PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Humberto Cruz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Grappler Striking (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Cruz comes to the cage accompanied by Deja Vu. The crowd giving both fighters a great reception on their way into the arena. That's good to see.

Cruz
vs
Striking

170 cm
28
165 lbs
14 - 5 - 0

174 cm
29
163 lbs
21 - 9 - 2

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Olympic wrestler
World class MT
Granite chin

Milwaukee's Best 160

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 14 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Humberto Cruz!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 21 - 9 - 2, fighting out of Las Vegas, Grappler Striking!
The judges for this bout are Richard Clark, James Glass and Daniel Bishop.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Striking tries to clinch but Cruz moves out of range.
Striking is looking to slow Cruz down with leg kicks.

Striking moves into the clinch.
Cruz lands a hook to the side of the head.
Cruz lands a left hand.
Cruz misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Cruz is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Cruz blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Striking prevents Cruz from breaking the clinch.
Cruz trying to land knees to the body.
Cruz is trying to force a seperation but Striking has the dominant position.
Cruz blocks a body shot from Striking.
A shot in the inside from Cruz.

Cruz pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Cruz swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Cruz on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.

Striking moves into the clinch successfully.
Striking fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Striking drops to a knee looking for a takedown but Cruz gets the underhooks and prevents it.
Cruz can't find room to land a body shot as Striking controls the action.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Striking swings wildly with an uppercut but Cruz uses good head movement to avoid it.
Striking wants to take the fight to the mat but Cruz manages to get underhooks and keep the fight in the clinch.
Cruz trying to land knees to the body.
Striking lands a left hand.
Cruz looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Striking prevents Cruz from breaking the clinch.
Striking cracks Cruz with a nice body shot.
Striking tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Cruz makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.

Striking gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.
Striking landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Striking seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Striking throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Striking working over Cruz with some ground and pound. Cruz looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Striking takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Striking throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Striking throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Striking has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Striking breaks from Cruz's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Cruz slips a leg in and gets back to half guard.
Striking slips a nice elbow through Cruz's hands, connecting with Cruz's forehead.
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. Striking connects with a nice short shot to Cruz's temple.
Cruz trying to control here.
Cruz is controlling Striking's trapped leg to prevent Striking from advancing to side control.
Striking lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Striking is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Striking working over Cruz with some ground and pound. Cruz looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Cruz is trying to get back to full guard.
Cruz works his way to full guard. Good work.
Cruz avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Striking with a nice head shot there.
Cruz keeping full guard, as Striking tries to pass.
Striking is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Cruz wants to sweep but no luck.
Striking throwing strikes but missing.
Striking in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.

Cruz looking for submissions from the bottom but instead Striking passes into side control.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Cruz manages to work his way to half guard, despite Striking's best efforts.
Striking lands strikes from half guard.
Ground and pound from Striking.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
The fighters are battling for position here. Cruz manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Striking scoring with some ground and pound.
Striking is looking to advance position but Cruz has hit a scissor sweep - now he's on top in mount!
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Cruz thowing strikes but they're hitting the gloves, not doing any damage.
Cruz landing strikes from the mount and Striking is in trouble!
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Striking is trying desperately to improve position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Grappler Striking dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Striking shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Cruz eats them both and turns towards Striking to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Striking throws a low kick but it's checked well by Cruz.
Cruz chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Striking can pounce on him.
Cruz goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.

Striking darts in and clinches Cruz up against the cage.
Cruz using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Striking has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Striking struggles to land a body shot inside as Cruz controls his hands.
Striking avoids a wild elbow strike from Cruz.
Striking throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Cruzs head.
Cruz throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
Striking tries to throw a body punch but Cruz avoids it by throwing Striking back against the cage.
Cruz pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.
Cruz digs a right hand into Striking's ribs. Those have got to be taking their toll on Striking's gas tank.
Striking throws a punch but it's blocked by Cruz.
Cruz blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Striking blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Cruz tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cruz digs a right hand underneath Striking's ribcage. Striking let out a lung full of air as it connected.
Cruz blocks an uppercut.
Striking lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Striking digs a right hand underneath Cruz's ribcage. Cruz let out a lung full of air as it connected.
Cruz takes a shot to the head.
Grappler Striking seems to be working more effectively in the clinch in the fight so far.
Striking tries to throw a body punch but Cruz avoids it by throwing Striking back against the cage.
Striking is working for takedown but Cruz is calmly controlling the position for now.
Striking wants to take the fight to the mat but Cruz manages to get underhooks and keep the fight in the clinch.
Cruz prevents a body shot from Striking.
Cruz blocking some punches.
Cruz throws a blind hook that connects with the side of Strikings head.
Cruz tries to circle away but Striking has him pinned against the cage.
A nice left hand lands by Cruz.
Cruz lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Striking backwards.
Cruz is clearly stalling here... Pick up the pace son.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Cruz lands a nice knee to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Cruz has had enough of the clinch but Striking keeps him there for the moment.
Striking fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Cruz can't break the clinch.
Striking has a couple of punches blocked by Cruz.
Striking tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Striking doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Striking tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Cruz's elbow.
Striking scores with a hook to the body.
Cruz blocks a body shot from Striking.
Striking has dropped down and is looking to force the takedown but it's defended by Cruz after a bit of a struggle.
Humberto Cruz has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Grappler Striking.
Cruz blocks a couple of punches on the inside.
Cruz blocks a punch to the side of the head.
Striking prevents a body shot from Cruz.

Striking lands a nice trip takedown into half guard.
Grappler Striking has got the better of the ground game so far.
The fighters are battling for position here. Cruz manages to regain full guard. Nice work.
Striking working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Striking throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Striking preventing the sweep.
Striking makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Striking looking to pass the guard.

Cruz is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.

Cruz looking for submissions off his back, moving his hips, looking for an opening.
Cruz bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Striking's guard.
Cruz looking to sit in guard and control but Striking gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Cruz bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Striking's guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Striking is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Cruz slips nicely into half guard.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Cruz seems very keen to just sit and control from half guard but Striking does not like that idea so much and is remaining active off his back.
Striking trying to control but Cruz postures up.
Cruz thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Striking is pressing down on Cruz's left leg trying to get back to full guard. He's managed it.
Cruz trying to control but Striking is working from the bottom.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Grappler Striking will probably get the nod - 10:9.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. The crowd applaud as we get ready to start the final round!

Cruz misses the shot to the body.
Cruz waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Striking.
Striking misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Cruz.
Cruz with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Striking to score with a decent uppercut.
Donk. Cruz catches Striking right on the button with a cross.
Cruz is looking to land body kicks.
Cruz on the receiving end of a decent leg kick there by Striking. Striking obviously looking to wear him down.
Striking wants to clinch up but Cruz keeps it at a distance.
Striking lands a leg kick that knocks Cruz off balance momentarily.
Striking scores with a jab.

Striking changes levels and drives through with a really nice takedown into side control. Cruz looks really pissed at himself for not defending that better.
Striking grinds an elbow into Cruz's temple.
Cruz is looking for a sweep.
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!
Striking advances nicely into full mount.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cruz wants to control but Striking is having none of it.
Cruz can't escape the position.
Striking is landing with some decent strikes but Cruz is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.
Cruz is looking to get to half guard.
Striking landing strikes from the mount.
Striking fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Cruz is bucking up trying to escape but Striking cracks him with another couple of good strikes.
Striking with a couple of short strikes.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Striking fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Striking lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Cruz hang on?

Cruz is rocked!
Striking loads up on a couple of big shots to the head that have Cruz scrambling to escape. He can't get free though and several more unanswered shots from Striking land to the head. The referee has no choice but to stop the fight. Striking stands and salutes the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:58 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Grappler Striking!
During a confident post fight interview, Grappler Striking thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.