PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Raleigh Kaufman (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Roger Burton (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). We have two fighters making their debuts here, so let's see who comes out of this one with their first professional victory.

Kaufman
vs
Burton

180 cm
24
215 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

190 cm
25
205 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter fighter
Tends to cut

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 Helsinki, Raleigh Kaufman!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Roger Burton!
The judges for this bout are Roosa Järviläinen, Marco Blurström and Anni Minnemäki.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Burton rushes Kaufman and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.
Burton keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Kaufman's efforts to push away.
Kaufman being controlled against the cage.

Burton ties up his opponent against the cage and manages to drag the fight down to the ground. Burton no doubt will be looking to work submissions from his guard.
Burton tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Kaufman distracts Burton with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Kaufman scoring with punches to the head and body.
Kaufman with a nice head shot there.
Kaufman is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Kaufman keeps in close for a moment and lands a decent shot to the side of Burton's head.
Burton preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Kaufman could do with losing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kaufman landing with the ground and pound.
Kaufman has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Kaufman scoring with some ground and pound.
Kaufman throws a big elbow that misses.
Burton trying to keep a closed guard but Kaufman is proving a slippery customer.
Kaufman postures up and lands a big shot to Burton's brow.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Kaufman's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Kaufman throws a big elbow that misses.
Kaufman makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Kaufman is in close to Burton's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Burton preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Kaufman's corner. There ya go! There ya go!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Kaufman postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Kaufman stops Burton from standing up.
Burton utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Burton controlling the position.
Kaufman missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Burton looking to sweep using the butterfly guard but Kaufman puts pay to that idea as he passes nicely into half guard.
Burton is trying to defend against the ground and pound but Kaufman scores with a couple of nice shots.
Kaufman scores with a couple of good hammerfists.

Kaufman is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.
Kaufman stops Burton from getting back to his feet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Burton is defending against the submission attempts here by Kaufman.
Burton tries to get to full guard but Kaufman has control of the leg.
Kaufman thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Burton's head.
Kaufman lands with a punch from half guard.
Burton avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Kaufman.
Burton is looking to improve his position.
Kaufman thows a huge punch but Burton dodges it nicely.

That's four 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.
Burton wants to improve his position but Kaufman is controlling well.

Burton is defending against the submission attempts here by Kaufman.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Kaufman connects with a nice short shot to Burton's temple.
Kaufman winds up and cracks Burton with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Burton tries to kick Kaufman off but Kaufman keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Burton regains full guard, whilst avoiding punches from Kaufman.
Kaufman working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Raleigh Kaufman dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Burton closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Kaufman quickly recovers to half guard.
Burton trying to control from Kaufman's half guard. Kaufman has other ideas though and has regained full guard.
Raleigh Kaufman overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Burton trying to move into half guard but instead Kaufman has managed to sweep!

Burton is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.

Kaufman manages to get to full guard.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Burton trying to control the position from guard on top but Kaufman is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Burton must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Burton trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Kaufman is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Burton can do to turn this around?
Burton tries to free his leg and advance position but Kaufman is retaining full guard.

Kaufman throws his legs up looking to secure a triangle. Oh, that looks pretty tight, I gotta say! Burton escapes and throws Kaufman's legs to the side, diving into side control!
Kaufman is not content to let Burton control the position.

Burton tries for a kimura but Kaufman is defending well.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Burton looks up at the clock and then as Kaufman takes his cue and looks up at the clock too, Burton smacks him right in the chops with a big elbow! How rude!
Burton trying to control the action but Kaufman is working from the bottom.
Kaufman takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Burton gets to mount! Kaufman was on the offensive and wasn't defending properly.
Kaufman trying desperately to get to his feet.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Kaufman taking shots to the head.
Kaufman keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Kaufman avoids a series of strikes thrown by Burton.
Kaufman manages to regain half guard. Good work.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. Burton connects with a nice short shot to Kaufman's temple.
Burton wants to lay and pray for a moment but Kaufman keeps working.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Burton lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Burton thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Kaufman's head.
Kaufman is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Burton prevents Kaufman from standing back up.
Burton is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Burton wants to control but Kaufman is keeping him busy.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Roger Burton showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. Let's get this one finished - here comes the final round!

Burton throws a nice inside leg kick.
Kaufman is looking to clinch.
Kaufman dives in for a single leg takedown but Burton sprawls and the fighters end up clinched against the cage.
Raleigh Kaufman is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Kaufman fails in his attempt to clinch.
Kaufman looks for a takedown here. Will he get it? Burton is fending him off so far but Kaufman persists. Nope, Burton circles away and we're back to standing.

Kaufman gets caught flat footed, as Burton shoots in with a quick takedown into guard.

The fighters are working up against the cage. Kaufman manages to wriggle his way back to his feet, so the fighters are now clinched against the cage.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Burton lands a takedown into guard.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Kaufman wants to sweep here but Burton controlling him for the moment.
Kaufman is striking off his back. Burton thinks nothing of it though and passes easily into half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Burton content to sit in half guard and control for a moment.
Kaufman wants to get back to full guard.
Burton trying to control from half guard but Kaufman is working away.
Burton slows the pace down in half 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.

Burton is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Kaufman sees it coming and defends easily.
Burton working the head and body with strikes.
Burton trying to control from half guard but Kaufman is working away.
Kaufman slips a foot under and gets full guard. Nice work.
Burton lands a couple of elbows.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Kaufman working away from the bottom but not quite defensive enough there because Burton has passed into half guard!
Burton is figuring out what he wants to do next.

Burton is working for a kimura from half guard. He's really concentrating on the hold and it's allowed Kaufman to slip a leg under and get back to full guard.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Burton wants to control from the top but Kaufman keeps moving.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.

Kaufman wriggles free and stands up.

Burton gets in close and instigates a clinch.
Come on Burton - let's have some action - none of this stalling nonsense.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Burton tries to land knees in the clinch but Kaufman avoids the damage to the body.

Burton has hold of one of Kaufman's legs. Kaufman is fighting the takedown attempt but Burton gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.
Kaufman looking for a sweep. Not yet Kaufman, not yet.

And that's the end of the fight!
Roger Burton comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Burton 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 Roosa Järviläinen scores the fight 28:29
Judge Marco Blurström scores the fight 28:29
Judge Anni Minnemäki scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Roger Burton!
Post fight, Roger Burton took to the microphone: 'You thought this loser could beat me? Not if I have anything to say about it! '.