PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between António Maia (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Jose Barboza (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Maia comes to the cage accompanied by It's a kind of magic by Queen. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Maia
vs
Barboza

189 cm
29
181 lbs
13 - 7 - 0

182 cm
28
177 lbs
6 - 5 - 0

Powerful takedowns
Solid boxing
Granite chin

Decent wrestler
Lethal high kicks
Heavy handed

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 13 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, António Maia!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 5 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Jose Barboza!
The judges for this bout are Patrick Alders, Radbod Blank and Paulsen Ambrosius.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Maia avoids the body shot from Barboza.
Maia checks a leg kick.
A swing and a miss from Barboza.
Barboza throws a push kick but Maia slaps the foot to one side.
Maia needs to keep his hands up - Barboza had a free shot at his head there.

It looks like António Maia has been cut.
Barboza throws a hook but Maia avoids it easily.
Barboza fakes a jab and throws a low kick but Maia checks it well.
Maia moves out of range as Barboza strikes.
Barboza chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Maia dives in and grabs Barboza's left leg, looking for a takedown. Barboza pushes down on Maia's head and hops out.
Barboza connects with a body shot that sends Maia's belly button to the back.
Barboza takes a swing at Maia's ribcage but misses.
Barboza throws the kick towards the body but Maia avoids it.
Barboza buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Barboza shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Maia eats them both and turns towards Barboza to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.
Barboza pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Maia ducks under a wild hook from Barboza.
Barboza lands a kick to the ribs of his opponent. Nice work there - in and out in a flash.
Barboza scores with a jab to the jaw.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A solid body kick from Barboza.
Barboza keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Maia shoots for a double leg takedown but Barboza sprawls well. He's pushed Maia's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Barboza thows a body shot but no joy.
Barboza is looking to score with low kicks.
Barboza throws a head kick that misses.
Maia takes a swing at Barboza's ribcage but misses.
Maia bobbing and weaving, closes the distance and lands a hook to the side of Barboza's head.
A punch lands to the side of Maia 's head but he takes it in his stride.
Barboza throws out a loose jab but Maia uses good head movement to avoid it.
Barboza pivots as if he's going to throw a leg kick but stops half way.
A decent looking cross lands there for Barboza.

António Maia's cut is getting worse.
Barboza keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Barboza motions for Maia to come forward. Barboza throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Maia takes a jab on the nose there. A little bit of blood seems to be coming out. Hopefully that won't affect his breathing.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Barboza scores with a kick to the body.
Barboza throws a big shot that misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Maia lands a jab-cross combination.
Horrible takedown by Maia or perhaps it was just good defense by Barboza which made him look bad.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for António Maia. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Maia steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Barboza.
Jose Barboza is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Barboza catches Maia with a nice straight right. He seems pissed - ooooh, it's on now! On like donkey kong!
Barboza tests Maia's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Barboza throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.
Maia avoids a kick to the body.
Jose Barboza seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
A looping hook to the body misses from Maia. Barboza does a little dance to reset his feet.
Barboza uses good head movement to avoid the hook from Maia.
Maia blocks the body kick.
Barboza misses with a straight right.
Barboza uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Maia.

Barboza knocks Maia to the floor with a head kick! Can he finish him!?

Maia is rocked!
Maia is trying to improve his position.
Oh Maia is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Barboza wants to stand but Maia has his arm trapped.
Maia tries to work a leg under to get back to half guard but Barboza wriggles his own leg back out and remains in side control.
Maia seems to have got his legs back now.
Maia gets back to half guard.
Maia is trying to maintain the position but Barboza is very close to passing his half guard.
Maia gets full guard.
Barboza wants to stand but Maia has a closed guard, so he can't escape.
Barboza is fighting to break Maia's control of his arms but Maia is doing a good job of controlling the position at the moment.
Maia lands a beautiful switch and he's in full mount! That could spell trouble for Barboza!
Barboza is trying to stand up.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Barboza is squirming around, avoiding Maia's attempts to control the action.
Maia content just to control the position here.
Maia seems to have a rather negative gameplan on the ground. He seems keen to just score the takedown and hold down Barboza for as long as he can get away with.
You get the feeling that Barboza really doesn't like being in this position too much.
Maia controlling his opponent.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Barboza's corner are shouting for him to stand up but that's bad cornering - how is he meant to stand up when he's mounted? He should be looking to improve his position on the ground before trying to stand back up.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Maia looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Barboza takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Jose Barboza dominated that round.
The cut man is working on António Maia's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Maia connects nicely with a jab. Noted by the judges no doubt.

Maia drops down and drives through with a powerful takedown into guard.
Maia trying to control but Barboza is working from the bottom.
Maia postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Maia 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.
Maia throwing strikes but missing.
Maia forces his way into half guard.
Barboza is trying to stand.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Maia is keen to just control but Barboza is a slippery customer.

Barboza is defending against the submission attempts here by Maia.
Maia passes to side control.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Barboza is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Maia is controlling him well.
Maia wants to lay and pray for a moment but Barboza keeps working.
Maia cracks Barboza with a big elbow.
Maia working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
Barboza tries to wriggle free to get back to his feet but he's given up his back! Oops.

Maia is working for the choke. I would put my money on him to finish from this position. He's rolled onto his back and has dragged Barboza with him. Barboza is trying to defend but Maia has an arm under the chin now! Barboza grimaces and is forced to tap out!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:50 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (RNC). António Maia!
An out of breath António Maia thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.