PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Maku Hiro (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Kari Taalasmaa (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Kari Taalasmaa will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Hiro
vs
Taalasmaa

180 cm
19
205 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

190 cm
19
205 lbs
5 - 1 - 1

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Very quick

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
Granite 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 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Maku Hiro!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Kari Taalasmaa!
The judges for this bout are Wesley Smith, Gwen Towbar and Cecil Peabody.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hiro waving his hands out infront of him, looking to distract Taalasmaa.

Taalasmaa shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Taalasmaa was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!
Hiro can't escape the position.
Hiro manages to regain half guard. Good work.
Hiro is looking to get back to full guard here but Taalasmaa has managed to pass to side control instead.
A nice elbow there by Taalasmaa.
Hiro is trying desperately to improve position.
Hiro on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Hiro tries to get out of the position.
BOOM! Taalasmaa connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Hiro tries to reverse the position but Taalasmaa maintains control.
Taalasmaa with good strikes from the mount here!
Taalasmaa breaks from Hiro's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Hiro blocking the ground and pound.
Taalasmaa landing punches.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Taalasmaa sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Taalasmaa sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Taalasmaa looking to ground and pound but Hiro is blocking nicely.
Taalasmaa connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Hiro is working to get back to half guard.
Hiro manages to regain half guard. Good work.
Taalasmaa looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Hiro with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Hiro is pressing down on Taalasmaa's left leg trying to get back to full guard. He's managed it.
Hiro wants to sweep but no luck.
Taalasmaa with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Taalasmaa is working Hiro over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Taalasmaa must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Taalasmaa tries to stand but Hiro is controlling from the bottom.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Hiro trying to punch from his back but it's not doing any damage.
Hiro manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hiro working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Hiro pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Hiro looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Hiro won't let Taalasmaa get back to his feet... He wants to keep the fight where it is for now.
Taalasmaa taking shots to the head.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Hiro with the ground and pound from mount.
Hiro looking to control and managing it successfully.
Hiro breaks from Taalasmaa's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Hiro lands with some strikes.
Taalasmaa looks gassed!
Hiro wants to control the pace but Taalasmaa is squirming around nicely.
Hiro is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Taalasmaa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hiro landing punches.
Taalasmaa is trying to escape the mount.
Hiro is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Hiro postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Taalasmaa looks a forlorn figure.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Taalasmaa is trying desperately to improve position.
Hiro lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Hiro breaks from Taalasmaa's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Hiro with a couple of short strikes.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hiro trying to control but Taalasmaa is having none of it.
Hiro in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Hiro looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Hiro unloading with bombs!
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Hiro landing punches.
Taalasmaa flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Hiro in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Hiro landing strikes, looking to finish!
BOOM! Hiro connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Taalasmaa is squirming around, avoiding Hiro's attempts to control the action.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Maku Hiro dominated that round.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business.

Taalasmaa throws a sloppy head kick and Hiro moves out of range easily.

Hiro changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Taalasmaa looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
Hiro passes to full mount! That's big trouble for Taalasmaa!
Hiro working Taalasmaa over with strikes here.
Hiro dominating with strikes here.
Hiro content just to control the position here.
Hiro landing strikes, looking to finish!
Hiro 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.
Taalasmaa is looking to improve his position but Hiro isn't that keen on the idea.
Hiro lands with some strikes.
Taalasmaa is breathing heavily.
Taalasmaa taking shots to the head.
Hiro landing shots from mount.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Taalasmaa is wriggling around trying to escape.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hiro looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Hiro lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Taalasmaa hang on?
Hiro is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Taalasmaa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Taalasmaa is wriggling around trying to escape.
Hiro landing shots from mount.
Hiro has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Taalasmaa's face.
Hiro tries to control but Taalasmaa wriggling away.
Hiro with shots to the head and body - Taalasmaa looks very uncomfortable down there.
Hiro lands a heavy elbow.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Taalasmaa is not a happy chappy… he wants out of there.
Hiro lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Hiro working the ground and pound effectively.
Hiro breaks from Taalasmaa's wrist control and lands an elbow.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hiro scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Hiro looking to control but Taalasmaa is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Hiro is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Taalasmaa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Hiro lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Hiro landing strikes, looking to finish!
Hiro lands with some strikes.
Hiro is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Taalasmaa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Hiro prevents Taalasmaa from getting the reversal.
Hiro lands a big elbow.
Hiro punishing his opponent with strikes.
Hiro lands a big elbow.
Hiro in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
Hiro can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Taalasmaa is looking to escape.
Taalasmaa in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hiro cracks Taalasmaa with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Hiro controlling from the full mount.
Hiro is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Taalasmaa wants to get back to his feet.
Hiro looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Hiro controlling from mount.
Hiro looking to control but Taalasmaa is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hiro working the ground and pound effectively.
Taalasmaa is looking to improve his position but Hiro isn't that keen on the idea.
Hiro with good strikes from the mount here!
Taalasmaa tries to hold on but Hiro pushes him away.
Hiro is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Taalasmaa can do to turn this around?
Hiro with the ground and pound from mount.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Taalasmaa taking shots to the head.
Hiro lands with some strikes.
Taalasmaa is in a horrible position here. Hiro smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Hiro sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Maku Hiro dominated that second round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action! This is the final round!

Hiro drives through with a takedown into guard.
Taalasmaa can't keep his opponent in guard - Hiro advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Hiro looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Taalasmaa with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Hiro is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Hiro wants to take a breather but Taalasmaa is having none of it.
Taalasmaa taking some punishment here, with Hiro in his half guard.
Hiro trying to control the action but Taalasmaa is working from the bottom.
Hiro is nestled in close to Taalasmaa, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Taalasmaa takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Hiro takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.

Taalasmaa makes some distance and scrambles quickly back to his feet. Nice work!
Hiro swings and misses with a hook to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Hiro shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Hiro showed some decent athleticism there.
Hiro blocks the strikes from Taalasmaa.
Hiro seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
Hiro stops Taalasmaa from getting back to his feet.
Taalasmaa tries to get to full guard but Hiro has control of the leg.
Hiro works his way into side control.
Taalasmaa on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Taalasmaa is not content to let Hiro control the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Taalasmaa is not in a great position here, taking some shots.
Hiro landing strikes.
Hiro lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Taalasmaa is trying to get back to half guard.
Maku Hiro overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Taalasmaa is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Hiro asserts his dominance and retains side control.
Hiro trying to control the position but Taalasmaa is working away.
Hiro scoring with punches and elbows.
Hiro works to advance to full mount. Taalasmaa defends for a few seconds but eventually he succumbs.
Taalasmaa really trying hard to get back to half guard here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hiro is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Taalasmaa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Hiro is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Taalasmaa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Hiro lands with some strikes.
Hiro working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Taalasmaa is desperately trying to improve his position but Hiro has a good base and remains in mount.
Hiro dominating with strikes here.
Hiro landing strikes from the mount and Taalasmaa is in trouble!
Hiro landing strikes, looking to finish!
Taalasmaa is in a horrible position here. Hiro smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Hiro landing strikes from the mount.
Taalasmaa's corner are shouting for him to stand up but that's bad cornering - how is he meant to stand up when he's mounted? He should be looking to improve his position on the ground before trying to stand back up.
Hiro postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Taalasmaa looks a forlorn figure.
Hiro trying to control but Taalasmaa is having none of it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Hiro working Taalasmaa over with strikes here.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Taalasmaa taking shots to the head.
Taalasmaa is working to get back to half guard.
Hiro scoring with strikes but Taalasmaa is staying in there.
Kari Taalasmaa has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Taalasmaa takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Hiro can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Taalasmaa is looking to escape.
Hiro breaks from Taalasmaa's wrist control and lands an elbow.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Hiro lands a heavy elbow.
Hiro putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!

And that's the end of the fight!
Maku Hiro showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Hiro has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Wesley Smith scores the fight 30:25
Judge Gwen Towbar scores the fight 30:25
Judge Cecil Peabody scores the fight 30:25

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Maku Hiro!