PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Jukka Pekka (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Christian Makela (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Pekka
vs
Makela

180 cm
20
156 lbs
4 - 4 - 0

169 cm
22
155 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Enjoys gardening

Quality Supplements

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 4 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Jukka Pekka!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Christian Makela!
The judges for this bout are Matti Vanhoillinen, Tarja Halkonen and Johanna Lukiainen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Makela lands with a head kick! That's gotta hurt.

Makela moves into the clinch successfully.
Pekka blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Makela pushes Pekka back against the cage and unloads with a body punch.
Makela tries to land a knee to the head but Pekka blocks with his arms.
Pekka takes an elbow to the temple.

Pekka manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Makela trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Pekka tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Pekka is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Pekka will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.

Makela drops back looking for a leg! Pekka is in trouble here! The fighters roll with the hold and Pekka manages to kick Makela off! Makela jumps back into Pekka's guard.
Makela wants to control from the top but Pekka keeps moving.
Pekka working a defensive guard here.
Pekka is going to have to think about doing something other than just controlling because Makela is managing to avoid having the position dictated to him.

That's one minute gone in the round.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Pekka slips a jab from Makela.
Makela tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Makela tries to close the distance and clinch but Pekka swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Makela tries to clinch but Pekka moves out of range.
Makela is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Makela tries to close the distance and clinch up but Pekka swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Pekka tries to clinch there but Makela circles away.
Makela tries to grapple but his opponent circles

and Pekka counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Makela's guard now.
Makela trying to strike off his back.

Pekka stands up from guard. Let's bang!

Makela rushes Pekka and presses him up against the cage.
Pekka wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.

Pekka lands a takedown into guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Makela is looking for a triangle here but Pekka uses the submission attempt to pass into side control.
Pekka staying calm.
Makela manages to work his way to half guard, despite Pekka's best efforts.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Pekka has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Pekka content just to control the position here.
Makela slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
Makela looks gassed!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pekka wants to stand up but Makela is controlling the position.

Pekka looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Makela tries to get to full guard but Pekka has control of the leg.
Pekka thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

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.
Makela is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Pekka's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Pekka's back!

Makela is staying calm and holding on to the back position, whilst working on a rear naked choke. Pekka is defending well though. Makela let's go of the attempt for now.

Makela working for a choke but Pekka is defending well.
Pekka is trying to get back to his feet but he's not managed it yet.
Pekka rolls and manages to get back to half guard. Nicely done.
Makela missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Jukka Pekka will probably get the nod.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Makela throws a head kick but Pekka moves out of range.
Pekka fails with an attempt to clinch.
Makela throws a push kick but Pekka slaps the foot to one side.
Makela tries to grapple but his opponent circles

and Pekka moves into the clinch.
Makela lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Makela creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Pekka's defenses.
Pekka drops down for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Makela landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Pekka is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Pekka managing to block the knees to the body from Makela.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Pekka managing to block the knees to the body from Makela.
Pekka tries to pull guard but Makela holds him up against the cage and eventually Pekka drops back down to his feet.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Makela just misses with a elbow thrown towards Pekka's brow.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from Makela.
Pekka wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Makela has him pressed against the cage.
Makela is breathing heavily.
Pekka on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pekka is working hard here but doesn't seem to be able to control effectively, up against the cage.
Pekka stalls.
Makela pressing his opponent against the cage.
Knees to the body from Makela.
Pekka lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Makela or not.
Makela misses with a knee to the head.
Makela prevents the takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jukka Pekka. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Makela misses with a knee strike.
Pekka tries for a takedown but Makela manages to get underhooks.

Pekka is trying to trip Makela. He has hold of a leg but Makela is hopping around, keeping his balance for the moment. Pekka persists though and gets the takedown into guard.

Pekka decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
Makela clinches but Pekka breaks the clinch

and Pekka counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Makela!
BOOM! Pekka connects with a massive shot to the dome!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Makela is squirming around, avoiding Pekka's attempts to control the action.
Makela sneaks a leg back under and regains half guard and is working straight away to try and get back to guard. He hasn't managed just yet though.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Pekka with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
Makela slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.

Pekka avoids a guillotine attempt easily.
Jukka Pekka overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

Makela has a loose triangle. He'll be looking to tighten that up but Pekka can see exactly what he's planning and manages to posture up and free himself.
Pekka showing good wrestling skills to control the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pekka cracks Makela with a solid left hand.
Pekka is intent on slowing down the pace of the fight, simply looking to control.
Pekka wants to get up but he can't break Makela's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
Pekka wants to control from the top but Makela keeps moving.

Makela looking for a guillotine here but Pekka defends easily.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.

Makela throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.

Makela looking for subs off his back but Pekka has passed one foot through into half guard.
Makela on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jukka Pekka dominated that second round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! This is the final round!

Makela tries to clinch but Pekka moves away

and Pekka counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Makela!
Pekka controlling the position easily from mount.
Pekka trying to control but Makela is having none of it.
Pekka dominating with strikes here.
Makela wants to hold on but Pekka pushes him away.
Pekka looking to finish Makela with some ground and pound. This is bad for Makela!
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Makela regains half guard.
Pekka looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Makela tries to roll over but Pekka keeps him under control.
Pekka throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Makela wants to get back to full guard.

Pekka is working for a kimura but Makela is defending it quite comfortably.
Makela is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Pekka looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Pekka winds up and cracks Makela with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Pekka trying to control from half guard but Makela is working away.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Makela closes the distance looking to clinch
and Pekka counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Pekka lands with a nice combination. Makela backs away looking to recover.
Pekka circles away from the clinch attempt

and Pekka counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by Pekka.
Makela comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Pekka trying to control the position but instead, Makela has worked for underhooks and has pushed Pekka into the cage.
Makela pushes off an throws an elbow but Pekka leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Makela lands an elbow inside.
Makela tries to land a knee to the head but misses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Makela lands a damaging elbow.
Makela gets underhooks to prevent Pekka's takedown attempt.
Pekka slows down the pace here.

Pekka has hold of one of Makela's legs. Makela is fighting the takedown attempt but Pekka gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.

Makela looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Pekka throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Pekka trying to control the position from guard on top but Makela is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

Makela has his foot on Pekka's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Pekka works his way back into a safe position though.

Makela looking for a guillotine here but Pekka defends easily.
Pekka trying to control the position from guard on top but Makela is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Pekka thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Christian Makela has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!

Makela looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Pekka passes into side control.
Makela is trying to get back to half guard.
A lull in the action here.

And that's the end of the fight!
Jukka Pekka showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Pekka, 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 Matti Vanhoillinen scores the fight 30:27
Judge Tarja Halkonen scores the fight 30:27
Judge Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Jukka Pekka!