PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Timo Yo (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joseph Donelly (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Yo kept the crowd waiting but all that was forgotten when his ring entrance music started. The incomparable musical genius that is Yö - Likaiset Legendat. Donelly has chosen Jump Around as his entrance music. Rumors backstage are that the fighters have been paid to keep it standing but we know that would never happen in MMA!

Yo
vs
Donelly

182 cm
28
187 lbs
19 - 9 - 0

175 cm
31
184 lbs
19 - 10 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
World class MT
Good gas tank

Perkele!
The Big Kabosh

The Big Kabosh

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 19 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Timo Yo!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 19 - 10 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Joseph Donelly!
The judges for this bout are Phil Schofield, Sam Margolis and Chris Edwards.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Yo clinches.
Donelly lands a nice elbow from the clinch.

Yo gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Donelly is trying to stand.
Yo throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Donelly is looking for a sweep. Yo is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
We've been hearing that Yo has been drilling a lot of ground and pound in training, so let's see if he get the finish.
Yo not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Donelly wants to improve his position but Yo is controlling well.
Donelly blocking the ground and pound attempt from Yo.
Yo working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Donelly regains full guard, whilst avoiding punches from Yo.
Yo advances position into side control!
The strikes coming from Yo are missing the target in this wave of attacks.
Donelly is trying to control Yo's posture but Yo avoids it.
Yo creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Donelly sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
The ground and pound from Yo seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Yo working the ground and pound but Donelly is defending the strikes.
Yo is trying to ground and pound but Donelly uses the momentary lack of control by Yo to regain half guard.
Yo thows a huge punch but Donelly dodges it nicely.
Donelly has hold of Yo's hands but Yo slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Donelly is trying to maintain the position but Yo is very close to passing his half guard.
Yo trying to control from half guard but Donelly is working away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Yo wants to pass the guard but Donelly is defending well.
Yo is looking to take a break and control but Donelly is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Yo is looking for the mount but instead finds himself back in full guard.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Yo trying to control but Donelly is working from the bottom.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Timo Yo wasn't doing enough on the ground.

Donelly drives through and clinches with Yo against the cage.
Donelly swings wildly with an uppercut but Yo uses good head movement to avoid it.
Yo blocking some punches.
Nice elbow from Donelly.

It looks like Timo Yo has been cut.
Yo looking for a takedown.
Donelly putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Yo in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Donelly as Yo tries to tie him up.
Donelly tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Yo's elbow.
Donelly can't find room to land a body shot as Yo controls the action.
A nice right hand lands inside from Donelly.
Yo struggles to land a body shot inside as Donelly controls his hands.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Yo doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Donelly lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Donelly misses with an elbow strike.

Yo turns his hips and lands a very nice judo throw into side control!
Donelly takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Timo Yo dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Timo Yo's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Yo swinging wildly here.
The fight stays on the outside here - Donelly looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Yo shoots in but Donelly avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Donelly throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Yo sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Yo swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Donelly throws a leg kick but Yo sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Yo misses with a wild body shot.
Donelly misses with a body kick.
Donelly goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
Donelly uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Yo.
Donelly misses with a double jab.
Donelly lands with a two punch combination before moving back out of range.
Yo changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Donelly on the wrong end of an overhand right that came out of nowhere.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Donelly misses with a wild combination.
Yo on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.

Donelly tries to keep at a distance but Yo has taken the fight into the clinch.
Yo wants to get back to striking at distance but Donelly won't allow it.
Yo drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Donelly gets the underhooks and prevents it.
Donelly prevents a takedown attempt there.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Timo Yo. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Yo is trying to break free.
Donelly lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Yo makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.
Donelly throws a punch but it's blocked by Yo.
Donelly tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Donelly tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Yo is trying to push Donelly away but Donelly has him pressed against the cage, so he's going nowhere.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Yo lands with a short punch from the clinch.

Yo pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Yo lands with a nice body punch.
Donelly avoids the body shot from Yo.
Yo drops his hands momentarily and Donelly takes advantage with a crisp shot to the head.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Donelly misses with a straight right.
Donelly takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Donelly missing with a left hand there. Yo was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Donelly shakes his hands off, looking to compose himself, but takes a jab to the jaw whilst he does it.
Yo throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Yo throws a combination. Donelly tries to block but a couple of punches get through.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Yo.
Yo with a hook.
A punch combination from Donelly misses.
A nice leg kick lands there from Donelly.
A lazy left from Donelly finds it's target.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Yo fakes a head punch and goes low to the body. Nicely done.
Donelly bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Yo throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Donelly stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Yo misses with a wild combination.
Yo is looking to wear down Donelly with body shots, infact he's throwing more body shots than head shots at the moment.
Yo shoots for a double leg takedown but Donelly sprawls well. He's pushed Yo's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.

Yo has taken the fight to the clinch.
Yo pushes Donelly back against the cage and unloads with a body punch.

Yo breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Yo shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Donelly sprawls well. Donelly wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Yo gets slowly back to his feet.
Donelly looks to land a right hand but Yo moved out of range.

Yo closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Yo's head jolts backwards as he takes an uppercut right on the button!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Donelly landing knees to the body.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Donelly working aggressively here.
Donelly scores with a nice hook to the head.

Yo has dropped down and is working for a takedown. Donelly is trying to keep an underhook but Yo manages to get the takedown into half guard.
Yo trying to pass the guard but Donelly defending well.
Yo wants to control but Donelly is keeping him busy.
Donelly is controlling Yo's position as best he can from this difficult position.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
It looks like the ref is thinking about a standup.
Yo lands with a punch from half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Timo Yo dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Timo Yo's cut.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. This is the final round!

Donelly throws a poor cross that misses

and Yo counters with a single leg into guard. Donelly didn't expect that.
Yo content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Donelly looking to hit a scissor sweep but Yo is one step ahead there.
Yo has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Yo pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Donelly is keeping the position for now.
Yo throwing strikes from guard but Donelly blocks nicely.
Donelly keeping moving, preventing Yo from controlling successfully.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Donelly has a closed guard, preventing anything of note from happening. Perhaps he's looking to stall.

Timo Yo has forced the referee to step in and bring the fight back to the feet.
Donelly misses the jab.
Yo shoots in for a takedown but Donelly shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Donelly throws a shot from downtown. Yo moves away and avoids it.
Donelly misses with a jab, cross combination.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Yo keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Donelly.
Yo takes a punch right to his stomach. That took the wind out of him momentarily.
Donelly looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Donelly has a couple of punches blocked by Yo.
Yo is working for a takedown up against the cage. He can't get it on this occasion though.
Joseph Donelly seems to be working more effectively in the clinch in the fight so far.
Donelly stops a takedown attempt from Yo.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Timo Yo. That's going to take a lot out of him.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Donelly.

Yo lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Donelly gets full guard.
Donelly pulls Yo in close to prevent any damage.
Donelly wants to get back to his feet but Yo is in a dominant position and won't allow it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Yo postures up in Donelly's guard and throws a big left but Donelly blocks it.
Yo scoring with punches to the head and body.
Yo wants to control from the top but Donelly keeps moving.
Joseph Donelly has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Yo looking to sit in guard and control but Donelly gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Donelly postures up in Yo's guard and throws a big left but Yo blocks it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Donelly in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Yo bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Donelly's guard.
Yo stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Donelly swivels though and keeps the full guard.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Donelly is avoiding any damage by keeping wrist control.

And that's the end of the fight!
Timo Yo showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Yo, 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 Phil Schofield scores the fight 30:27
Judge Sam Margolis scores the fight 30:27
Judge Chris Edwards scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Timo Yo!
After the fight, Timo Yo was humble in paying tribute to his opponent but made it clear he wants to go on to bigger and better things. It seemed to go down well with the crowd who cheered him loudly.