PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Willem Karel (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Dave Johnson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Karel
vs
Johnson

180 cm
21
155 lbs
0 - 1 - 0

175 cm
27
150 lbs
11 - 13 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Great elbows
Granite chin

Good wrestler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

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 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Willem Karel!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 13 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Dave Johnson!
The judges for this bout are Paulsen Ambrosius, Daniel Blasius and Patrick Alders.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Karel forces Johnson back against the cage and clinches.

Johnson manages to break the clinch.
Karel on the wrong end of a decent looking cross there.

Karel moves into range and clinches up with Johnson.
The two fighters are working to gain dominance in the clinch.
Johnson lands a nice shot to the body.
Johnson will no doubt start fighting again in a minute but for now he's just having a little rest, leaning Karel up against the cage.
Karel is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Johnson is keeping busy.
Karel throws an elbow that misses.

Johnson has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Karel uses from the top position.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Johnson tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Johnson will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.
Karel stopping the sweep attempt from Johnson.

Johnson is scooting his butt against the cage and has managed to get back to his feet. Karel presses him back against the cage, presumably looking to take the fight back to the mat.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Karel is trying to slow down the pace in the clinch, to catch his breath.

Johnson has hold of one of Karel's legs. Karel is fighting the takedown attempt but Johnson gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.
Johnson showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
Johnson distracts Karel with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Johnson working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Karel's head.
Johnson throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Johnson slows down the pace of the fight, as he sits in guard.
Johnson is working Karel over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johnson throwing strikes from guard but Karel blocks nicely.
Johnson has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Johnson distracts Karel with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Johnson postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Karel working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Johnson.
Johnson working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Karel's head.
Karel being controlled here, momentarily.
Karel has momentary wrist control but Johnson slips an elbow through the middle.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Karel utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.

Johnson decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Karel, up you get!
Karel looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
No luck for Johnson with that takedown attempt.
Johnson fakes and then throws a beautiful body shot. Karel looks a bit winded and takes a step backwards to take a breath.
Karel takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.
Johnson moves away from the strike by Karel.
Johnson appeared to try and counter that last move with a leg kick.

Johnson closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Karel to the mat! Karel manages to get full guard.
Johnson lands a couple of digs.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Johnson is in close to Karel's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Johnson content to stall in guard here.
Johnson postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
Johnson lands a couple of digs.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Karel wants to control the position but Johnson says "no thanks buddy" and passes to half guard.
Johnson lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Johnson drops an elbow to the side of Karel's head.
Johnson looks over to his corner - he wants some instructions but his corner are not responding.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dave Johnson dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Johnson will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.

Johnson forces Karel back against the cage and clinches.

Johnson has hold of one of Karel's legs. Karel is fighting the takedown attempt but Johnson gets the trip and lands the takedown into guard.
Johnson is standing up over Karel. Karel looks to escape but Johnson dives into side control.

Johnson taking a breather here.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Johnson lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Karel down.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Karel managing to avoid any damage from the strikes thrown by Johnson.
You can see the frustration on Karel's face as Johnson controls the position.
Johnson lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Karel down.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Karel takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Karel takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Karel trying to remain calm as Johnson controls from the top position.
Karel takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Johnson taking a breather here.
Johnson has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Johnson lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Karel down.
Johnson remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Let's hope that Johnson has the urge to step up the pace any second now because for the last 15 or 20 seconds he's just been holding on tight.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
An elbow from Johnson crashes against the mat.
Johnson grinds an elbow into Karel's temple.
Johnson lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Karel down.
Johnson controlling the position.
Johnson cracks Karel with a big elbow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Johnson is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Karel is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Johnson working the head and body with strikes.
Johnson working the ground and pound.
Johnson cracks Karel with a big right hand but Karel just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.
Johnson takes a little break here. Karel wants to take advantage but he is being controlled well.
Johnson lands a knee to the body and a forearm to the face.
Johnson in side control lands a decent elbow.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Johnson working the ground and pound from side control.
Johnson is chipping away with strikes.
Johnson scores with punches from side control.
Johnson scoring with punches from side control.
Johnson is putting a hurting on Karel here, landing some big shots from side control.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Johnson is moving around in side control but his primary objective seems to be to maintain the position.
Johnson working the ground and pound.
Johnson scores with a couple of short elbows.
Johnson working the ground and pound.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dave Johnson showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
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. The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

Johnson thumps Karel with a low kick.
Johnson lands a leg kick that knocks Karel off balance momentarily.
Johnson misses with a body kick.
Karel seemed to be looking to counter by closing the distance.

Johnson moves into the clinch.
A bit of stalling here from Johnson.
Karel using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Johnson has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Karel throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Johnson blocks it with crossed arms.
Karel throws a knee to the head but misses.
Johnson lands a left hand.
Karel with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Karel with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Karel throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Johnson stalling against the cage.
Johnson throws an elbow but it's blocked.

Johnson jumps guard and drags Karel to the mat. He's obviously going to be looking for submissions off his back.

Johnson is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Johnson doesn't do any damage with a couple of strikes from the bottom.
Karel is fighting to break Johnson's control of his arms but Johnson is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
Johnson trying to strike from the bottom but really, it's not the best position to be doing that from!
There's a bit of a scramble here and now Johnson is on top in guard.

Johnson controls from within his opponent's guard.
Johnson postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Johnson is working Karel over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Johnson sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Karel's guard.
Johnson performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Karel is trying to get back to full guard.
Nice strikes from Johnson there.
Johnson working the head and body with strikes.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Johnson in particular looking to stall.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
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. Johnson connects with a nice short shot to Karel's temple.
Johnson looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Johnson lands with a punch from half guard.

Johnson is working for a submission of some sort.
Dave Johnson has got the better of the ground game so far.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Nice strikes from Johnson there.
Johnson lands strikes from half guard.
Johnson working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Karel on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Karel taking some punishment here, with Johnson in his half guard.
Johnson drops an elbow to the side of Karel's head.
Johnson working the head and body with strikes.
Johnson controlling the action here.
Johnson working the head and body with strikes.
Johnson working Karel over with strikes.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Johnson winds up and cracks Karel with a swinging punch to the side of the head.
Johnson landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Willem Karel has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Johnson lands a nice short elbow.

And that's the end of the fight!
Dave Johnson comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Johnson has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Paulsen Ambrosius scores the fight 26:30
Judge Daniel Blasius scores the fight 26:30
Judge Patrick Alders scores the fight 26:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Dave Johnson!
A very excited looking Dave Johnson rambled incoherently for about 5 minutes post fight about how awesome he is. It was kinda funny for a while but then everyone got annoyed.