PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Brian Imanuell (ranked 5543 p4p, 0 weight class) and Green Cross (ranked 6285 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighter's entrance songs getting the crowd jumping here.

Imanuell
vs
Cross

175 cm
18
175 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

180 cm
21
170 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Good chin

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Brian Imanuell!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Green Cross!
The judges for this bout are Johanna Lukiainen, Ben Zyskovitsi and Arvi Lind.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Cross closes the distance and clinches.
Imanuell lands with a right to the head.
Cross tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Cross.
Imanuell looking for a takedown.
Cross lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.

Cross breaks from the clinch.
Imanuell pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Green Cross seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Imanuell tries to score with a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Imanuell tries a head kick but it misses.
Cross goes for a double leg but Imanuell avoids the attempt and the two fighters end up clinched against the cage as Imanuell continues to drive forward.
Imanuell walks forward and throws out a flicking leg kick. Cross checks it nicely though, as he moves to the side.

Cross gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Cross has a body lock and is looking for a takedown. Imanuell is bouncing around trying to prevent the takedown and somehow he has indeed managed to stay on his feet.
Cross tries to score a body lock takedown but Imanuell shows good agility there to stay on his feet.
Brian Imanuell has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Green Cross.
Imanuell is trying to pull guard but Cross has him pressed against the cage.

Imanuell manages to pull 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.
Cross tries to free his leg and advance position but Imanuell is retaining full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Imanuell keeping moving, preventing Cross from controlling successfully.
Cross really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Imanuell. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Imanuell is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Cross is controlling him.
Cross won't allow Imanuell to sweep him here.

Imanuell is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Cross defends well.
Cross trying to stand up but can't free himself from Imanuell's guard.
Imanuell wants to sweep here but Cross controlling him for the moment.

The ref stands the fighters back up due to a lack of activity.

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.

Cross has managed to clinch.
Cross goes for a body shot but it's blocked.

Imanuell jumps guard.

Imanuell working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Cross doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Cross manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Imanuell is looking to stand up but Cross isn't so interested in that idea.
Cross controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

Imanuell working for a triangle but Cross defends it easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Cross wants to pass the guard but Imanuell is keeping the position.
Cross wants to stand but Imanuell is controlling his posture from full guard.
Cross is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
The referee wants the fighters to be more active or he's going to reset them on the feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Cross wants to stand but Imanuell is controlling his posture from full guard.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Imanuell misses with a takedown attempt - Cross sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.

Cross moves into the clinch.
Cross swings away with an uppercut that misses.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Cross.
Imanuell is trying to force a seperation but Cross has the dominant position.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Cross fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Cross scores with a nice hook to the head.

Imanuell jumps guard and drags Cross to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.

Cross gets to his feet - Imanuell follows without any prompting.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Green Cross will probably get the nod.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Cross gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Imanuell is looking to break free of the clinch but Cross has double underhooks.
Imanuell tries to pull guard but Cross forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Cross pushes off an throws an elbow but Imanuell leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Cross working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Imanuell creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Imanuell is looking for a takedown up against the cage. Cross gets underhooks though and prevents the takedown attempt.
A short uppercut from Cross.
Nice body punch from Cross.
Cross is defending well against a takedown attempt.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Brian Imanuell. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Cross pushes Imanuell back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Cross lands a left hand that snaps the head of Imanuell backwards.
Imanuell misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Cross.

Cross breaks the clinch.

Cross has taken the fight to the clinch.
Cross lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Imanuell is working for takedown but Cross is calmly controlling the position for now.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Imanuell jumps guard and drags Cross to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.
Imanuell working a defensive guard here.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

Cross gets to his feet. Imanuell looking to butt scoot but the ref puts an end to that. On your feet son!

Cross gets a clinch.
Imanuell is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Cross is defending well for now.

Cross manages to pull guard. Let's see whether he can land a sub off his back.
Imanuell controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Imanuell trying to control the position from guard on top but Cross is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Imanuell throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Cross works some decent striking defense from the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Cross utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.

Imanuell stands up and waves to Cross to follow him.

Cross gets a clinch.
A nice left hand lands by Cross.
Cross tries to score a body lock takedown but Imanuell shows good agility there to stay on his feet.
Cross lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Imanuell has had enough of the clinch but Cross keeps him there for the moment.
Imanuell jumps guard but Cross stands there with Imanuell around his waist. Imanuell gives up and drops back to his feet. We remain in the clinch.
Cross throws a head punch that misses.
Imanuell is trying to stall.
Cross has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Imanuell tries to pull guard but Cross forces him back to his feet, against the cage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
A short left from Cross.
Imanuell wants a takedown.
Cross scores with a shot to the side of Imanuell's head.
Cross stalling against the cage.

Imanuell jumps guard.
Imanuell has a closed guard, preventing Cross from standing up.
Imanuell is trying to control the position from the bottom.

Cross stands up from Imanuell's guard - Cross perhaps looking for a knockout.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Imanuell gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily

and Cross holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.
Green Cross seems to be working more effectively in the clinch in the fight so far.
Cross pushes Imanuell back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Cross scores with a nice hook to the head.
Cross lands a right hand.
Cross with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
We've been informed that Cross has been working hard on his conditioning in the buildup to the fight.

Cross manages to break the clinch.

Cross closes the distance and clinches.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Cross scores with a nice hook to the head.
Cross content to slow the pace in the clinch.
Imanuell has had enough of the clinch but Cross keeps him there for the moment.

Imanuell breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Imanuell has his hands up protecting his head but a hook from Cross finds it's way round the side to connect with Imanuell's head.
Cross stuffs the takedown attempt from Imanuell. Imanuell gets slowly back to his feet.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Green Cross showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. This is the final round!

Cross has managed to clinch.
Cross lands with a short head shot on the inside.
Imanuell is trying to maintain a safe position but Cross gets an underhook and turns Imanuell into the cage.
Imanuell tries to pull guard but Cross holds him up against the cage and eventually Imanuell drops back down to his feet.
Cross scores with a shoulder strike.
Imanuell trying to stall but Cross improves his position.

Cross breaks from the clinch.

Cross drives through and clinches with Imanuell against the cage.
Imanuell blocks a punch to the side of the head.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Cross lands a body punch in the clinch.
Cross misses with an elbow strike.
Cross misses with a knee to the head.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Imanuell is looking to take this one to the mat.
A quick uppercut on the inside from Cross.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Cross lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Imanuell or not.

Cross pulls Imanuell into guard.
Cross is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
Imanuell stops Cross from standing up.
Imanuell throwing strikes but missing.
Cross keeping full guard, as Imanuell tries to pass.

Imanuell decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Cross, up you get!

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Cross gets a clinch.
Imanuell is defending well against a takedown attempt.
Cross stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
Cross throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Imanuells head.

Cross breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Imanuell will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Brian Imanuell. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Cross misses with a takedown

and Imanuell counters by clinching up.
Imanuell drops down looking for an ankle pick but Cross pulls his leg out and moves away.
Cross takes a body punch but keeps moving.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Cross closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Cross tries for a takedown but Imanuell manages to get underhooks.
Imanuell gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Cross.
Cross lands with a short shot to the head.
Cross misses with a hook to the ribs.
Imanuell wants to break free but Cross has control.

Cross pulls guard.
Imanuell throwing strikes but missing.
Imanuell engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.
Green Cross is fighting for a decision - hopefully he's judged it right and he's actually winning the fight.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Imanuell seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Cross for as long as he can get away with.
Imanuell trying to control the position from guard on top but Cross is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

And that's the end of the fight!
Green Cross comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I've got Cross winning every round here. Surely the decision will go his way and he'll pick up a well deserved decision victory. 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 Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 27:30
Judge Ben Zyskovitsi scores the fight 27:30
Judge Arvi Lind scores the fight 27:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Green Cross!