssen's hips. He pushes off and gets to his feet. Nice work.

Hanssen shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Let's see what he's got on the mat.

Nielsen has his feet on Hanssen's hips. He pushes off and gets to his feet. Nice work.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Nielsen has a takedown stuffed.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hanssen tries to bum rush Nielsen with a series of wild strikes but Nielsen uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Nielsen fails with a takedown attempt from distance.

Hanssen scores with a takedown into Nielsen's guard.
Nielsen could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.

Nielsen is scooting his butt against the cage and has managed to get back to his feet. Hanssen presses him back against the cage, presumably looking to take the fight back to the mat.
Nielsen wants to get back to striking at distance but Hanssen won't allow it.
Hanssen stalling the fight.

Hanssen jumps guard.
Nielsen postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Hanssen is looking to stand back up but Nielsen counters by passing into half guard. Oops... bit sloppy there by Hanssen.
Nielsen seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hanssen wants to get back to full guard but Nielsen has mounted him!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Nielsen landing shots from mount.
Hanssen is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Hanssen is breathing heavily.
Hanssen is trying to stand.
Nielsen controlling the pace for now.
Nielsen lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Nielsen is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Hanssen can do to turn this around?
Nielsen working Hanssen over with strikes here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hanssen is looking to get to half guard.
Hanssen is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Nielsen scoring with strikes but Hanssen is staying in there.
Nielsen moves to back control.
Hanssen is in bad spot here.
I would not like to be Hanssen right now.
Nielsen has his opponent trapped and is landing shots. Not a good position for Hanssen.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nielsen is punishing Hanssen with strikes - can he finish him?!
Nielsen punches Hanssen on the ear.
Nielsen lands a shot to the head.
Hanssen just trying to survive but Nielsen is wriggling into a better position, looking to finish.
Wilber Nielsen overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Hanssen tries to break free.
Nielsen has good solid back control here.
Hanssen trying to control the position but Nielsen manages to sink in the hooks.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Wilber Nielsen dominated that second round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. And we move into the final round!

Nielsen shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Hanssen sprawls well. Hanssen wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Nielsen gets slowly back to his feet.

Nielsen gets caught napping as Hanssen dives in and scores a takedown. Nielsen manages to retain guard.

Nielsen manages to escape and get back to his feet.

Hanssen feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.

Nielsen has butterfly guard. He's looking to stand up here. He pushes Hanssen off him and springs to his feet nicely. The crowd applauds.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Hanssen throws a left and a right that both miss

and Nielsen counters with a nice double leg into side control. Hanssen won't be happy with that.
Hanssen is looking for a sweep.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nielsen cracks Hanssen with a big elbow.
Hanssen takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Hanssen is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Nielsen asserts his dominance and retains side control.
Nielsen working the ground and pound.
Nielsen working the body and head with strikes.
Nielsen has control of an arm but Hanssen manages to advance to Nielsen's back!

Hanssen has his opponent's back but Nielsen is looking to stand. He manages to get to his feet and shakes off Hanssen.
Nielsen fails with a takedown attempt.
Wilber Nielsen is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nielsen with a lazy takedown attempt
and Hanssen counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Wilber Nielsen. That's going to take a lot out of him.

Nielsen gets tackled into the cage by Hanssen. Hanssen maintains the clinch.
Nielsen working hard to break the clinch.

Hanssen breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

Hanssen moves into the clinch.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Nielsen swings wildly with an uppercut but Hanssen uses good head movement to avoid it.
Nielsen is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Nielsen tries to work over Hanssen's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.

Hanssen manages to break the clinch.

Hanssen drives through and clinches with Nielsen against the cage.
Nielsen is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Hanssen is defending well for now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hanssen on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.

Hanssen jumps guard.
Nielsen is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Hanssen is trying to keep Nielsen in close.
Nielsen has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Hanssen is trying to hold Nielsen in close to prevent damage but Nielsen has managed to pass into half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hanssen wants to get back to full guard but Nielsen has passed into side control.
Hanssen seems a little lost for a moment, as Nielsen dominates the positioning.
Hanssen is putting a lot of effort into getting back to his feet here.
Nielsen remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Nielsen working the ground and pound from side control.

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 Wilber Nielsen.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Nielsen, 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 Tarja Halkonen scores the fight 30:27
Judge Matti Vanhoillinen scores the fight 30:27
Judge Anni Minnemäki scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Wilber Nielsen!