PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Haruki Murakami (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Karl Marx (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Karl Marx has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Murakami
vs
Marx

179 cm
24
160 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

182 cm
18
161 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Experienced

BJJ Blue Belt
Great elbows
Intelligent

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Haruki Murakami!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Karl Marx!
The judges for this bout are Paulo Santos, Daniel Cesar and Leandro Rodrigues.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Murakami displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Marx throws out the jab.
Murakami misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Murakami slips a jab and a cross from Marx.
Murakami pulls out of a head kick attempt.

Murakami tries to keep at a distance but Marx has taken the fight into the clinch.
Marx dictating the pace here, as the fighters clinch against the cage.
Marx looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Marx lands an elbow inside.
Murakami managing to block the knees to the body from Marx.
Marx missing with knees to the body.
Murakami avoids the elbow strike from Marx, against the cage.
Murakami is trying to maintain a safe position but Marx gets an underhook and turns Murakami into the cage.
Murakami pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Murakami blocks an elbow strike.
Knees to the body from Murakami.
Murakami misses with some punches.
Marx missing with knees to the body.
Nice elbow from Murakami.

It looks like Karl Marx has been cut.
Marx missing with knees to the body.
Murakami lands an elbow that stopped Marx in his tracks for a moment.
Nice elbow from Murakami.
Murakami gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Marx throws an elbow but it misses.
Murakami tries to land a knee to the head but Marx blocks with his arms.
Marx blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Some stalling of biblical proportions here from Marx.
Marx missing with knees to the body.
Marx lands an elbow inside.
Marx lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Murakami just misses with a elbow thrown towards Marx's brow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marx creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Marx throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Knees in the clinch landing for Murakami.
Marx creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Murakami trying to control the position but instead, Marx has worked for underhooks and has pushed Murakami into the cage.
Murakami takes an elbow to the temple.
Murakami scores with a knee to the head.
Murakami takes an elbow to the temple.
Murakami is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Marx is keeping busy.
Murakami managing to block the knees to the body from Marx.
Murakami avoiding damage as Marx throws knees to the body.
Marx blocks an elbow strike.
Marx lands an elbow just above Murakami 's eye.
Murakami is trying to stall.
Murakami swings wildly with an uppercut but Marx uses good head movement to avoid it.
Marx creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Marx throws an elbow but it misses.
Murakami dodges an elbow strike from Marx.
Murakami misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Marx.
With the fighters up against the cage, Murakami throws an elbow but misses.
Murakami blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Murakami.
Murakami lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Murakami throws an elbow but it misses.
Marx blocks an elbow strike.
Marx lands a nice elbow.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Marx misses with an elbow over the top.
Marx looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Murakami creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Marx's defenses.
Murakami trying to land knees to the body.
Marx blocks an elbow strike from Murakami.
With the fighters up against the cage, Marx throws an elbow but misses.
Marx tries to land knees in the clinch but Murakami avoids the damage to the body.
Murakami taking a breather.
Murakami blocks an elbow strike.
Murakami looking to throw knees to the head but Marx is blocking nicely.
Marx creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Murakami's defenses.
Murakami throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Marx blocks it with crossed arms.
Murakami avoids the elbow strike from Marx, against the cage.
Murakami dodges an elbow strike from Marx.
Marx throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Marx misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Murakami.
Murakami takes an elbow to the temple.
Marx creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Marx tries to land knees in the clinch but Murakami avoids the damage to the body.
Murakami avoids the elbow strike from Marx, against the cage.
Marx throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Murakami managing to block the knees to the body from Marx.
Marx looks gassed!
Murakami tries a knee to the head but he's missed.
Murakami lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Murakami throws a punch but it's blocked by Marx.
Murakami tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Murakami creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Marx's defenses.
Marx creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Murakami's defenses.
Marx is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Murakami is defending well for now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Murakami pushes off an throws an elbow but Marx leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Murakami stalling the fight.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Marx.
Murakami avoiding damage as Marx throws knees to the body.
Murakami misses with an elbow over the top.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Murakami.
Marx lands a nice elbow.
Murakami avoids the elbow strike from Marx, against the cage.
Marx tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Marx avoiding damage as Murakami throws knees to the body.
Marx blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Marx missing with knees to the body.
Murakami blocks the elbow strike.
Marx avoids a wild elbow strike from Murakami.
Murakami blocks an elbow strike.
Murakami blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Murakami.
With the fighters up against the cage, Murakami throws an elbow but misses.
Marx throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Murakami lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Murakami throws an elbow but it misses.
Murakami lands an elbow inside.
With the fighters up against the cage, Marx throws an elbow but misses.
Marx throws an elbow that misses.
A body shot lands from Murakami.
Murakami controlling the action here for a moment.
Marx blocks a couple of punches on the inside.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are showing their displeasure at the lack of action as loud boos ring out around the arena.
Marx misses with an elbow strike.
Marx pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Marx lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Marx blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Murakami tries to land a knee to the head but Marx blocks with his arms.
Murakami tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Marx avoids it.
Marx is looking to score with knees to the body. Maybe he'll change it up and go body then head. Murakami is defending well for now.
Murakami is trying to maintain a safe position but Marx gets an underhook and turns Murakami into the cage.
Marx misses with an elbow over the top.
Murakami misses with an elbow strike.
Marx throws an elbow but it's blocked.
Marx pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Good anti-grappling being displayed by Marx as Murakami tries to tie him up.
Murakami avoiding damage as Marx throws knees to the body.
Murakami creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Murakami creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Murakami landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Marx tries a knee to the head but Murakami blocks it.
Murakami leaning his opponent against the cage.
Murakami misses with an elbow over the top.
Murakami blocks the elbow strike.
Murakami looking to slow down the pace here.
Marx lands an elbow inside that Murakami shrugs off.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Haruki Murakami dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Karl Marx's cut.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

A telegraphed right hand from Marx misses the target.
Marx avoids the head kick by Murakami.
Murakami misses with a head kick.
Marx comes forward and lands a shot to the body, then darts back out of range.
Murakami tries to close the distance and clinch but Marx swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Murakami looks to land a body kick but Marx moved away.
Murakami misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Murakami tries to clinch up.
The fighters circling - Marx throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
Marx tries to clinch up.
Marx lands a jab to the nose.
Marx misses with a low kick.
Haruki Murakami is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Marx throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Marx misses with a double jab.
Murakami throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Marx looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Murakami closes the distance looking to clinch
and Murakami takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Murakami throws the kick towards the body but Marx avoids it.

Marx fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Murakami, pushing him back against the cage.
Murakami pushes off an throws an elbow but Marx leans to the side and avoids it. We're back to clinching against the cage.
Murakami pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Marx misses with an elbow over the top.
Marx blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Murakami avoids a wild elbow strike from Marx.
Murakami tries to throw a body punch but Marx avoids it by throwing Murakami back against the cage.
Marx throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Murakami blocks it with crossed arms.
Murakami avoiding damage as Marx throws knees to the body.
Marx lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Marx lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Murakami.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Murakami just misses with a elbow thrown towards Marx's brow.
Murakami pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Marx creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Murakami's defenses.
Marx avoids a wild elbow strike from Murakami.
Marx is looking to control Murakami's arms but Murakami gets an underhook and turns him. Now Marx has his back to the cage.
Murakami throws a knee to the head but misses.
Murakami looking to throw knees to the head but Marx is blocking nicely.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Murakami managing to block the knees to the body from Marx.
Marx tries to land knees in the clinch but Murakami avoids the damage to the body.
Murakami dodges an elbow strike from Marx.
Murakami blocks the elbow strike.
We are yet to see a takedown attempt from Marx in the fight. On paper you would think he is the more dominant ground fighter so let's see if these unusual tactics pay off.

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.
Murakami avoids a wild elbow strike from Marx.
Murakami wants to stall.
Murakami with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Marx misses with an elbow strike.
Marx lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Murakami blocks an elbow strike.
Murakami throws a head punch that misses.
Murakami displaying some good clinch control by pressing Marx up against the cage.
Murakami blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Murakami takes an elbow to the temple.

Murakami is rocked!
Marx gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Oh Murakami is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Marx lands an elbow that stopped Murakami in his tracks for a moment.
Marx comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Marx gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Marx lands a glancing elbow in the clinch.
Marx lands a damaging elbow.
Marx has Murakami pressed against the cage. He pushes Murakami back and as he springs towards him off the cage, Marx throws a beautiful elbow that sends Murakami crashing to the floor! Marx piles on the pressure with more strikes! Murakami is flailing away but he's not defending himself and the referee steps in to stop the fight!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:51 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Karl Marx!