PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Valentin Skovgaard (ranked 540 p4p, 86 weight class) and Hannes Haades (ranked 492 p4p, 79 weight class). Skovgaard comes to the cage accompanied by Second Reality. Haades is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: Accept - Head Over Heels. Hannes Haades has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Valentin Skovgaard's chin.

Skovgaard
vs
Haades

187 cm
28
210 lbs
21 - 7 - 0

190 cm
34
210 lbs
20 - 15 - 4

Great wrestler
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class MT
Granite chin

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 21 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Valentin Skovgaard!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 20 - 15 - 4, fighting out of Amsterdam, Hannes Haades!
The judges for this bout are Ian Loll, Dillan Fox and Alec Ball.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Haades thumps Skovgaard with a low kick.

Haades instigates a clinch.
Haades looking to stall.
Skovgaard lands a nice elbow.

It looks like Hannes Haades has been cut.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Haades creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Skovgaard lands a hook to the side of the head.
Skovgaard swings wildly with an uppercut but Haades uses good head movement to avoid it.
With the fighters up against the cage, Skovgaard throws an elbow but misses.
Haades lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Skovgaard backwards.
Skovgaard can't find room to land a body shot as Haades controls the action.
Skovgaard lands a hook to the side of the head.
Skovgaard lands a left hand.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from Skovgaard.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Haades misses with a punch to the body.
Haades blocks a body shot from Skovgaard.
A quick uppercut on the inside from Skovgaard.
Haades lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Haades taking a breather.
Haades pushes Skovgaard back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Haades lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Skovgaard backwards.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from Haades.
Skovgaard lands a shoulder strike.
Skovgaard lands a right hand.
Skovgaard goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Skovgaard is working Haades over against the cage.
Haades misses with a body punch.
Haades changes levels and goes for a takedown here. Skovgaard fights it off and pushes away nicely.
Skovgaard loads up on a big right hand but Haades slips the punch.
Skovgaard takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Skovgaard scores with a jab.
A chopping leg kick lands by Skovgaard.
Haades swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Skovgaard looked to counter that last move with a leg kick but didn't pull the trigger.
Skovgaard lands a nice shot to the body.
Skovgaard dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Haades. That did some damage!
Haades lands with a nice body punch.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
A bone on bone clash there as Haades blocks the leg kick.
Haades keeping at a good range here, avoiding a leg kick.
Nice straight punches there by Skovgaard. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Skovgaard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Skovgaard misses with a body shot
and Haades counters with a straight right hand.
Skovgaard ducks right into an uppercut from Haades.
Skovgaard jabs Haades to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Haades takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.
Haades throws a leg kick but Skovgaard checks it.
We can't be sure of the tactics at this early stage but we have heard that Haades has been working on his takedowns a lot in the buildup to the fight and we can only assume he's going to look to take this to the mat.
Skovgaard cracks Haades with an open hand slap.
Skovgaard throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Skovgaard connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Haades tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Skovgaard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Valentin Skovgaard seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Skovgaard.
Skovgaard is looking to land body kicks.
Skovgaard takes a big uppercut there. He seems a bit wobbly but no, he's OK.
Skovgaard circles away from the clinch attempt.
A quick step to the side and Skovgaard tries to counter with a shot to the body but it doesn't connect.
Skovgaard keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Haades.
Haades bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Haades takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Haades scores with a jab to the head.
Haades keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Haades avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Haades tries to score with a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Haades slips a straight right by Skovgaard.
Haades moves away from the strike by Skovgaard.
Haades throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Haades tests Skovgaard's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Haades's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Skovgaard connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Haades scrambles back to his feet.
Skovgaard lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
Haades throws a right hand that misses
and Skovgaard counters with a straight right hand.
Skovgaard lands a glancing blow to the side of Haades's head.
Skovgaard blocks a low kick nicely.
Skovgaard 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.
Skovgaard scores with a kick to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Skovgaard lands a kick to the ribs of his opponent. Nice work there - in and out in a flash.
Haades throws a lazy right hand but Skovgaard sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Skovgaard connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.

Haades rushes Skovgaard and presses him up against the cage.
Skovgaard gets through Haades's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Skovgaard cracks Haades with a nice body shot.
Skovgaard lands with a right to the head.
Haades avoids the elbow strike from Skovgaard, against the cage.
Skovgaard lands a body punch in the clinch.
Haades looks winded!
Skovgaard tries a body shot but Haades blocks it.
Haades fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Skovgaard throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Haades misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Skovgaard creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Haades goes for a body shot but it's blocked.
Haades throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.
Haades is working for takedown but Skovgaard is calmly controlling the position for now.
Skovgaard creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
A battle for position here, against the cage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Valentin Skovgaard dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Hannes Haades's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Skovgaard tried to score with a low kick but Haades checks it.
Skovgaard uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.
Haades on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
Skovgaard misses with a low kick as Haades jumps back.
Skovgaard misses with an uppercut.
Haades moves out of range of the body kick from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Skovgaard goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
A shot to the body from Haades misses
and Skovgaard counters with a nice body kick.
Haades misses with a straight right.
Some bone on bone action there as Skovgaard checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Donk. Skovgaard catches Haades right on the button with a cross.
Haades throws a body punch but Skovgaard moves out of range.
Haades throws a low kick but it's checked well by Skovgaard.
Skovgaard throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Haades sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Skovgaard lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.
Skovgaard misses with a body shot.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Haades dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Haades on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Haades takes an uppercut right on the jaw but it doesn't phase him.
Skovgaard connects with a solid leg kick.
Haades throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Skovgaard sees it coming and avoids it easily.
A counter left hand to the body from Skovgaard misses its target.
Skovgaard is looking to slow Haades down with leg kicks.
Haades takes a push kick to the midsection and stumbles backwards.
Skovgaard scores with a reasonable looking shot to the body. Haades doesn't seem bothered though.
Haades avoids the body shot from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard has not gone for a single takedown so far in this fight, which seems like a very strange tactic when you consider that he has the superior wrestling and BJJ.
Haades takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Haades is looking to chop away at Skovgaard's legs.
Skovgaard quickly followed up with a counter body kick but doesn't connect.
Skovgaard lands with a nice body kick.
Skovgaard scores with a head kick.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Haades keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard misses with a body kick.
Haades tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
Skovgaard is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Haades can do to turn this around?
Haades tries a head kick but it misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
An inside leg kick lands from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.
Skovgaard keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Skovgaard misses with a low kick.
Valentin Skovgaard is winning the standup battle so far.
Skovgaard scores with a nice strike.
Skovgaard ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
A solid body kick from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard throws a quick inside leg kick.
Skovgaard checks a low kick from Haades.
Skovgaard misses with a straight right.
Skovgaard shakes his hands off, looking to compose himself, but takes a jab to the jaw whilst he does it.
Haades tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Skovgaard avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Haades misses with a head kick.
Skovgaard connects with the punch.
Haades walks into a jab.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Skovgaard gets tackled into the cage by Haades. Haades maintains the clinch.
Haades misses with the head strike.
Valentin Skovgaard has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Haades digs a right hand underneath Skovgaard's ribcage. Skovgaard let out a lung full of air as it connected.

Skovgaard's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
The fight stays on the outside here - Haades looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Skovgaard is looking to counter punch.
Haades tries to clinch up but Skovgaard circles away and keeps his distance.
Skovgaard avoids a punch combination nicely.
Haades takes a nasty kick to the mid section... That should keep him thinking. Does he try and block and risk a head kick landing?
Skovgaard throws a low kick but Haades avoids it.
Haades tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Skovgaard.
Haades gets off balance looking for a body kick
and Skovgaard counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Skovgaard connects with a body shot that sends Haades's belly button to the back.
A jab lands there for Skovgaard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Haades throws a front kick aimed at Skovgaard's knee but Skovgaard avoids it well.
Skovgaard scores with a hook.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Haades rushes Skovgaard and presses him up against the cage.
Skovgaard lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.

Haades gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Haades is breathing heavily.
Skovgaard controlling the position for now.
Skovgaard is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Skovgaard is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Haades's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Haades's back!
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Valentin Skovgaard dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Hannes Haades's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. This is the final round!

Skovgaard pushes Haades away with a front kick.
Skovgaard dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Haades. That did some damage!
Skovgaard avoids a punch combination nicely.
Skovgaard appears to be looking for a counter punch to the body.
Skovgaard tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Haades follows through with a counter body kick but it doesn't land.
The fighters circling - Haades throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Skovgaard with a hook.
Skovgaard misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Haades.
Haades ducks under a wild hook from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard lands a nice looking body shot.
Haades's leg has a nasty welt from taking a succession of leg kicks. That must be slowing him down.
Haades looks to score with a jab to the body but Skovgaard is just out of range.
It looked like Skovgaard was trying to counter with a body shot coming off that last attack from Haades.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Skovgaard looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.
A nice leg kick lands there from Skovgaard.
Skovgaard throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Skovgaard fakes a head shot and lands one to the body.
Haades throws out a loose jab but Skovgaard uses good head movement to avoid it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Skovgaard pushes Haades away with a front kick.
Haades feints and then cracks Skovgaard's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Skovgaard down.
Skovgaard lands with a thumping leg kick.
Skovgaard misses with a wild body shot.
Skovgaard lands with a good body shot.
Haades swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Skovgaard looks to land a right hand but Haades moved out of range.
Skovgaard lands a jab to the nose.
Haades wants to slow Skovgaard down by chopping away at his legs.
Skovgaard slips in close and lands a nice hook before moving back out of range.
Skovgaard ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Skovgaard takes a head kick and shrugs it off.
Skovgaard throws a low kick but Haades avoids it.
Skovgaard jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Haades tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Skovgaard counters with a one-two to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Skovgaard looks to score with a jab to the body but Haades is just out of range.
Haades is clearly trying to counter these attacks from Skovgaard with a body shot.
Haades has developed a nice purple lump on his ribcage, as a result of some heavy body kicks from Skovgaard.
Haades throws a body punch but Skovgaard moves out of range.
Skovgaard throws a jab when Haades was well out of range.
Skovgaard circles away from the clinch attempt.
Haades shapes like he's going to throw a leg kick but settles back down.
Haades throws a push kick but Skovgaard slaps the foot to one side.
Skovgaard stuns Haades with a nice body shot, before stepping back out of range.
Skovgaard throws a predictable looking body shot
and Haades counters with a body kick that brings a smile to the face of both fighters.
Haades misses with a wild body shot.
Skovgaard swats away the attempt to clinch by Haades.
Haades throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Haades takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Skovgaard wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
A bone on bone clash there as Haades blocks the leg kick.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Skovgaard looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.
Skovgaard throws a feint and then finishes with a kick to the body.
Skovgaard cracks the inside of Haades's front leg.
Skovgaard dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Skovgaard misses with a kick to the body.
Haades is trying to avoid his opponent's strikes and get into the clinch.
Skovgaard throws a sloppy body shot

and Haades counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
We could do with one of the fighters taking the initiative a bit more on the ground - they're both waiting to capitalize on a mistake.
Skovgaard tries to roll over but Haades keeps him under control.
Hannes Haades has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Valentin Skovgaard is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Skovgaard manages to get to full guard.
Skovgaard looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Haades puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Skovgaard is pressing down on Haades's left leg trying to get back to full guard. He's managed it.
Haades wanted to stand there but Skovgaard had control of the position.
Haades trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Haades throws a big elbow that misses.

And that's the end of the fight!
Valentin Skovgaard showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Skovgaard, 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 Ian Loll scores the fight 30:27
Judge Dillan Fox scores the fight 30:27
Judge Alec Ball scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Valentin Skovgaard!