PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Sami Saari (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nikolai Luzhin (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Luzhin has chosen Toccata and Fugue as his entrance music. Sami Saari has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Saari
vs
Luzhin

170 cm
22
177 lbs
9 - 2 - 0

181 cm
21
174 lbs
3 - 0 - 1

BJJ Blue Belt
World class boxer
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
Dangerous knees
Good gas tank

No Contest Clothing
Meet the Future

KAISER

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the welterweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Sami Saari!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 1, fighting out of Helsinki, Nikolai Luzhin!
The judges for this bout are Roosa Järviläinen, Marco Blurström and Ben Zyskovitsi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Saari lands a nice looking body shot.
Luzhin misses with an uppercut.
Luzhin fakes and then throws a beautiful body shot. Saari looks a bit winded and takes a step backwards to take a breath.
Luzhin ducks under a wild hook from Saari.
Nikolai Luzhin seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Luzhin slips a straight right by Saari.
Luzhin attempts a low kick but it misses it's target.
Saari uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Luzhin.

Luzhin clinches.
Luzhin blocking some punches.
Luzhin prevents Saari from breaking the clinch.
Saari prevents a body shot from Luzhin.

Saari's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
A slapping leg kick lands for Luzhin.

Luzhin gets tackled into the cage by Saari. Saari maintains the clinch.
Luzhin landing knees to the body. They look like they could hurt.
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!
Saari misses with a hook to the ribs.
Saari looking to stall.
A head punch on the inside from Saari fails to land.
I was talking to Saari's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Luzhin obliges.
Luzhin tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Saari is trying to maintain a safe position but Luzhin gets an underhook and turns Saari into the cage.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Saari lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Luzhin lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Luzhin with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Luzhin misses with a knee strike.
Luzhin can't find room to land a body shot as Saari controls the action.
Luzhin lands a body punch.
Saari takes a shot to the head.
Luzhin tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Luzhin misses with a knee strike.
Luzhin lands a body punch.
Luzhin working Saari over with knees to the body.
Saari misses with a short punch on the inside.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Saari doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Saari is trying to maintain a safe position but Luzhin gets an underhook and turns Saari into the cage.
Luzhin makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.
Luzhin landing knees to the head.

It looks like Sami Saari has been cut.
Saari wants to break the clinch but can't.
Luzhin lands a left hand.
Luzhin tries to land a knee to the head but Saari blocks with his arms.
Luzhin throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Saari blocks it with crossed arms.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Luzhin doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Saari can't break the clinch.
Luzhin tries a body shot but Saari blocks it.
Saari is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Luzhin is keeping busy.
Luzhin using the Thai clinch to land knees to the body.
Luzhin misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Saari.
Saari is trying to stall.
A nice left hand lands by Luzhin.
A battle for position here, against the cage.
Luzhin can't find room to land a body shot as Saari controls the action.
Saari tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Luzhin pushes Saari back against the cage and unloads with a body punch.
Luzhin crunches a lovely knee into Saari's ribcage.
Saari is breathing heavily.
An uppercut to the body lands inside from Luzhin.
Luzhin lands a right hand.
Luzhin utilising his Muay Thai to score with a knee to the body.
A left hand lands to the body for Luzhin.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Luzhin lands a nice shot to the body.
Luzhin lands a knee to the body.
Luzhin lands a nice looking hook to the body, against the cage.
Luzhin working some nice short punches in the clinch.
Luzhin lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Luzhin with the Thai clinch, lands a knee to the head.
Luzhin lands a shot to the body.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Luzhin tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
A shot in the inside from Luzhin.
Luzhin lands a knee to the body.
Luzhin digs a right hand underneath Saari's ribcage. Saari let out a lung full of air as it connected.
Luzhin lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Luzhin lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Saari takes a knee right on the jaw!
Luzhin working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Saari misses with a short punch on the inside.
Saari looking to stall.
Luzhin scores with a knee to the head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Saari scores with a nice hook to the head.
Saari misses with a hook to the ribs.
Luzhin misses with a punch to the body.
Luzhin takes a shot to the head.
Saari pushes Luzhin back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Luzhin lands a good knee to the midsection. Saari won't want to take too many of those.
Luzhin lands with a short shot to the head.
Luzhin lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Luzhin lands with a light punch inside.
Luzhin lands with a short shot to the head.
Luzhin throws a knee to the head but misses.
A battle for position here, against the cage.
Luzhin lands with a short head shot on the inside.

Saari is rocked!
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Luzhin lands with a short shot to the head.
Oh Saari is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Luzhin lands a big knee to the head and Saari goes down! Luzhin pounces and finishes the fight with strikes! He jumps to his feet and celebrates with the crowd!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:57 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Nikolai Luzhin!
Nikolai Luzhin is the new welterweight champion!
A relieved looking Nikolai Luzhin thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.