PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Gegard Mousasi (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lennox Karelin (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Mousasi
vs
Karelin

180 cm
23
205 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

185 cm
22
205 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
KO power

Good wrestler
Brawler
Granite chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Gegard Mousasi!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Lennox Karelin!
The judges for this bout are Sergei Dronov, Ivan Kurochkin and Aleksandr Martynov.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Mousasi wants to clinch up but Karelin keeps it at a distance.
Mousasi scores with a kick to the midsection.
Karelin swinging wilding here.
Mousasi moves in looking to clinch but Karelin pushes him off.
Karelin tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Mousasi paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Karelin looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Mousasi scores with a head kick.
Karelin looks for a takedown but Mousasi sprawls well.
Mousasi stalks Karelin and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Karelin's face. Karelin staggers backwards, shaken.

It looks like Lennox Karelin has been cut.
Mousasi misses with a takedown

and Karelin moves into the clinch.
Mousasi blocking some punches.
Mousasi is trying to break the clinch but Karelin has him pressed against the cage.
Karelin lands with a short shot to the head.
Karelin misses with a short punch on the inside.
Mousasi tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Karelin just stands there and leans against the cage.
The pace slowing considerably in the clinch, as Karelin takes a break from that fighting nonsense to think about the finer things in life.
Mousasi blocks an uppercut.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Mousasi breaks from the clinch.

Mousasi looking for a takedown here - he's got it.
Karelin is avoiding any damage by keeping wrist control.
Mousasi could do with loosing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Karelin keeping moving, preventing Mousasi from controlling successfully.
Mousasi tries to free his leg and advance position but Karelin is retaining full guard.
Mousasi trying to control the position from guard on top but Karelin is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Mousasi connects with a couple of short punches.

Karelin working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Mousasi doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Mousasi manages to throw the legs off his shoulder and he's back into guard - no problem.
Mousasi tries to free his leg and advance position but Karelin is retaining full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Mousasi is working hard here to advance position.
Mousasi is breathing heavily.

The referee decides to stand the fighters back up.
Mousasi moves in looking to clinch but Karelin pushes him off.
Mousasi tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Karelin paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Mousasi scores with a leg kick.
Karelin keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Gegard Mousasi. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Karelin tries to clinch up but Mousasi circles away and keeps his distance.
Mousasi wants to clinch.
Karelin shoots in but Mousasi avoids the takedown attempt easily.
Mousasi shoots and misses

so Karelin counters with a double leg into guard. Good agility.
Karelin is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Karelin wants to control from the top but Mousasi keeps moving.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Mousasi looking to hit a scissor sweep but Karelin is one step ahead there.

Karelin thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Mousasi is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Karelin lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Mousasi utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Karelin works over Mousasi with some ground and pound from guard.
Karelin must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Mousasi misses with a takedown attempt

and Karelin decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Mousasi's guard.
Karelin working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Karelin throws a big right hand that misses.
Karelin working some strikes from top position.
Karelin slips nicely into half guard.
Karelin is trying to control the action in half guard but Mousasi is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Karelin missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Mousasi has hold of Karelin's hands but Karelin slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Mousasi tries to roll over but Karelin keeps him under control.
Karelin missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Karelin looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Mousasi is trying to control but can't.
Karelin takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Lennox Karelin dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Lennox Karelin's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Karelin looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Mousasi!
Mousasi is trying to escape the mount.
Karelin controlling the position easily from mount.
Karelin postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Mousasi looks a forlorn figure.

Karelin looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
Mousasi is trying desperately to improve position.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Mousasi is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Karelin lands a heavy elbow.
Karelin landing punches.
Karelin lands a heavy elbow.
Karelin trying to control but Mousasi is having none of it.
Karelin putting on the heat here with some good ground and pound!
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Karelin cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Karelin 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.
Karelin working away from the top, dropping strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Karelin landing shots from mount.
Mousasi tries to hold on but Karelin pushes him away.
Mousasi can't escape the position.
Mousasi manages to regain half guard. Good work.
Karelin drops an elbow to the side of Mousasi's head.
Karelin looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Mousasi with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

Karelin looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
Mousasi manages to get to full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Karelin throws a big right hand that misses.
Karelin pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Mousasi is keeping the position for now.

Mousasi looking to try and escape his hips here, looking for a submission. It looks like he's going for a triangle but Karelin is defending well. Mousasi quickly switches to an armbar and extends the arm! Karelin has no choice but to tap, to a very quick submission! Wow, that was lightning fast! Mousasi celebrates on the cage, with the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:42 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Gegard Mousasi!