PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Leopold Olic (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Jonny Stevens (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Olic's entrance music is The People That We Love. A fine choice. Jonny Stevens has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Olic
vs
Stevens

161 cm
20
140 lbs
4 - 5 - 0

175 cm
26
138 lbs
10 - 10 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid boxing
Very quick

Good takedowns
Dangerous knees
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Leopold Olic!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 10 - 10 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Jonny Stevens!
The judges for this bout are Arvi Lind, Johanna Lukiainen and Tarja Halkonen.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Olic throws a nice looking combination but Stevens bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Stevens tries to score a power double leg takedown but Olic sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Stevens somewhat.
Stevens cracks Olic with an open hand slap.
Stevens misses with a takedown
and Olic cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Stevens fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Leopold Olic has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Jonny Stevens.
Stevens shoots in but Olic avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Stevens shoots and misses
and Olic counters with a lovely shot to the body.
Olic will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Stevens shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Olic as he jumps to the side.
Olic misses with a few strikes there.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Olic cracks Stevens with an open hand slap.
Stevens shoots in and drives through. Olic sprawls well.
Olic defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Stevens.
Stevens looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Olic is fending him off so far but Stevens persists. Nope, Olic circles away and we're back to standing.
Stevens checks a leg kick.
Stevens slips under a jab.
Olic throws a shot from downtown. Stevens moves away and avoids it.
Olic slaps away a takedown attempt from Stevens, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Stevens misses with a takedown attempt - Olic sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Jonny Stevens seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Stevens closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Stevens perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Olic wants to get back to his feet.

Stevens wants to work for an arm triangle but Olic is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.
Stevens sitting and controlling from the half guard.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Olic is holding on to half guard well.
Stevens working the head and body with strikes.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Stevens performing his best blanket impression for a moment.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Olic tries to roll over but Stevens keeps him under control.
Olic trying to control from the bottom.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.

Stevens bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Stevens controlling from side mount.
Stevens throwing strikes but missing, from side control.
Stevens content to control the pace. The referee will try and keep them active though.
Olic is looking to regain half guard here but Stevens keeps moving and retains side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Olic is working hard to escape and get back to his feet. After a battle for position, Stevens asserts his dominance and retains side control.
Stevens is moving around in side control but his primary objective seems to be to maintain the position.
Olic wings away with a couple of strikes but they don't land.
Stevens in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
An elbow from Stevens crashes against the mat.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Stevens happy to just control the position for now.
Stevens gets to mount! Olic was on the offensive and wasn't defending properly.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jonny Stevens dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Olic tries to bum rush Stevens with a series of wild strikes but Stevens uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Stevens dodges the punch combination from Olic.
Olic goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Stevens looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Olic is fending him off so far but Stevens persists. Nope, Olic circles away and we're back to standing.
Olic throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Stevens has his takedown stuffed
and Olic counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Olic will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Stevens uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Olic.
Olic rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Stevens moves out of range and avoids them all easily.

Stevens shoots in for a takedown! He's got it and he's managed to land in full mount! That's better than Stevens was expecting from the takedown attempt, I'm sure!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Stevens is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Stevens controlling his opponent.
Stevens working Olic over with strikes here.
Stevens controlling his opponent.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Stevens with good strikes from the mount here!
Stevens controlling his opponent.
Stevens lands with some strikes.
Stevens controlling the position easily from mount.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Olic regains half guard.
Stevens controlling the pace.
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.

The ref stands the fighters back up. Jonny Stevens was stalling too much, according to the referee.
Stevens tries to move into range but Olic moves to the side and lands with a nice right hand.
Leopold Olic is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Stevens tries to close the distance and clinch up but Olic swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Nice sprawl there from Olic as Stevens shoots in.
Leopold Olic has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Jonny Stevens.
Olic throws a push kick but Stevens slaps the foot to one side.
Stevens misses with a takedown attempt
and Olic cracks him with a counter punch right on the button.
Olic throws a low kick but Stevens moves out of range easily.
Stevens gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and Olic counters with a stiff right hand.
A nice combination there by Olic.
Stevens has his head slapped from side to side by a 3 punch combination. That must have hurt him.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Stevens with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Olic to score with a decent uppercut.
Stevens misses with a takedown attempt
and Olic counters with a nice body shot.
Olic tests Stevens's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Leopold Olic is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Stevens dives in and grabs Olic's left leg, looking for a takedown. Olic pushes down on Stevens's head and hops out.
Olic is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Stevens.
Olic lands with a nice body punch.
Olic works over Stevens's head and body with a nice combination.
Stevens uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Olic.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Stevens fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
Stevens misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
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 Leopold Olic will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

Olic throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Nice takedown defense from Olic. No joy for Stevens on that attempt.
Stevens shoots in for a takedown but Olic shows good takedown defense.
Olic lands a jab to Stevens's midsection.

Olic gets caught napping as Stevens dives in and scores a takedown. Olic manages to retain guard.
Olic keeping moving, preventing Stevens from controlling successfully.
Stevens chips away with some ground and pound.
Olic looking to control.
Stevens showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
Stevens scoring with punches to the head and body.
Olic might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Stevens postures up.
Stevens is stalling in the full guard.

Olic working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Stevens doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Stevens manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Olic looking for a sweep. Not yet Olic, not yet.

Olic is active off his back here, looking for submissions.
Stevens has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Stevens trying to control but Olic is working from the bottom.
Stevens looking to control the position here, rather than advance.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Stevens slips effortlessly into side control - very nice.
Olic is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Olic takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Olic tries to escape but Stevens is in control.
Olic is looking for a sweep.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Stevens takes a little break here. Olic wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Jonny Stevens has got the better of the ground game so far.
Olic tries to bench press Stevens off him but Stevens keeps the position.
Stevens scoring with punches and elbows.
Olic struggling a bit here.
Olic is being controlled here.
Olic is looking to reverse the position.
Olic is not in a great position here, taking some shots.
Stevens is putting a hurting on Olic here, landing some big shots from side control.
Stevens in side control, just content to control the action for now.
Stevens cracks Olic with an elbow. That is naaassty.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Olic on the wrong end of some ground and pound.
Olic tries to buck Stevens off but Stevens is having none of it.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
You can see the frustration on Olic's face as Stevens controls the position.
Olic tries to buck Stevens off but Stevens is having none of it.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Stevens scoring with punches and elbows.
Stevens controls the position.
Olic tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Stevens wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Olic being controlled for a moment.

And that's the end of the fight!
Jonny Stevens comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Stevens has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Arvi Lind scores the fight 28:30
Judge Johanna Lukiainen scores the fight 28:29
Judge Tarja Halkonen scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Jonny Stevens!
After winning the bout, Jonny Stevens thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.