PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Thiago de Souza (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mark Edwards (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). de Souza comes to the cage accompanied by Dry County. Edwards has chosen NoMeansNo - I'm an Asshole as his entrance music. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

de Souza
vs
Edwards

183 cm
27
177 lbs
22 - 8 - 0

180 cm
22
190 lbs
10 - 1 - 1

Powerful takedowns
Solid boxing
Cardio machine

Decent wrestler
Good kicks
Good gas tank

GR Design - Top quality, from $10 to $150 !
GR Design - Top quality, from $10 to $150 !

Milwaukee's Best 159's - $69
MMA ANIMAL

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the middleweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 22 - 8 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Thiago de Souza!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 10 - 1 - 1, fighting out of Sydney, Mark Edwards!
The judges for this bout are Eliza Hachem, Steve Erwin and Summer Carpenter.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
de Souza lands a leg kick that knocks Edwards off balance momentarily.
de Souza moves away from the strike by Edwards.
Edwards misses with a kick to the body.

de Souza moves into the clinch successfully.
Edwards throws an elbow but it misses.
Edwards lands a damaging elbow.
Edwards swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Edwards lands a nice elbow from the clinch.
Edwards tries a body shot but de Souza blocks it.
de Souza has dropped down and is looking to force the takedown but it's defended by Edwards after a bit of a struggle.
Edwards looking to slow down the pace here.
Edwards blocks an elbow strike from de Souza.
Edwards is pressed up against the cage. de Souza has hold of a leg and is looking to drag Edwards down to the mat. Edwards avoids the attempt though and has circled away. We're back to striking at a distance.
Edwards ducks down and throws a hook to the body but de Souza moves away.
Edwards throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Edwards misses with the combination.
Edwards misses with a left hand
and de Souza counters with a solid body kick.
Edwards looks to throw the jab but de Souza is out of range.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Edwards scores with the left hand. de Souza knows he should have avoided that one.
Edwards misses with the combination.
Edwards checks a leg kick nicely.
Edwards looks to land a right hand but de Souza moved out of range.
Mark Edwards is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
de Souza uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Edwards.
Nice body punch from Edwards.
de Souza throws a nice outside leg kick.
Edwards fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Oooooooooooh, not good. A low kick from de Souza lands where it shouldn't have, right in the... well, you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis. He's injured, injured bad. The referee sends both fighters to their corners and Edwards has 5 minutes to recover. He's OK now though... a thumbs up from Edwards and we're back underway with a touch of gloves.
Edwards swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Edwards looks to score with a jab to the body but de Souza is just out of range.
Edwards moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
Edwards throws a shot to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Edwards connects with a lovely right hand, straight down the pipe.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
de Souza checks a leg kick.

de Souza drives through with a really nice takedown into side control.
Edwards is looking to reverse the position.
Edwards prevents de Souza from improving position.
The strikes coming from de Souza are missing the target in this wave of attacks.

de Souza working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.
Edwards prevents de Souza from moving into mount.
Edwards can't do much from the bottom here.
de Souza misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Edwards is trying to improve his position.
Edwards sneaks back into half guard.
de Souza missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Edwards is trying to defend against the ground and pound but de Souza scores with a couple of nice shots.
Edwards is looking for a sweep. de Souza is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Edwards won't allow de Souza to pass to mount.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Edwards can do anything to dispel that myth.
de Souza working Edwards over with strikes.

de Souza looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.
de Souza is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

de Souza is looking for a kimura here.
This has been an exciting period of action!
de Souza tries to pass to full mount but Edwards defends it.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
de Souza thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Edwards's head.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
de Souza is looking to pass the guard... He's managed it - he's now in full mount!
de Souza avoids the attempt from Edwards to control.
Edwards is in a horrible position here. de Souza smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.
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 Thiago de Souza will probably get the nod.
The corners get their ten second warning. Both fighters stand from their stools and stare eachother down, ready to get back to the action.

Edwards throws out a leg kick but de Souza moves out of range and Edwards only half commits.
de Souza takes a shot right to the liver - Bas would have been proud of that punch.
A leg kick checked by Edwards.
de Souza takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Edwards loads up on a big right hand but de Souza slips the punch.
de Souza lands a nice leg kick that just misses Edwards's sensitive parts.
Edwards digs a good body shot into de Souza's ribs.
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as de Souza checks a leg kick.
Edwards tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but de Souza was well out of range. Poor timing from Edwards.
A punch lands to the side of de Souza 's head but he takes it in his stride.

de Souza shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Edwards's guard.
Edwards really doesn't want to stay on the ground with de Souza. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
This has been an exciting period of action!

de Souza thinks about going for a leg but decides against it, in order to maintain the position.
Edwards keeping full guard, as de Souza tries to pass.

That's one minute gone in the round.

de Souza has gone for a leg lock! Edwards slips out almost immediately though and dives into de Souza's guard.
Edwards chips away with some ground and pound.
de Souza lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Edwards!
Edwards regains half guard.
Edwards wants to control but de Souza is keeping busy and won't allow it.
The two fighters exchange a few words. I couldn't hear what they were saying but maybe it's more fun if you make it up yourself. de Souza connects with a nice short shot to Edwards's temple.
The fighters are battling for position here. Edwards manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
de Souza stands up over Edwards, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Edwards preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
de Souza stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Edwards swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Edwards looking for a sweep. Not yet Edwards, not yet.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
de Souza missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
de Souza working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
de Souza scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
de Souza throwing strikes from guard but Edwards blocks nicely.
de Souza postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
de Souza scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
de Souza advances to half guard.
de Souza passes to full mount!
de Souza with good strikes from the mount here!
de Souza in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.

Edwards is rocked!

That's three minutes gone in the round.
de Souza postures up and connects with a big shot that has rocked Edwards badly. He's trying desperately to grab hold of de Souza around the waist but de Souza pushes him off and unloads with more strikes, forcing the referee to jump in and save him! de Souza is the winner by TKO! de Souza jumps onto the cage and shouts into the camera. "We did it momma!"

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:19 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Thiago de Souza!
Thiago de Souza retains his middleweight title!
Thiago de Souza managed to slip a mention for his sponsors, GR Design - Top quality, from $10 to $150 !, into his post fight interview.