PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Rod Brave (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Nate Cruz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Brave comes to the cage accompanied by Eco, Eco (somos de taleco). Cruz has chosen Headstrong-Trapt as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Nate Cruz is staring across the cage at his opponent, tweaking his nipples.

Brave
vs
Cruz

170 cm
29
148 lbs
17 - 23 - 0

170 cm
31
152 lbs
15 - 14 - 0

Good wrestling
Great elbows
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
Brawler
Good gas tank

Syndicate Nutrition

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the featherweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 17 - 23 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Rod Brave!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 14 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Nate Cruz!
The judges for this bout are Marco Blurström, Arvi Lind and Ben Zyskovitsi.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Cruz misses with a takedown attempt
and Brave counters with a leg kick.
Cruz tries to check the leg kick but that clearly hurt him.
Cruz dives in and grabs Brave's left leg, looking for a takedown. Brave pushes down on Cruz's head and hops out.
Brave tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in the close the distance. Cruz manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Cruz fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Rod Brave has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Nate Cruz.
Brave lands the left hand.
Cruz takes a head kick and keeps coming.
Brave tries to bum rush Cruz with a series of wild strikes but Cruz uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Brave fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Brave tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Cruz paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Cruz shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Brave but Brave pushes him off and we're back to square one.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
A punch combination from Brave misses.
Brave misses with a jab, cross combination.
Decent striking displayed by Cruz there.

Brave gets the takedown into side control.
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.
Brave scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Cruz to see if he's OK.
Brave has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Cruz is sneaking out the side here. He's bucked Brave off and has taken his back!

Brave defending nicely against the rear naked choke attempt.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cruz is trying to stick to Brave's back but Brave is turning into Cruz. He's managed to reverse the position - now he's in Cruz's guard. Polite applause from the crowd in appreciation of some nice Jiu Jitsu by Brave.
Brave pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Cruz is keeping the position for now.
Brave throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Cruz works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Brave sneaks a leg through and gets to half guard. That was like a knife through butter how easily he passed Cruz's guard.
Brave looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Brave thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Brave takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with Brave in particular looking to stall.

Brave is trying to work for a kimura but Cruz is defending well.
Cruz is working for an escape here. He's hooked one of Brave's legs and he's managed to sneak out and take Brave's back!

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Brave takes a big shot to the side of the head.
Cruz has Brave flattened out and is raining down punches.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Cruz lands with a big left hand that may well have hurt his opponent. Can Brave hold on?!
Cruz is punishing Brave with some ground and pound.

Brave is rocked!
Cruz lands a good shot there. Brave covers up! Cruz smells blood and goes for the finish - the referee warns Brave to improve his position but he's not intelligently defending himself and the referee has no choice but to step in and end the fight! Cruz jumps to his feet and celebrates the important win with his cornermen!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:35 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Nate Cruz!
Nate Cruz took to the microphone after his victory and thanked his sponsors, Brute for their support in the buildup to the fight.