PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Ricky Thompson (ranked 268 p4p, 1174 weight class) and Jani Honkanen (ranked 40 p4p, 167 weight class). Ricky Thompson has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Thompson
vs
Honkanen

190 cm
31
280
23 - 13 - 0

190 cm
31
280
13 - 11 - 0

Good wrestling
Solid boxing
Cardio machine

BJJ Brown Belt
Decent boxing
Powerful

Voodoo Nutrition
Highland Clothing

Highland Clothing

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 23 - 13 - 0, fighting out of New York, Ricky Thompson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 13 - 11 - 0, fighting out of London, Jani Honkanen!
The judges for this bout are Steven Brown, James Atkins and Donald Grub.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thompson takes a big uppercut there. He seems a bit wobbly but no, he's OK.
Ricky Thompson seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Honkanen looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Thompson is fending him off so far but Honkanen persists. Nope, Thompson circles away and we're back to standing.
Thompson appears to be looking for a big counter.
Honkanen scores with a jab to the head.
Honkanen jabs Thompson right on the nose. Thompson blinks but takes it well.
Thompson waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Honkanen.
Honkanen feints a straight left to the body, then turns around with a flashy move and hits Thompsons jaw with a dramatic spinning back fist!
Thompson looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
No joy there for Thompson, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Thompson tries for a takedown but Honkanen circles away easily

and Honkanen counters with a shoot takedown. Thompson fights it but they end up in guard.
Thompson is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Honkanen trying to control the position from guard on top but Thompson is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Thompson looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Honkanen puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

Honkanen is working for a kimura but Thompson is defending it quite comfortably.
Thompson tries to roll over but Honkanen keeps him under control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thompson tries to regain full guard. Instead though, Honkanen has advanced to mount. Uh oh.
Thompson tries to reverse the position but Honkanen maintains control.
Thompson tries to hold on but Honkanen postures up.
Honkanen prevents Thompson from getting the reversal.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

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

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Thompson has left one of his arms exposed and Honkanen doesn't need a second invitation. He's isolated it and locked on a tight armbar. Thompson screams and taps out, obviously in a lot of pain. Hopefully there isn't permanent damage to that arm.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:19 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Jani Honkanen!