PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rodrigo Oliveira (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mauricio Rua (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Oliveira's ring entrance music is that housewives' favourite, Fort Minor - Remember The Name. The atmosphere really building for this one as we go over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Oliveira
vs
Rua

188 cm
19
205 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

184 cm
25
203 lbs
1 - 2 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Basic striking
Intelligent

BJJ Purple Belt
Good kicks
Solid chin

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 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Rodrigo Oliveira!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Mauricio Rua!
The judges for this bout are Paulo Santos, Mauricio Rocha and Alexandre Firmino.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Rua lands with a kick to the temple. Oliveira shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
Rua looks really tired already! That doesn't bode well for a good, competitive fight!
Rua pulls out of a head kick attempt.

Oliveira shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
Oliveira thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Rua blocking the ground and pound.

Oliveira has hold of Rua's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Rua manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
Oliveira throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Oliveira throwing strikes here but Rua is writhing around nicely and avoiding any serious damage.
Oliveira misses with a head shot.
Rua is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.

Oliveira is in full mount, looking to secure a guillotine but Rua is surviving well by controlling Oliveira's body position as best he can.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Oliveira sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Rua blocking the ground and pound.
Oliveira throws some wild stikes that Rua manages to avoid easily.
Oliveira unloads with some shots from mount but Rua bucks and avoids them well.
Oliveira unloads with some shots from mount but Rua bucks and avoids them well.
Oliveira looking to ground and pound but Rua is blocking nicely.

Oliveira looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Oliveira 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.
Oliveira cracks Rua with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Rua avoids a series of strikes thrown by Oliveira.
Oliveira unloads with some shots from mount but Rua bucks and avoids them well.
Oliveira thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Oliveira misses with a head shot.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Rua is in a horrible position here. Oliveira smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
Oliveira 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.
Oliveira misses with a head shot.

Oliveira working for a submission but Rua is keeping him at bay.
Oliveira throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Oliveira looking to ground and pound but Rua is blocking nicely.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Oliveira is working for a guillotine from mount but Rua frees his head quite easily.
Rua wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Oliveira.
Oliveira raining down shots from the mount!
Rua blocking the ground and pound.
Oliveira thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rodrigo Oliveira dominated that round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

A bone on bone clash there as Rua blocks the leg kick.
Oliveira fails to land with a series of punches.
Rua fails with the takedown.
Oliveira tries a low kick but Rua avoids it.
Oliveira finds nothing but air with that leg kick attempt.

Oliveira shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Rua's guard.
Oliveira trying to pass the guard but can't manage it just yet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Rua avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Oliveira missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Rua preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Rua working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Oliveira.
Oliveira trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Oliveira trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Rua is breathing heavily.

Oliveira gets to his feet. Rua looking to butt scoot but the ref puts an end to that. On your feet son!
Oliveira misses with a few strikes there.
Some wild striking there from Oliveira.
Oliveira turns his hip over beautifully as he lands a nice leg kick.

Oliveira looking for a takedown here - he's got it.
Oliveira loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Rua preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Oliveira throwing strikes from guard but Rua blocks nicely.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Oliveira throwing strikes from guard but Rua blocks nicely.
Oliveira in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Oliveira throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Oliveira passes Rua's right leg, so he's now in half guard.
Oliveira drops an elbow to the side of Rua's head.
Rua avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Oliveira.

Oliveira stands up from half guard... He's had enough of that ground malarky for the time being.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Oliveira tries to land a front kick but Rua steps back. That was a bit too telegraphed.
Oliveira pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Some bone on bone action there as Rua checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.

Oliveira closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Oliveira working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
Oliveira postures up a little and throws a couple of hammerfists but they don't connect properly.

Oliveira stands up and we're back to a striking position.
Rua checks a low kick from Oliveira.
Rua plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
Rua slips a jab and a cross from Oliveira.
Oliveira lands a powerful looking uppercut that connected with his opponent's jaw.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Oliveira looks to score with a combo but nothing lands.
Oliveira misses with a low kick.
Oliveira is looking to chop away at Rua's legs.
Rodrigo Oliveira is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Oliveira tries a head kick but it misses.
Oliveira misses with a series of wild punches.

Oliveira bobs and weaves into range and then changes levels and scores with a nice takedown into side control.
Oliveira misses with an attempted head punch from side control.
Rodrigo Oliveira overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Oliveira tries to advance to mount but Rua instead regains half guard.
Oliveira throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rodrigo Oliveira dominated that second round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

Rua lets the fists fly and connects with a left straight followed by a right hook.
Oliveira throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Rua counters with a body kick that brings a smile to the face of both fighters.

Oliveira scores a trip takedown into side control. Nice.

Oliveira stands up and we're back to a striking position.

Oliveira looking to shoot here. He's gone for it and he's landed a takedown into mount! Oh, that's bad for Rua!
Oliveira throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Rua because Oliveira loaded up on that one.

Oliveira swings around for an armbar but it's a sloppy attempt and Rua is now in Oliveira's guard. A big mistake from Oliveira there, giving up the dominant position!
Rua postures up in Oliveira's guard and throws a big left but Oliveira blocks it.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Oliveira keeping full guard, as Rua tries to pass.
Oliveira manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
Oliveira thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!

Oliveira is working on an americana here. Ooh, that looks pretty nasty! Nope, Rua has managed to escape the submission attempt.
Oliveira punching from mount but Rua doing a good job of avoiding damage.

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.
Rua trying desperately to get to his feet.
Oliveira thowing shots but they're missing.
Poor strikes thrown by Oliveira there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Rua holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Oliveira tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
Rua avoids a series of strikes thrown by Oliveira.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Oliveira looking to ground and pound but Rua is blocking nicely.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Oliveira thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Mauricio Rua has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Oliveira scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Rua?
Oliveira thuds his fist into the canvas! Oooouch!
Oliveira punching from mount but Rua doing a good job of avoiding damage.

Oliveira looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
Oliveira throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Rua because Oliveira loaded up on that one.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rua avoids a series of strikes thrown by Oliveira.
Oliveira landing strikes, looking to finish!
Oliveira lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Oliveira lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Rua hang on?
Oliveira punching from mount but Rua doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Rodrigo Oliveira is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Oliveira looking to finish Rua with some ground and pound. This is bad for Rua!

And that's the end of the fight!
Rodrigo Oliveira showed his dominance in that final round.
Well I reckon that's a shut out for Oliveira, winning every round. Will the judges agree? They are the ones who matter, even if they are often depressingly incompetent. 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 Paulo Santos scores the fight 30:27
Judge Mauricio Rocha scores the fight 30:27
Judge Alexandre Firmino scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Rodrigo Oliveira!