PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Urijah Thomas (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nathan Burns (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Thomas has a slight injury, which hopefully won't affect the fight too much. Urijah Thomas is staring across the cage at his opponent, tweaking his nipples... Tweaking his own nipples that is.

Thomas
vs
Burns

170 cm
22
172 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

175 cm
22
170 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Good chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Granite chin

EFC Clothing

EFC Clothing
SPARTAN FIGHTWARE

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 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Urijah Thomas!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Hilo, Nathan Burns!
The judges for this bout are , and .

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thomas closes the distance and clinches up with Burns, looking for a takedown. Thomas pushes Burns against the cage but Burns circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Thomas is breathing heavily.
Thomas will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.

Burns drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Burns staying calm.
Sloppy strikes there by Burns.
Burns moving around in side mount but really he's just happy to control for now.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Burns throwing shots but missing, from side control.
Burns scoring with punches from side control.
Burns creates a bit of distance and throws down some hard shots.
Burns taking a breather here.
Burns looking to punish the body of his opponent here but Thomas is avoiding damage well.
Burns has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
The referee tells the fighters to keep busy.
Thomas holds on to Burns's head and controls the position momentarily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Burns lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Thomas down.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Thomas is being controlled here.
Burns working the ground and pound from side control.
Burns 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.
Burns cracks Thomas with an elbow. That is naaassty.
Burns lands a nice forearm strike.
Burns taking a breather here.
I looks like Burns might be adopting somewhat of a lay and pray gameplan here, which I'm sure won't go down too well with the paying fans in attendance... Or the ring announcers come to think of it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Despite being in the dominant position, Nathan Burns just isn't active enough and the referee decides to stand the fighters back up.

Burns gets the takedown into side control.
Thomas is looking to regain half guard here but Burns keeps moving and retains side control.
The referee asks Burns politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Burns prefers to stall for the moment though.
Thomas is looking for a sweep.
Burns passes to full mount! That's big trouble for Thomas!
Burns content just to control the position here.
Thomas in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Burns cracks Thomas with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Burns lands with some strikes.
Burns lands a big elbow.
Burns is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Burns controlling the pace for now.
Burns lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Thomas is desperately trying to get back to half guard.
Burns controlling from the full mount.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Nathan Burns dominated that round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Burns darts in and lands a nice takedown into half guard.
Burns tries to pass the half guard into mount. Thomas knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Burns has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Thomas wants to hold on but Burns pushes him away.
Thomas could do with loosing a few pounds - he looks very soft around the mid section, to put it politely.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Burns with a couple of short strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Burns raining down shots from the mount!
Burns controlling his opponent.
Burns connects with a couple of good shots from mount.
Burns landing strikes, looking to finish!
Burns fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Burns cracks Thomas with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd growing excited in anticipation of a finish here! Right on cue, Burns cracks his opponent with a massive right hand that draws loud cheers!
Thomas takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
Burns lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Burns landing shots from mount.

Burns working from mount. He moves in close and looks like he might be going for an arm triangle... He's hopped off to the side and he's transitioned into an Anaconda choke. Thomas turning a nasty shade of purple. He's refusing to tap but he's gone! He's out! The ref rips Burns off and cradles Thomas's limp body as Burns celebrates with his corner.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:42 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Anaconda Choke). Nathan Burns! Nathan Burns retains his welterweight title!