PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Sakari Nurmi (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rehti Ladi (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Nurmi comes into the arena with Säkkijärvenpolkka blaring out of the sound system. The crowd seem to be enjoying Ladi's choice of entrance music: You Will Never Walk Alone. Sakari Nurmi has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Nurmi
vs
Ladi

176 cm
21
185 lbs
5 - 2 - 0

195 cm
19
191 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Solid boxing
Insanely flexible

BJJ Blue Belt
Lethal high kicks
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 5 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Sakari Nurmi!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Rehti Ladi!
The judges for this bout are Arvi Lind, Marco Blurström and Matti Vanhoillinen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Nurmi moves out of range as Ladi throws a body kick.
Nurmi swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.

Ladi clinches up with Nurmi and pushes him back against the cage.
Nurmi has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Ladi avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.

Nurmi gets control of Ladi's arms and successfully pulls guard. Nurmi will no doubt be looking for submissions off his back.
We may be looking at a referee standup if the pace doesn't pick up soon.
Ladi missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.

Nurmi wriggles free and stands up.
Ladi connects with a solid leg kick.
Ladi tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Ladi goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
Ladi is on the wrong end of a nice combination from Nurmi.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Nurmi shoots in looking for a takedown but Ladi manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Nurmi's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Nurmi misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Sakari Nurmi. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Ladi scores with a nice body kick.
Ladi scores with a push kick.
Nurmi is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ladi fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Nurmi has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Ladi scores with a body shot.
A solid leg kick lands there for Ladi.
Ladi plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!

It looks like Sakari Nurmi has been cut.
Rehti Ladi seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Ladi throws a head kick that Nurmi semi-blocks.
Ladi fails with an attempt to clinch.
Ladi plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
Ladi scores with a kick to the body.
Ladi showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Nurmi.
Ladi fakes a jab and scores with a low kick.
Ladi lands a leg kick and bounces back out of range.
Ladi tries to clinch there but Nurmi circles away.
Ladi scores with a sloppy right hand. Nurmi should have avoided that one.
Nice body kick from Ladi.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ladi delivers a nice body kick.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Ladi, right into the meat.
Ladi tries to clinch up.

Nurmi gets tackled into the cage by Ladi. Ladi maintains the clinch.
Ladi misses with a hook from the clinch.
Nurmi tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Ladi scores with a hook to the body.
Ladi lands an elbow just above Nurmi 's eye.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Ladi just misses with a elbow thrown towards Nurmi's brow.
Ladi misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Nurmi.
Nurmi blocks the elbow strike.
Ladi lands an elbow just above Nurmi 's eye.

Sakari Nurmi's cut is getting worse.
Nurmi tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Ladi just stands there and leans against the cage.
Nurmi managing to block the knees to the body from Ladi.
Ladi is working Nurmi over against the cage.
Ladi tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Nurmi avoids it.
With the fighters up against the cage, Ladi throws an elbow but misses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ladi lands a good knee to the midsection. Nurmi won't want to take too many of those.
Ladi softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
Ladi misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Nurmi.
Ladi gets double underhooks to prevent a takedown attempt from Nurmi.
Nurmi blocks an elbow strike.
A short uppercut from Ladi.
Ladi blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Ladi tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Nurmi avoids it.
Ladi lands a hook that snaps the head of Nurmi backwards.
Ladi tries a knee to the head but Nurmi blocks it.
Ladi lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Nurmi on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Nurmi avoids a wild elbow strike from Ladi.

Nurmi has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Ladi uses from the top position.
Ladi wants to pass the guard but Nurmi is keeping the position.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Nurmi controlling the position.
Ladi must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Ladi tries to free his leg and advance position but Nurmi is retaining full guard.
Ladi trying to pass the guard. He's being very persistent here but Nurmi manages to land a sweep and now he's on top!
Nurmi won't allow Ladi to sweep him here.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!

Ladi working for a triangle but Nurmi defends it easily.
Nurmi keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Ladi's head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rehti Ladi dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Sakari Nurmi's cut.
That's time! Nurmi's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Nurmi uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Ladi.

Nurmi drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Ladi is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Ladi looks to move to half guard but instead Nurmi has passed into mount! Damn!
Nurmi postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Ladi looks a forlorn figure.
Ladi is looking to get to half guard.
You get the feeling that Ladi really doesn't like being in this position too much.
Ladi is trying desperately to improve position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nurmi lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.

Ladi is rocked!
Nurmi lands a big elbow.
Ladi is still in real trouble! Can Nurmi finish him?

Ladi has left one of his arms exposed and Nurmi doesn't need a second invitation. He's isolated it and locked on a tight armbar. Ladi screams and taps out, obviously in a lot of pain. Hopefully there isn't permanent damage to that arm.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:36 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Sakari Nurmi!