PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Bob Burnquist (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nathan Arkham (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Burnquist comes into the arena with "Blut Royale" by Combichrist blaring out of the sound system. The crowd seem to be enjoying Arkham's choice of entrance music: Smooth Criminal. Nathan Arkham is the more experienced fighter, so let's see if that makes a difference tonight.

Burnquist
vs
Arkham

198 cm
22
275 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

190 cm
19
230 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Granite chin

BJJ White Belt
Decent knees
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Bob Burnquist!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Nathan Arkham!
The judges for this bout are Matti Vanhoillinen, Anni Minnemäki and Roosa Järviläinen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Arkham blocks the body kick.
Burnquist connects with a solid leg kick.
A telegraphed right hand from Burnquist misses the target.
Arkham misses with a takedown attempt - Burnquist sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
A nice leg kick lands there from Burnquist.

Burnquist clinches.
Burnquist misses with a knee strike.
Burnquist on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Burnquist pressing his opponent against the cage.
Burnquist using the Thai clinch to land knees to the body.
Arkham looks gassed!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Arkham looking to throw knees to the head but Burnquist is blocking nicely.
Burnquist changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Arkham fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Burnquist throws a nice head kick!

It looks like Nathan Arkham has been cut.
Arkham takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
Burnquist throws a nice inside leg kick.

Burnquist takes the fight into the clinch.

Burnquist breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Burnquist lands a head kick. Arkham smiles back at him and beckons him forward.
Arkham takes a kick to the side of the head.

That has opened up Nathan Arkham's cut even more.
Burnquist lands a kick to the ribs of his opponent. Nice work there - in and out in a flash.
Burnquist thumps Arkham with a low kick.
Arkham tries to clinch up but Burnquist circles away and keeps his distance.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Burnquist throws a head kick that looked like it stung.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!

Burnquist closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Burnquist controls the position from side control.
Burnquist in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Arkham avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Burnquist.
Burnquist lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Arkham down.
Burnquist taking a breather here.
Burnquist has controlled the position for a good 20 seconds, which will no doubt be starting to frustrate his opponent.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Arkham gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Arkham wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Burnquist.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Burnquist sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Burnquist seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Arkham for as long as he can get away with.
A nice elbow there by Burnquist.
Burnquist controlling from mount.
Burnquist punching from mount but Arkham doing a good job of avoiding damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Burnquist controlling from mount.
Burnquist'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.
Arkham really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Burnquist. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Burnquist fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!

Burnquist has control of Arkham's right arm, working for a kimura. It's a bit of a token attempt though and Arkham regains control of the situation pretty easily.
Burnquist content just to control the position here.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Bob Burnquist dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Nathan Arkham's cut.
That's time! Back to the action!

Burnquist closes the distance and clinches.

Burnquist breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Burnquist is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Arkham can do to turn this around?
Burnquist scoring well with a low kick there.
Burnquist misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Burnquist throws a sloppy head kick and Arkham moves out of range easily.
Burnquist circles away from the clinch attempt.
Arkham takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.

Burnquist rushes Arkham and presses him up against the cage.
Arkham misses with a knee strike.
Arkham managing to block the knees to the body from Burnquist.
Burnquist's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Knees to the body from Burnquist.
Burnquist unloads a knee to the mid-section. Arkham lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.

Burnquist breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Arkham tries to clinch but Burnquist moves away

and Burnquist counters with a nice double leg into side control. Arkham won't be happy with that.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Burnquist is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Arkham will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.

Burnquist has worked his way into a potential kimura here. Arkham is trying to get out of the position but his squirming has just got him deeper into trouble. Burnquist yanks on the arm and Arkham is forced to tap due to a very painful looking submission! Nice work by Burnquist.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:05 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Bob Burnquist!