PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Lucas Maua (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Joao Paulo da Silva (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). da Silva has chosen The Pill as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Lucas Maua has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Maua
vs
Paulo da Silva

190 cm
18
200 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

192 cm
23
204 lbs
2 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Counter striker
KO power

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent boxer
Powerful

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 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Lucas Maua!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Joao Paulo da Silva!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Cesar, Matheus Silva and Luis Engracia.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Maua fails with a takedown attempt.
da Silva lands with a nice combination. Maua backs away looking to recover.
Maua shoots in looking for a takedown. da Silva tries to sprawl out of it but Maua keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. da Silva manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
da Silva shoots in but no luck this time.
Maua fails with the takedown

and da Silva counters with a nice double leg into half guard.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Lucas Maua. That's going to take a lot out of him.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
da Silva slows the pace down in half guard.
Maua is trying to get back to full guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's one minute gone in the round.
da Silva throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
da Silva is trying to get back to his feet now but his leg is trapped.
da Silva passes the half guard and he's now in mount! Big trouble for Maua!
da Silva controlling his opponent.
da Silva landing strikes, looking to finish!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
There's not a lot going on here and the crowd are letting the fighters know they're not willing to tolerate a lack of action.
Maua is in all sorts of trouble here.

da Silva is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Maua can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.

da Silva get's back to his feet.
da Silva rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Maua moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Joao Paulo da Silva seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Maua misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
da Silva misses with a few strikes there.
da Silva shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Maua counters with a single leg into guard. da Silva didn't expect that.
Maua is breathing heavily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Maua is fighting to break da Silva's control of his arms but da Silva is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.

da Silva isolates an arm and boxes in a triangle. Maua stacks da Silva on his neck as he steps over and passes to the side. He's now in a much more dominant position where he can look to do some serious damage. Nice move by Maua!
da Silva is trying to control Maua's posture but Maua avoids it.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
da Silva might have to switch it up a bit here because his efforts to control Maua kaven't been going to plan, at least at the current moment in time.
Maua working the strikes but da Silva uses the opportunity to regain half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.

da Silva is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Maua pulls his head out easily.

Maua is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
da Silva regains full guard. Nicely done.

Maua drops back for a leg but he's not going to get it - he lets go and da Silva dives on top into guard.
da Silva seems content to control from guard here. He's going to have to remain active though if he doesn't want to get stood back up.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
da Silva missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joao Paulo da Silva dominated that round.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

da Silva shoots in and bounces Maua off the cage to secure the takedown into guard.
da Silva controls the pace of the fight for a moment.
Maua tries to land a sweep but no joy.

da Silva decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.
da Silva looking to land some kicks to the body here.

da Silva closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
da Silva is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Maua is trying to get back to full guard.

da Silva is working for a submission of some sort.
da Silva passes to side control.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Maua seems a little lost for a moment, as da Silva dominates the positioning.

da Silva swings around for an armbar but Maua sees it coming a mile off and turns beautifully into da Silva's guard.
Maua loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Joao Paulo da Silva has got the better of the ground game so far.
da Silva is pulling down on Maua's head. It's preventing any offense from Maua, at least for the moment.

The ref stands the fighters back up, due to lack of action by Joao Paulo da Silva.

da Silva clinches.

da Silva breaks the clinch.
A combination from da Silva does no damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
da Silva misses with a wild combination.
Maua is on the wrong end of a nice combination from da Silva.
da Silva will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Left hook, right uppercut from da Silva.
da Silva shoots in for a takedown but Maua shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Maua with a poor takedown

and da Silva counters with a single leg into guard. Maua didn't expect that.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
da Silva sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Maua's guard.
da Silva looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
da Silva sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Maua defending well though.

da Silva decides to return to a standing position.
Maua gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily
and da Silva counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
da Silva misses with a jab, cross combination.
A combination from da Silva does no damage.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
da Silva misses with a jab, cross combination.
da Silva lands a jab, followed by a cross and another cross, as Maua backs up against the cage.
Maua stuffs the takedown.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joao Paulo da Silva showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action. This is the final round!

Maua shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with da Silva but da Silva pushes him off and we're back to square one.
da Silva tries for a takedown but Maua circles away easily

and Maua counters with a nice double leg into side control. da Silva won't be happy with that.

Maua tries for a kimura but da Silva is defending well.
da Silva sneaks back into half guard.
da Silva keeping hold of Maua's head, controlling as best he can.
Maua missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Maua thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
da Silva controlling the position for now.
Maua with the ground and pound but da Silva uses the opportunity to regain guard.
da Silva is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
da Silva uses his free foot to push down on Maua's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Maua.
The referee warns Maua that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
da Silva postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Maua looks a forlorn figure.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
da Silva lands with some strikes.
da Silva looking to control and managing it successfully.
Maua is working to get back to half guard.
da Silva in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
da Silva controlling his opponent.

da Silva get's back to his feet.
Some wild striking there from da Silva.

da Silva closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Joao Paulo da Silva is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

da Silva breaks from the clinch.
da Silva thumps Maua with a low kick.
da Silva goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Maua avoids a punch combination nicely.
da Silva throws a right and a left that both miss.

da Silva gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.

da Silva breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
da Silva feints and then cracks Maua's leading leg with a nice low kick. He's obviously looking to slow Maua down.

da Silva looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
da Silva has been the more effective fighter overall so far.

da Silva is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

And that's the end of the fight!
Joao Paulo da Silva comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well da Silva 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 Daniel Cesar scores the fight 27:30
Judge Matheus Silva scores the fight 27:30
Judge Luis Engracia scores the fight 26:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Joao Paulo da Silva!