PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Deshawn Michaels (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joao Pereira (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Michaels
vs
Pereira

180 cm
19
155 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

175 cm
19
155 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Great elbows
Granite chin

BJJ White Belt
Brawler
Prefers standup

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Deshawn Michaels!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Joao Pereira !
The judges for this bout are Johanna Lukiainen, Ben Zyskovitsi and Tarja Halkonen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Pereira fails with an attempt to clinch.
Michaels tries to clinch but Pereira is having none of it.
As Michaels backs off Pereira throws a huge counter combo but Michaels manages to avoid it all.
Pereira scores with a three punch combo!
Pereira throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Michaels.

Pereira moves into the clinch successfully.
Michaels lands an elbow that stopped Pereira in his tracks for a moment.
Pereira 's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
With the fighters up against the cage, Michaels throws an elbow but misses.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Michaels.
Pereira looking to slow down the pace here.
Michaels lands a damaging elbow.
Michaels keeps control of Pereira as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Michaels comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Michaels lands a nice elbow.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Pereira avoids the elbow strike from Michaels, against the cage.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Pereira avoids a wild elbow strike from Michaels.
Pereira has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Pereira takes an elbow to the forehead.

It looks like Joao Pereira has been cut.
Pereira blocks an elbow strike from Michaels.
Michaels keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Pereira 's efforts to push away.
Michaels lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Pereira misses with a short punch on the inside.
The referee calls for Michaels to work.
Michaels creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Pereira is trying to force a seperation but Michaels has the dominant position.
Michaels creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Michaels lands an elbow that stopped Pereira in his tracks for a moment.
Pereira working hard to break the clinch.
Pereira tries to circle away but Michaels has him pinned against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Pereira is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Michaels misses with an elbow strike.

Pereira manages to break the clinch.

Michaels closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Michaels throws an elbow but it's blocked.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Michaels.
Michaels has Pereira pressed against the cage, preventing Pereira from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
A frustrated look appears on Pereira 's face as he tries to break the clinch.
A bit of stalling here from Michaels.
Pereira wants to stall.
Pereira takes an elbow to the temple.
Michaels pushes off an throws an elbow but Pereira leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Michaels lands an elbow that stopped Pereira in his tracks for a moment.
Michaels lands a nice elbow from the clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Stalling in the clinch from Michaels.
Pereira wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Pereira is trying to break free.
Michaels misses with an elbow strike.
Pereira takes an elbow to the temple.
Pereira takes an elbow to the forehead.
Pereira avoids the elbow strike from Michaels, against the cage.
Michaels lands an elbow just above Pereira 's eye.
Pereira blocks the elbow strike.
Pereira is trying to break free.
Pereira dodges an elbow strike from Michaels.
Pereira is trying to break the clinch but Michaels has him pressed against the cage.
Nice elbow from Michaels.
Michaels lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Michaels lands an elbow that stopped Pereira in his tracks for a moment.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Pereira blocks the elbow strike.
Michaels lands an elbow that stopped Pereira in his tracks for a moment.
Michaels lands a damaging elbow.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Pereira is trying to break the clinch but Michaels has him pressed against the cage.
Michaels lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Pereira is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Michaels is keeping busy.
Michaels lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Michaels is struggling to control the position.
Michaels is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Michaels pushes off an throws an elbow but Pereira leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Michaels throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Pereira is pushing Michaels up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Deshawn Michaels dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Joao Pereira 's cut.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Michaels has managed to clinch.
Pereira misses with the head strike.
Michaels looking to stall.

Pereira breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Pereira lands a jab followed by a nice looking cross.
Michaels tries to close the distance and clinch but Pereira swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Pereira tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Michaels manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Michaels darts in and clinches Pereira up against the cage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Michaels throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Pereira takes an elbow to the temple.
Pereira misses with a short punch on the inside.
Michaels throws an elbow but it misses.
Pereira is looking to break free of the clinch but Michaels has double underhooks.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Michaels creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Michaels lands an elbow just above Pereira 's eye.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Michaels.
Michaels throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Pereira takes an elbow to the temple.
Michaels lands an elbow inside.
Pereira lands with a good tight uppercut to the head.
Michaels lands an elbow that stopped Pereira in his tracks for a moment.
A battle for position here, against the cage.
Pereira working hard to break the clinch.
Pereira lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Pereira tries to circle away but Michaels has him pinned against the cage.
Michaels creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Pereira 's defenses.
Pereira is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Michaels lands a nice elbow.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Michaels lands a nice elbow.
Pereira can't break the clinch.
Michaels comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Nice elbow from Michaels.
Pereira is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Michaels lands an elbow inside.
Michaels looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Michaels lands an elbow just above Pereira 's eye.
Pereira is looking to break free of the clinch but Michaels has double underhooks.
Michaels looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Pereira throws a punch but it's blocked by Michaels.
Pereira dodges an elbow strike from Michaels.
Michaels throws an elbow that misses.
A quick uppercut on the inside from Pereira .

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pereira wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Pereira being controlled against the cage.
Michaels lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Pereira is looking to control Michaels's arms but Michaels gets an underhook and turns him. Now Pereira has his back to the cage.
Michaels comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Pereira working aggressively here.
Deshawn Michaels has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Pereira is trying to force a seperation but Michaels has the dominant position.
With the fighters up against the cage, Michaels throws an elbow but misses.
Michaels misses with an elbow strike.
Michaels creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Pereira 's defenses.
Pereira misses with a hook from the clinch.
Michaels stalling.
Pereira stalling the fight.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Michaels looking to stall.
We are yet to see a takedown attempt from Pereira in the fight. On paper you would think he is the more dominant ground fighter so let's see if these unusual tactics pay off.
Michaels lands a damaging elbow.
Michaels blocks an uppercut.
Michaels is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Pereira can do to turn this around?
Michaels misses with an elbow over the top.
Michaels lands an elbow inside that Pereira shrugs off.
Michaels lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Pereira takes an elbow to the temple.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!

Pereira breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Pereira keeps the fight on the outside.
Pereira lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Michaels circles away quickly and effectively.

Michaels closes the distance and clinches.
Michaels creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Pereira 's defenses.
Michaels is trying to stall.
Pereira stalling the fight.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Deshawn Michaels dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Joao Pereira 's cut.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action. This is the final round!

Pereira circles away from the clinch attempt.
Pereira throws out a counter right but Michaels avoids it with no problem.

Michaels gets tackled into the cage by Pereira . Pereira maintains the clinch.
Michaels controlling the action here for a moment.
Michaels looking to slow down the pace here.
Nice elbow from Michaels.
Michaels lands an elbow just above Pereira 's eye.
Pereira blocks the elbow strike.
Michaels lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Michaels lands an elbow just above Pereira 's eye.
Michaels is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.
Michaels lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Pereira has had enough of the clinch but Michaels keeps him there for the moment.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Michaels is trying to stall.
Pereira lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Michaels.

Pereira breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Pereira tries to clinch but Michaels moves out of range.
Michaels wants to clinch.
Pereira circles away from the clinch attempt

and Pereira counters with a nice double leg into guard.
Pereira is stalling in the full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Pereira thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Pereira stands and throws Michaels's legs to the side, diving into side control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Pereira controls the position from side control.

Pereira decides to take the fight back to the feet.
Deshawn Michaels is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Pereira throws a hook but Michaels avoids it easily.

Michaels clinches up with Pereira and pushes him back against the cage.
Michaels prevents Pereira from breaking the clinch.
Pereira is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Pereira is trying to break the clinch but Michaels is controlling him.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Pereira fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Michaels wants to stall.
Both fighters working to control the clinch.
Pereira tries to break the clinch but Michaels is controlling the position.
With the fighters up against the cage, Michaels throws an elbow but misses.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Michaels pressing his opponent against the cage.
Joao Pereira has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Michaels takes a shot to the head.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Joao Pereira .
I think Michaels has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. 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 Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight for Deshawn Michaels!
Judge Ben Zyskovitsi scores the fight for Deshawn Michaels!
Judge Tarja Halkonen scores the fight for Deshawn Michaels!

Deshawn Michaels wins by unanimous decision!