PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Atte Savitaipale (ranked 1904 p4p, 2248 weight class) and Bo Nickal (ranked 70 p4p, 85 weight class). Savitaipale comes to the cage accompanied by Roger Whittaker - Finnish Whistler. Man, I cannot wait for this one!

Savitaipale
vs
Nickal

177 cm
38
160
28 - 20 - 0

178 cm
30
178
15 - 6 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Cardio machine

BJJ Red Belt
Good low kicks
Good gas tank

Aspire Clothing

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 28 - 20 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Atte Savitaipale!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Bo Nickal!
The judges for this bout are Frank Antenori, Percy O'Donnell and Timothy Bukovac.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Savitaipale swings and misses with a shot to the body
and Nickal counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Savitaipale has been working on his boxing with his coaches at Malmi Aitta in the buildup to the fight.
Savitaipale misses with a hook.
Savitaipale with a poor takedown
and Nickal counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Savitaipale lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Nickal at a distance.
Savitaipale misses with a left hand
and Nickal counters with a straight right hand.
Nickal lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.
Nickal scores with a nice head shot.
Savitaipale just misses with a punch to the body.
Savitaipale lands with a right hand.

Nickal closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Savitaipale to the mat! Savitaipale manages to get full guard.
My spies in Helsinki Private Gym inform me that Nickal has been getting involved in the gym's BJJ sparring sessions. Let's see whether that pays dividends!
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Nickal looking to pass the guard.
Nickal preventing the sweep.
Savitaipale wants to hit a sweep here but Nickal passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Savitaipale there!
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Nickal lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nickal raining down hammerfists from mount.
Savitaipale tries to lock up and control but Nickal gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
BOOM! Nickal connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Nickal lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Nickal connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Nickal working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Nickal putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
Nickal lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Savitaipale manages to regain half guard. Good work.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Savitaipale is looking for a sweep. Nickal is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Nickal landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Nickal landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Nickal looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Savitaipale with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Savitaipale has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Nickal is working away from the top position though.
Nickal has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Savitaipale is not content to let Nickal control the position.
Nice strikes from Nickal there.
Nickal lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Nice strikes from Nickal there.
Nickal passes to full mount!
Savitaipale tries to reverse the position but Nickal maintains control.
Savitaipale is working hard here to advance position.
Nickal is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Nickal raining down hammerfists from mount.
Savitaipale tries to lock up and control but Nickal gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.
Savitaipale gets back to half guard.
Savitaipale is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Nickal's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Nickal's back!
Savitaipale misses with a punch to the head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Savitaipale is hanging on to Nickal's back as he tries to escape.

Savitaipale looking for the choke but no joy.
Savitaipale somehow managing to miss with a strike from the back.
Nickal manages to reverse the position and now he's in Savitaipale's guard. Nice work there by Nickal.
Savitaipale manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Nickal manages to get himself to full guard.

Savitaipale trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Savitaipale has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.
Savitaipale slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
Nickal dodges the ground and pound from Savitaipale.
The ground and pound from Savitaipale seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.
Savitaipale misses with the ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Savitaipale looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.

Savitaipale wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Nickal, who protects the arm well.
Sloppy strikes there by Savitaipale.
An elbow from Savitaipale crashes against the mat.
Nickal manages to get back to half guard.
Savitaipale throwing shots but Nickal is blocking nicely.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Nickal keeps control of the position for the meantime.
Nickal wants to control but Savitaipale is keeping busy and won't allow it.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Nickal is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Savitaipale is trying to control the action in half guard but Nickal is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Bo Nickal dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Boom, another hit is landed. "You're gunna get knocked out" taunts Savitaipale, as that shot connected.
Savitaipale works Nickal's body with a nice hook.
Nickal gets cracked with a nice right hand there by Savitaipale.
Savitaipale swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
Savitaipale misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Nickal.
Nickal throws out a counter right but Savitaipale avoids it with no problem.
Savitaipale misses with a wild body shot.
Savitaipale misses with an uppercut
and Nickal counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Nickal fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Savitaipale has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Savitaipale just misses with a punch to the body.
Nickal with the counter takedown but Savitaipale avoids it easily.
Savitaipale displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Nickal throws out the jab.
Savitaipale throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Atte Savitaipale is winning the standup battle so far.
Nickal looks to score with a jab to the body but Savitaipale is just out of range.
Jab from Savitaipale.
Savitaipale tries to move into range but Nickal moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Savitaipale catches Nickal with a nice straight right. He seems pissed - ooooh, it's on now! On like donkey kong!
Savitaipale uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Nickal.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Savitaipale ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Nickal moves away.
A swing and a miss from Savitaipale.
Savitaipale throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Nickal fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Savitaipale manages to avoid it.
Savitaipale throws a predictable looking body shot
and Nickal cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Savitaipale scores with a jab.

A momentary lapse in concentration from Savitaipale enables Nickal to shoot in and score with a neat double leg. Savitaipale manages to secure a closed guard as the fighters hit the mat.
Savitaipale wants to hit a sweep here but Nickal passes into full mount! Oh no, disaster for Savitaipale there!
Nickal working Savitaipale over with strikes here.
Nickal looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Savitaipale tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Nickal lands with some strikes.
Nickal punishing his opponent with strikes.
Nickal dominating with strikes here.
Savitaipale is looking to improve his position but Nickal isn't that keen on the idea.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nickal lands a heavy elbow.
Nickal lands a heavy elbow.
Savitaipale is squirming around, avoiding Nickal's attempts to control the action.
Nickal unloading with bombs!
Nickal is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Savitaipale can't stay in a position like this for much longer.

Nickal is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Savitaipale can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.
Nickal unloading with bombs!

Savitaipale is rocked!
Nickal looking to finish here with some ground and pound. He lands one big shot that has Savitaipale covering up... and two more big strikes land, forcing the referee to step in and put and end to proceedings! This fight is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Bo Nickal!
Our winner, Bo Nickal, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.
Atte Savitaipale spoke after the fight, saying 'Better man won..Respect to him!Gonna choke him back stage..'.