PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Rafael Benedetti (ranked 1356 p4p, 2012 weight class) and Pinocchio Cruz (ranked 159 p4p, 222 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Cruz's choice of entrance music: Mejor Mi Alejo - Banda MS. Well, the cameraman is lingering on a pretty young lady for a bit too long there. Keep your eyes on the prize buddy or you'll miss the fighter intros!

Benedetti
vs
Cruz

175 cm
19
155
4 - 0 - 0

167 cm
26
145
3 - 1 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Great elbows
Heavy handed

HELLBENT
The Dirty Needle Project

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the featherweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, Rafael Benedetti!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Pinocchio Cruz!
The judges for this bout are Reed Andrews, Jonathan Paton and Columbo Gatti.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Benedetti avoids a punch combination nicely.
Benedetti lifts his leg as if looking to counter with a high kick.
No joy there for Cruz, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Benedetti plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
Cruz lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
Cruz misses with a looping left.
Cruz throws an ugly left hook that misses
and Benedetti counters with a leg kick.
Benedetti with a jab.
Cruz looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
Cruz throws a push kick but Benedetti slaps the foot to one side.
Benedetti throwing a counter right hand but Cruz manages to avoid it.
Cruz swings widly with a right hand
and Benedetti counters with a nice leg kick.
Benedetti circles away from the clinch attempt.
Cruz misses with a lunging right hand
and Benedetti counters with a nice body kick.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
The fighters circle momentarily. Benedetti darts into range and connects with a nice straight punch.
Cruz moves to clinch but Benedetti breaks away
and Benedetti counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cruz tries to clinch but Benedetti moves out of range.
Cruz misses with an uppercut
and Benedetti counters with a nice uppercut.
Benedetti slips under a jab.
Benedetti throwing a counter right hand but Cruz manages to avoid it.
Benedetti dips to his left and cracks Cruz with an uppercut!
Cruz misses with a lunging right hand
and Benedetti counters with a straight right hand.
Cruz takes a really solid shot there but just smiles back and shrugs his shoulders.
Benedetti uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Cruz.
Benedetti swung with a counter punch to the body but it didn't connect.
Cruz tries to clinch but Benedetti moves away
and Benedetti counters with a nice uppercut.

Cruz is rocked!

Cruz closes the distance and pushes Benedetti back into the cage.
Cruz is still on wobbly legs! Can Benedetti finish him?
Cruz throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Cruz seems to have recovered his senses.
Benedetti lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Cruz backwards.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!

Cruz breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Benedetti throws out a powerful jab.
Cruz swings wildly with a couple of big hooks
and Benedetti counters with a huge left! Cruz is in big trouble! He's backing up but Benedetti isn't giving him chance to recover. Under a barage of punches the ref has to step in to save Cruz from any more damage. A dominating finish by Benedetti!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:05 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Rafael Benedetti!
Rafael Benedetti is the new featherweight champion!
After winning the bout, Rafael Benedetti thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.
In defeat, Pinocchio Cruz stepped up to the mic, saying 'I need some truth serum to nurse me back to health.'.