PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Thom Le Bou (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Francesco Luongo (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Le Bou might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to H.A.M. - Kanye west. The crowd seem to be enjoying Luongo's choice of entrance music: Alexisonfire - The Northern. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Le Bou
vs
Luongo

184 cm
26
181 lbs
20 - 9 - 0

185 cm
28
171 lbs
22 - 11 - 0

Good wrestling
Excellent boxer
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
Decent boxing
Good gas tank

5th Round Clothing

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 20 - 9 - 0, fighting out of New York, Thom Le Bou!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 22 - 11 - 0, fighting out of New York, Francesco Luongo!
The judges for this bout are Alyssa Summers, Columbo Gatti and Reed Andrews.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Le Bou ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Luongo moves away.
Luongo swings away with a body shot that misses
and Le Bou counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Le Bou connects with a good right hand that stumbles Luongo. Luongo circles away out of range and recomposes himself.
Luongo throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Luongo takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
Le Bou misses with a wild body shot.
Le Bou lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
Le Bou just misses with a punch to the body.
Le Bou throws a lazy right hand but Luongo sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Le Bou just misses with a punch to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Le Bou throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Good shot there by Le Bou.
Le Bou fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
A combination from Le Bou does no damage.
Le Bou shoots in looking for a takedown. Luongo tries to sprawl out of it but Le Bou keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Luongo manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Luongo uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Le Bou.
Le Bou keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Luongo looks for a takedown but Le Bou sprawls well.
Thom Le Bou seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Le Bou closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.
Luongo tries to buck Le Bou off but Le Bou is having none of it.
Luongo struggling a bit here.
Le Bou has knee on belly and moves into mount.
Le Bou takes a little breather and maintains the position. The referee will be looking for him to stay active from such a dominant position though.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Luongo is squirming around, avoiding Le Bou's attempts to control the action.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Luongo is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
Luongo really trying hard to get back to half guard here.
Luongo is squirming around, avoiding Le Bou's attempts to control the action.
Luongo regains half guard.
Luongo is trying to control but can't.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Le Bou wants to control but Luongo is keeping him busy.
Luongo is looking for a sweep. Le Bou is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Luongo has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Le Bou is working away from the top position though.
Le Bou is taking a breather. Luongo says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.

Luongo shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Le Bou's guard.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Luongo tries to free his leg and advance position but Le Bou is retaining full guard.
Luongo trying to control but Le Bou is working from the bottom.
Luongo trying to move into half guard but instead Le Bou has managed to sweep!
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 Thom Le Bou will probably get the nod.
That's time! Back to the action!

Le Bou misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
Le Bou looks to land a right hand but Luongo moved out of range.
Le Bou shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Luongo sprawls well. Luongo wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Le Bou gets slowly back to his feet.
Le Bou lands a body shot.
Luongo takes a jab on the nose. He smiles like he loves it and keeps coming.
Le Bou tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Luongo paws at him with a jab and circles away.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Le Bou misses with a left hand

and Luongo counters with a shoot takedown. Le Bou fights it but they end up in guard.
Luongo is looking to advance position but Le Bou has hit a scissor sweep - now he's on top in mount!
Luongo can't escape the position.
Luongo tries to hold on but Le Bou postures up.
Le Bou looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Luongo tries to reverse the position but Le Bou maintains control.

Luongo defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Le Bou.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Luongo wants to hold on but Le Bou pushes him away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Le Bou punching from mount but Luongo doing a good job of avoiding damage.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Le Bou tries to control but Luongo wriggling away.
Luongo tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Le Bou can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Luongo is looking to escape.
Luongo is in a horrible position here, under a barrage of strikes, he's managing to avoid any damage.
Le Bou trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Luongo tries to lock up and control but Le Bou gives him a forearm to the face and pushes him away.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Luongo tries to reverse the position but Le Bou maintains control.
Luongo tries to hold on but Le Bou postures up.
Le Bou sitting in mount, just looking to control for the moment.
Luongo regains half guard.
Luongo controlling the leg, holding on to half guard.
Le Bou missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Le Bou is looking to stall here but Luongo recovers full guard.
Le Bou postures up.
Luongo pulls Le Bou in to control the position.
Luongo can't do much from the bottom at the moment, as Le Bou controls the pace.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.

Le Bou closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Luongo to the mat! Luongo manages to get full guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Thom Le Bou will probably get the nod.
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!

Luongo avoids the body shot from Le Bou.
Le Bou ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Luongo moves away.
Luongo tries to clinch up but Le Bou circles away and keeps his distance.
Luongo slips a jab from Le Bou.
Luongo shoots in for a double leg but Le Bou sprawls well. That's going to sap some energy.
Le Bou stuffs the takedown.
Le Bou wants to clinch up but Luongo keeps it at a distance.
No luck with that takedown attempt from Luongo.
Thom Le Bou has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Francesco Luongo.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Le Bou fakes and then throws a beautiful body shot. Luongo looks a bit winded and takes a step backwards to take a breath.

Le Bou changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Luongo looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
Luongo is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Luongo struggling a bit here.
Le Bou advances nicely into full mount.

Le Bou is thinking about an arm triangle here, looking to tighten it up before moving to side control. Luongo can see it coming though and defends well with a couple of strikes to the head and some good arm positioning.
Le Bou prevents Luongo from getting the reversal.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Luongo defends a decent attempt at a guillotine from Le Bou.
Le Bou looking to control but Luongo is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Luongo keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Luongo is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Le Bou controlling the position easily from mount.
Le Bou avoids the attempt from Luongo to control.
Le Bou trying to control but Luongo is having none of it.
Luongo working to try and regain half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Thom Le Bou overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Le Bou controlling the pace for now.
Luongo tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Thom Le Bou is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.
Le Bou tries to control but Luongo wriggling away.
Luongo tries to hold on but Le Bou pushes him away.
Luongo can't escape the position.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Luongo has worked his way to half guard, taking advantage of Le Bou's lack of action.
If this pace continues, the referee will definitely step in and force a standup.
Le Bou slows the pace down in half guard.

And that's the end of the fight!
Thom Le Bou showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Le Bou has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Alyssa Summers scores the fight 30:27
Judge Columbo Gatti scores the fight 30:27
Judge Reed Andrews scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Thom Le Bou!
After the big win, Thom Le Bou made sure to do all the important stuff like thanking his sponsors 5th Round Clothing and telling the interviewer how much he loves him.