PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between John Tobita (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ekber Hamzaoglu (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.

Tobita
vs
Hamzaoglu

178 cm
24
166 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

175 cm
18
165 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Basic striking
Big heart

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 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 Helsinki, John Tobita!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Ekber Hamzaoglu!
The judges for this bout are Anni Minnemäki, Ben Zyskovitsi and Arvi Lind.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hamzaoglu paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button.

Tobita forces Hamzaoglu back against the cage and clinches.
Hamzaoglu tries to break free but Tobita pushes him back against the cage.
Hamzaoglu has a couple of punches blocked by Tobita.
Hamzaoglu letting Tobita take a breather here.
Tobita has Hamzaoglu pushed against the cage.
Tobita working Hamzaoglu over with knees to the body.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Nice elbow from Tobita.

It looks like Ekber Hamzaoglu has been cut.
Tobita connects with a nasty looking knee right to Hamzaoglu's face.
Tobita working Hamzaoglu over with knees to the body.
Tobita scores with a knee to the head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tobita throws a knee to the head but misses.
Tobita stalling.
Hamzaoglu trying to control the position but instead, Tobita has worked for underhooks and has pushed Hamzaoglu into the cage.
A knee to the head by Tobita.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from Tobita.
Hamzaoglu working aggressively here.
Tobita stalling the fight.
Tobita avoiding damage.
Tobita controlling the action here for a moment.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Tobita is stalling here.
The crowd are getting pretty annoyed with Tobita for his constant stalling in the clinch and are voicing their displeasure.
The ref breaks the fighters up, due to lack of action by John Tobita.

Tobita clinches up with Hamzaoglu and pushes him back against the cage.
Hamzaoglu misses with a hook from the clinch.
Tobita slows down the pace here.
Tobita lands a knee to the body.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Tobita jumps guard.
Hamzaoglu preventing the sweep.
Hamzaoglu looking to pass the guard.
Hamzaoglu must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Tobita bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Hamzaoglu's guard.

Tobita is stalling in the full guard.
Tobita landing with the ground and pound.
Tobita not doing a lot at the moment. He'll have to show some more aggression or the fight will get stood up.
Tobita stopping the sweep attempt from Hamzaoglu.
Tobita content to stall in guard here.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tobita's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Tobita's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Tobita's corner is telling him to maintain position.
Hamzaoglu is trying to control the position from the bottom.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Hamzaoglu can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Tobita controls the pace.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Tobita dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Ekber Hamzaoglu's cut.
That's time! Back to the action!

Hamzaoglu on the wrong end of a kick to the body.

Tobita takes the fight into the clinch.
Tobita has Hamzaoglu pressed against the cage.
Tobita lands a good knee to the midsection. Hamzaoglu won't want to take too many of those.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Hamzaoglu.
Tobita is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Hamzaoglu can do to turn this around?
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as Tobita takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Tobita is stalling here. The referee will be looking to step in if he doesn't pick up the pace.
Tobita gets a warning from the ref for wasting time.
Tobita is pushing Hamzaoglu up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tobita is looking for a takedown up against the cage. Hamzaoglu gets underhooks though and prevents the takedown attempt.
Tobita landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Hamzaoglu being controlled against the cage.
Tobita with a knee to the head.

Tobita manages to pull guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Tobita is on top in guard.

Tobita is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Hamzaoglu is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Tobita is controlling him.
Tobita connects with a couple of short punches.
Tobita is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Hamzaoglu is trying to control the position but Tobita postures up.
Tobita working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Hamzaoglu wants to sweep but no luck.
Tobita postures up and lands a big shot to Hamzaoglu's brow.
Tobita pushes down on Hamzaoglu's leg and manages to get into half guard.
Tobita works his way into side control.
John Tobita overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
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!
Hamzaoglu tries to improve position but can't.
Hamzaoglu really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Tobita. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tobita lands some shots froms side control.
Tobita scores with punches from side control.
Tobita controls the position.
Tobita working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Tobita just content to control the position.
Hamzaoglu tries to improve position but can't.
Tobita is pausing for a moment. What's he doing? It looks like he's clearing his nose. Oh dude! He's shot a load of snot all down Hamzaoglu's shoulder. That is not cool.
Tobita advances to mount.
Tobita controlling his opponent.
Hamzaoglu is working to get back to half guard.
Tobita tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tobita lands with some strikes.
Tobita controlling his opponent.
Tobita 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.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Tobita seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Hamzaoglu for as long as he can get away with.
Tobita working Hamzaoglu over with strikes here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

John Tobita dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Ekber Hamzaoglu's cut.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Tobita closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Tobita putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Hamzaoglu in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Hamzaoglu misses with a short punch on the inside.
Tobita lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Tobita lands an elbow inside that Hamzaoglu shrugs off.
Tobita lands an elbow just above Hamzaoglu 's eye.
Hamzaoglu letting Tobita take a breather here.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Tobita as Hamzaoglu tries to tie him up.
Stalling in the clinch from Tobita.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Tobita connects with a knee to the head.
The pace really dropping off here, momentarily.
Tobita lands a nice elbow.
Tobita controlling the action here for a moment.
Hamzaoglu takes an elbow to the forehead.
Tobita comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Tobita manages to get underhooks and slows down the pace for a moment.
Tobita crunches a lovely knee into Hamzaoglu's ribcage.
Tobita landing knees to the head.
Tobita crunches a lovely knee into Hamzaoglu's ribcage.
Tobita has Hamzaoglu pressed against the cage.
Tobita lands a damaging elbow.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Tobita lands a nice elbow.
Ekber Hamzaoglu has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Tobita is stalling here.
Tobita lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Hamzaoglu tries to break free but Tobita pushes him back against the cage.
Tobita drops down looking for an ankle pick but Hamzaoglu pulls his leg out and moves away.

Tobita gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Hamzaoglu takes a knee to the side of the body.
Tobita landing knees to the head.
John Tobita is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Tobita displaying some good clinch control by pressing Hamzaoglu up against the cage.
Tobita is clearly stalling here... Pick up the pace son.
Tobita will no doubt start fighting again in a minute but for now he's just having a little rest, leaning Hamzaoglu up against the cage.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
The ref breaks the fighters up, due to lack of action by John Tobita.

Tobita moves into the clinch successfully.

And that's the end of the fight!
John Tobita showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Tobita, 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 Anni Minnemäki scores the fight 30:25
Judge Ben Zyskovitsi scores the fight 30:25
Judge Arvi Lind scores the fight 30:25

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... John Tobita!