PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Levi Jackson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Gabe Thurgood (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Gabe Thurgood has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Jackson
vs
Thurgood

175 cm
19
180 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

186 cm
32
186 lbs
20 - 13 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
Big heart

Good wrestler
Lethal high kicks
Heavy handed

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, Levi Jackson!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 20 - 13 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Gabe Thurgood!
The judges for this bout are Tarja Halkonen, Matti Vanhoillinen and Johanna Lukiainen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thurgood sizes up Jackson with a pawing jab and scores with a straight right down the middle.
Thurgood ducks down and throws a hook to the body.
Jackson swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Jackson dodges the punch combination from Thurgood.
Jackson doesn't manage to clinch there - Thurgood circles away.
Gabe Thurgood seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Thurgood cracks Jackson with a good jab.
Jackson with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Thurgood to score with a decent uppercut.
Thurgood lands a jab to Jackson's midsection.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Thurgood clinches up against the cage.
Thurgood lands a body punch.
Good body shot from Thurgood.
Thurgood lands a right hand that snaps the head of Jackson backwards.
Jackson throws an elbow but it misses.
Jackson misses with a shot to the kidneys.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Thurgood creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.

Thurgood breaks from the clinch.
Jackson gets cracked there but stands up to it.

Thurgood cracks Jackson with an uppercut from hell and Jackson crumples to the canvas, he's out! Oh no, he's recovered and he's grabbed one of Thurgood's legs and pulled him into guard. The ref thought about stopping it there but he's let it go - good reffing!

Jackson is rocked!
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.
Thurgood sitting in guard here, content to control.
Oh Jackson is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Thurgood distracts Jackson with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thurgood working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Thurgood looking to control the position here, rather than advance.
Jackson wants to sweep but no luck.
Jackson seems to have got his legs back now.
Thurgood has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Jackson wants to stand but Thurgood is controlling the position.
Jackson wants to sweep here but Thurgood controlling him for the moment.

Thurgood stands up from guard. Let's bang!
Thurgood is using his reach advantage to land shots from outside his opponent's range.
Thurgood lands a nice hook to Jackson's body. Jackson takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.

Thurgood moves into the clinch.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from Thurgood.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Thurgood scores with a nice hook to the head.
A short body shot lands from Thurgood as the two fighters clinch.
Jackson is breathing heavily.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
A nice right hand lands inside from Thurgood.
Thurgood digs a right hand underneath Jackson's ribcage. Jackson let out a lung full of air as it connected.
Thurgood lands a nice uppercut.
Thurgood throws a hook to the body. More of an arm punch but it's all scoring with the judges.

Thurgood pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

Thurgood clinches up against the cage.
Thurgood lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Thurgood is pressed up against the cage. Jackson has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Thurgood down to the mat. Thurgood avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.

Oh, that's a big right hand from Thurgood and Jackson goes tumbling to the canvas! Thurgood follows him to the ground and looks to finish from half guard.
Thurgood scores with a big shot! Jackson's head bounced off the canvas with a huge thud! More strikes land and the referee has jumped in to save Jackson! He was hurt real bad - good stoppage!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:55 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Gabe Thurgood!
In his post fight interview, Gabe Thurgood started talking himself up. Luckily his charisma kept the crowd on side and gave him a good reception.