PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Barry Sanders (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Steven Syren (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Barry Sanders has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Sanders
vs
Syren

173 cm
25
160 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

182 cm
23
163 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Big heart

BJJ Blue Belt
Good kicks
Tends to cut

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 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Barry Sanders!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Steven Syren!
The judges for this bout are Johanna Lukiainen, Ben Zyskovitsi and Tarja Halkonen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sanders keeps the fight on the outside.

Sanders gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

Sanders kicks Syren off and gets to his feet.
Syren gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Sanders cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Sanders throws a right and a left that Syren avoids nicely.
Syren shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Sanders as he jumps to the side.
Sanders misses with an uppercut.
Syren with a lazy takedown attempt

and Sanders holds on and brings the fighters into a clinch.
Barry Sanders has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Steven Syren.
Syren tries to pull guard but Sanders forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Sanders lands a takedown into guard.

Syren is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Sanders defends well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Syren wants to stand up but Sanders is controlling him.
Sanders wants to pass the guard but Syren is keeping the position.
Syren is trying to hold Sanders in close to prevent damage but Sanders has managed to pass into half guard.

Sanders looking for a submission but Syren manages to get full guard, putting an end to that submission attempt.
Syren trying to control the position here.
Syren has momentary wrist control but Sanders slips an elbow through the middle.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Syren wants to stand but Sanders is controlling the position.
Sanders passes Syren's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Sanders is figuring out what he wants to do next.

Syren actively working from the bottom here.
Sanders works his way into side control.
Syren is looking to regain half guard here but Sanders keeps moving and retains side control.
Syren looks winded!
The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Sanders lands some shots froms side control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Syren tries to bench press Sanders off him but Sanders keeps the position.
Syren takes a big shot right to the temple there but he's taken it well.
Syren gives up the full mount - oops, sloppy defensive grappling there!
Sanders unloading with bombs!
Sanders controlling from the full mount.
Syren is working to get back to half guard.
Sanders landing shots from mount.
Sanders looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.

Sanders is looking to secure an arm. He's managed it! He's pivoting for an armbar - that looks tight! But Syren has managed to get out of it and now he's in a dominant position. Nice work from Syren!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Syren wants to get up but he can't break Sanders's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
Sanders 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.
Sanders keeping moving, preventing Syren from controlling successfully.
Sanders looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Syren puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.

Sanders with the active half guard here but Syren passes nicely into side control.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Barry Sanders dominated that round.
That's time! Sanders's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Syren wants to clinch.
Syren throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Sanders.
Sanders tries to counter by moving into the clinch but Syren manages to circle out of the way.
Syren fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Sanders manages to avoid it.
Sanders seemed to be looking to counter by closing the distance.
Barry Sanders seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Sanders misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Syren with the counter takedown but Sanders avoids it easily.
Syren will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Syren shoots in looking for a takedown. Sanders tries to sprawl out of it but Syren keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Sanders manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Sanders is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Syren can do to turn this around?
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Sanders manages to get an easy takedown there - catching Syren on his heels. He'll look to pass Syren's guard now, I'm sure.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sanders lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Sanders trying to control but Syren is working from the bottom.
Syren trying to strike off his back.
Sanders postures up.
Barry Sanders overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Syren is breathing heavily.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Sanders's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Sanders is working Syren over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.

Syren is rocked!
Syren has a butterfly guard looking to sweep but Sanders has passed into side control.
Syren is still in real trouble! Can Sanders finish him?
Sanders landing strikes.
Sanders happy to just control the position for now.
Sanders scoring with punches and elbows.

Sanders thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.

Sanders wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Syren, who protects the arm well.
Sanders cracks Syren with a big elbow. Oh, he's hurt! Sanders immediately mounts and start dropping bombs! Syren is done! The referee jumps in and saves him from any more punishment - a quick and decisive finish by Sanders!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:59 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Barry Sanders!