PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Marco De Luca (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Alexandre Ribeiro (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). De Luca comes to the cage accompanied by The End Begins (To Rock). I can't wait for this one - let's get the fighter introductions out of the way and get this one started!

De Luca
vs
Ribeiro

190 cm
20
210 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

182 cm
23
204 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Good chin

Good takedowns
Counter striker
Enjoys gardening

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 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Marco De Luca!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Alexandre Ribeiro!
The judges for this bout are Joseph Jones, Steve Montenegro and Eddie Farnsworth.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Ribeiro blocks a head kick by De Luca.
De Luca misses with a body kick.
Ribeiro bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Ribeiro fails with a takedown attempt.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
De Luca tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ribeiro misses with a takedown attempt - De Luca sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
De Luca tries for a takedown but Ribeiro circles away easily

and Ribeiro counters with a takedown into side control.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Ribeiro working away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
De Luca sneaks back into half guard.

Ribeiro is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and De Luca defends it well.

De Luca looking for submissions off his back.
De Luca is doing well to avoid being mounted. He's controlling the position at the moment.

Ribeiro is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. De Luca doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Ribeiro.
De Luca works his way to full guard. Good work.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Ribeiro drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and De Luca dives on top into guard.
De Luca slips nicely into half guard.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with De Luca in particular looking to stall.
De Luca is keen to just control but Ribeiro is a slippery customer.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
De Luca looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Ribeiro with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Ribeiro looks gassed!
De Luca looks to land a strike but Ribeiro avoids it nicely and regains full guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
De Luca is frustrating his opponent with some stalling tactics from top position.
De Luca throwing strikes but missing.
De Luca missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
De Luca in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
De Luca passes easily into side control. Nice work.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Marco De Luca will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

De Luca has his takedown stuffed

and Ribeiro decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in De Luca's guard.
De Luca is doing well to control the posture of his opponent and prevent any damage.
De Luca's ground tactics aren't going to win him many fans. Let's hope he's got fireworks for us if he gets back to his feet because he's not doing much on the ground.

Ribeiro drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and De Luca dives on top into guard.
Ribeiro is breathing heavily.
De Luca passes into half guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
De Luca works his way into full mount!
De Luca sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
De Luca is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Ribeiro can't stay in a position like this for much longer.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
De Luca pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
De Luca sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
De Luca trying to control but Ribeiro is having none of it.
Poor strikes thrown by De Luca there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Ribeiro taking shots to the head.
De Luca can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Ribeiro is looking to escape.
De Luca 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.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ribeiro holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as De Luca tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
De Luca sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
De Luca throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Ribeiro because De Luca loaded up on that one.
De Luca lands a nice shot to the head.
De Luca landing shots from mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
De Luca misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
De Luca throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Ribeiro because De Luca loaded up on that one.

De Luca has isolated one of Ribeiro's arms. Ribeiro looking to fight him off but De Luca twists into an armbar. It's tight... Will he tap?? YES, he's tapped! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:37 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Marco De Luca!