PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Rafael Narvaez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Per Saukko (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Saukko has chosen Jedi Mind Tricks - Genghis Khan as his entrance music. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Narvaez
vs
Saukko

191 cm
22
181 lbs
9 - 1 - 0

182 cm
25
180 lbs
6 - 2 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
Excellent MT
Powerful

L.A. Elite Supplements

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 9 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Rafael Narvaez!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 2 - 0, fighting out of London, Per Saukko!
The judges for this bout are Wesley Smith, Daniel Franklin and Stewart Dunkirk.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Narvaez keeps his opponent at a distance with a nice jab.
Narvaez checks a low kick. Bone on bone - not my idea of a good time.
Narvaez misses with a jab to the body

and Saukko counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Narvaez!
Saukko throwing strikes here but Narvaez is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.
Saukko trying to control but Narvaez is having none of it.
Poor strikes thrown by Saukko there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Saukko controlling the pace for now.
Saukko looking to control but Narvaez is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Narvaez avoids a series of strikes thrown by Saukko.
Saukko lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Narvaez hang on?
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Narvaez avoids a series of strikes thrown by Saukko.
Narvaez is wriggling around trying to escape.
Saukko controlling his opponent.
Saukko prevents Narvaez from getting the reversal.
Narvaez is squirming around, avoiding Saukko's attempts to control the action.
Saukko has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Narvaez is trying desperately to improve position.
Saukko throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Saukko lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Saukko takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.
Saukko breaks from Narvaez's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Saukko cracks Narvaez with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Saukko can't control as he wanted to and Narvaez manages to get the fight back to his half guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Narvaez is doing well to control the position and prevent Saukko from advancing to side control.
Narvaez wants to get back to his feet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Saukko working Narvaez over with strikes.
Saukko trying to pass the guard but Narvaez defending well.
Saukko is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!
Narvaez holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Saukko tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Saukko thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Saukko lands a heavy elbow.
Saukko trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Saukko controlling the pace for now.
Narvaez tries to hold on but Saukko pushes him away.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Narvaez misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.
Narvaez throws the kick towards the body but Saukko avoids it.
Saukko is looking to score with low kicks.
Saukko takes a jab on the nose. He smiles like he loves it and keeps coming.
Narvaez takes a swing at Saukko's ribcage but misses.
Narvaez lands with an overhand left.
Saukko drops his hands and takes a jab to the jaw for his troubles.
Narvaez lands a leg kick that knocks Saukko off balance momentarily.
A big right from Narvaez misses.
A leg kick checked by Saukko.
Saukko walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
Saukko throws a chopping leg kick but Narvaez manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Narvaez looks to clinch
and Saukko counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.
Narvaez feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Saukko's calf.
Narvaez misses the body punch
and Saukko makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Narvaez is using his height advantage well here, landing a good percentage of his punches.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Saukko rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and Narvaez counters with a nice body kick.
Saukko will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Narvaez throws a good cross that connects.
Saukko fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Narvaez.
Narvaez feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Saukko's calf.
Narvaez getting the better of the striking in that exchange.
Narvaez connects with a solid leg kick.
Narvaez swings away with a body shot that misses
and Saukko counters with a nice low kick that buckles Narvaez's knee momentarily.
Narvaez connects with an inside leg kick.
Narvaez scores with a jab. Saukko acknowledges it with a nod of the head.
Saukko walks into a stiff left hand from Narvaez.
Saukko throws a chopping leg kick but Narvaez manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Narvaez scores with a kick to the body.
Saukko ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Saukko takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
Narvaez loads up on a big right hand but Saukko slips the punch.
Saukko fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Saukko looks to throw a body kick
and Narvaez counters with a stiff right hand.
Saukko moves out of range of the strikes.
Narvaez lands a vicious shot with the stealth of a sniper and the strength of a viper. Are vipers that strong? I can think of lots of things that are stronger than a viper - not many rhyme with sniper though.

Saukko closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Narvaez manages to work his way to half guard, despite Saukko's best efforts.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Saukko wants to pass to mount but Narvaez is defending the position.
Saukko thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Narvaez's head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Narvaez wants to get back to full guard.
Saukko passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Narvaez!
Saukko looking to finish with strikes here!
Narvaez holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Saukko tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
Saukko dominating with strikes here.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Narvaez wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Saukko.
Saukko thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Saukko throwing sloppy strikes here. Perhaps if he tightened up his striking from such a dominant position, he'd be able to finish easier.
Saukko lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Saukko in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Saukko landing shots from mount.

Saukko jumps to the side looking to secure the arm triangle…. Ooooh, that looks tight… Narvaez is gargling but he's managed to escape! Nice work there by Narvaez and Saukko has given up the dominant position trying to land that submission.
Saukko working the head and body with strikes.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Rafael Narvaez will probably get the nod.
That's time! Narvaez's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight. This is the final round!

Narvaez rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and Saukko counters with a nice leg kick.
Narvaez misses with a body punch

and Saukko counters with a nice double leg into side control. Narvaez won't be happy with that.
Narvaez struggling a bit here.
Narvaez stops Saukko from passing to mount.
Narvaez is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Saukko sitting in side control, looking to soften his opponent up with elbows and hammerfists but Narvaez is avoiding damage well and looking to escape the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Saukko tries to move into full mount but can't pass Narvaez's legs.
Saukko tries to advance position but instead Narvaez slips a leg back in to half guard.
Saukko is trying to advance to mount but he's lost his balance and Narvaez reverses the position - he's now on top in Saukko's guard.
Narvaez trying to stand up but can't free himself from Saukko's guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Narvaez preventing the sweep.
Narvaez's corner is telling him to maintain position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

We're going to have a standup here because Rafael Narvaez wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.
Saukko throws a leg kick
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.
Narvaez throws a poor cross that misses
and Saukko counters with a solid body kick.
Saukko lands with a hook. Narvaez tried to avoid it but it clipped the top of his head.
Rafael Narvaez seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
A lazy body kick from Narvaez

and Saukko counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Saukko works his way into side control.
Saukko works to advance to full mount. Narvaez defends for a few seconds but eventually he succumbs.
Saukko looking to control but Narvaez is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
BOOM! Saukko connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Saukko misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Saukko thowing shots but they're missing.
Per Saukko has got the better of the ground game so far.
Saukko with a couple of short strikes.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Saukko landing shots from mount.

Narvaez is rocked!
Saukko loads up on a couple of big shots to the head that have Narvaez scrambling to escape. He can't get free though and several more unanswered shots from Saukko land to the head. The referee has no choice but to stop the fight. Saukko stands and salutes the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:52 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Per Saukko!