PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Urkki Raato (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Jason Payne (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Payne has chosen Can't be touched as his entrance music. I don't know about you partner, but I'm pumped for this one!

Raato
vs
Payne

185 cm
18
200 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

188 cm
22
205 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Good chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Solid 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 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Urkki Raato!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Jason Payne!
The judges for this bout are Ben Zyskovitsi, Tarja Halkonen and Johanna Lukiainen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Raato wants to clinch.
Payne looks really tired already! That doesn't bode well for a good, competitive fight!

Payne looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Raato!
Raato wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Payne.
Raato wants to control but Payne is having none of it.
Payne prevents Raato from getting the reversal.
Raato wants to hold on but Payne pushes him away.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Raato swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raato tries to hold on but Payne pushes him away.
Raato wants to use the cage to get back to his feet here.
Raato regains half guard.
Payne stops Raato from getting back to his feet.

Raato has one foot on Payne's thigh - he pushes off and manages to get back to his feet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Raato scores with a three punch combo!
Raato with a poor takedown
and Payne counters with a solid body kick.
Payne fails with the takedown

and Raato counters with a shoot takedown. Payne fights it but they end up in guard.
Raato sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Raato pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Payne is keeping the position for now.
Payne pulls Raato in to control the position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Raato content to stall in guard here.
Raato works over Payne with some ground and pound from guard.
Raato controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Raato passes into half guard.
Raato lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Raato tries to pass the half guard into mount. Payne knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Raato seems to be looking for submissions.
Well, if Raato is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.
Raato not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Raato performing his best blanket impression for a moment.

Raato is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and Payne defends it well.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Urkki Raato dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Raato doesn't succeed with the takedown
and Payne counters with a nice low kick that buckles Raato's knee momentarily.
Raato fails with a takedown attempt from distance.

Raato shoots in and bounces Payne off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
Raato sitting in guard here, content to control.
Raato won't allow Payne to get back to his feet.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

Raato stands up from Payne's guard - Raato perhaps looking for a knockout.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Raato shoots in and bounces Payne off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Raato trying to control the position from guard on top but Payne is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Raato postures up and lands a big shot to Payne's brow.
Raato pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Payne is keeping the position for now.
A big thud reverberates around the arena there as Raato accidentally thumps the mat. Hopefully he's not broken his hand.

Raato stands up and waves to Payne to follow him.
Raato shoots in looking for a takedown. Payne tries to sprawl out of it but Raato keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Payne manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Urkki Raato. That's going to take a lot out of him.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Raato closes the distance but Payne moves to the side
and Payne counters with a nice leg kick.
Payne swats away the attempt to clinch by Raato.
Raato misses with a takedown
and Payne counters with a head kick.
The fight stays on the outside here - Raato looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

Raato gets the takedown into side control.

Raato decides to take the fight back to the feet.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raato changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Payne tries to avoid it but Raato manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Payne to the ground. Payne escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.

Payne darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Payne lands with a punch from half guard.
Raato makes his way to full guard. A much better position for Raato.

Raato kicks Payne off and gets to his feet.
Raato wants to clinch up but Payne keeps it at a distance.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Urkki Raato dominated that second round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Raato bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Raato lands a decent elbow from side control.
Raato controlling the position.
Raato has knee on belly and now moves to full mount! Trouble for Payne!
Raato fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Raato takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Raato lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Payne defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Raato.
Raato prevents Payne from getting the reversal.

Raato with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Payne avoids a series of strikes thrown by Raato.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Raato trying to control but Payne is having none of it.

Raato with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Raato scores with a couple of good head shots there.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Raato pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Raato landing strikes from the mount and Payne is in trouble!
Raato landing strikes, looking to finish!
BOOM! Raato connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Urkki Raato overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Raato trying to control but Payne is having none of it.
Raato cracks Payne with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Raato tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raato lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Raato with good strikes from the mount here!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Raato takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Raato's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.
Jason Payne has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Raato lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.

And that's the end of the fight!
Urkki Raato showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Raato, 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 Ben Zyskovitsi scores the fight 30:26
Judge Tarja Halkonen scores the fight 30:26
Judge Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 30:26

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Urkki Raato!