PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Murilo Souza (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Derek Moriga (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Souza's entrance music is Talib Kweli-Palookas. A fine choice. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Souza
vs
Moriga

189 cm
23
158 lbs
6 - 1 - 0

167 cm
24
145 lbs
3 - 4 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter fighter
Experienced

Decent wrestler
Decent boxing
Knockout power

Alpha-Male Nutritional Supplements (q160)

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 6 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Murilo Souza!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 3 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Derek Moriga!
The judges for this bout are Thiago Cunha, Alexandre Firmino and Edson Gomes.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Moriga checks a low kick from Souza.
Souza misses with a low kick as Moriga jumps back.

Moriga is looking for a takedown here. He's shot in and has managed to get it, finishing up in Souza's half guard.
Moriga is looking for the mount but instead finds himself back in full guard.
Souza is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Moriga throws a strike but Souza rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.
Moriga avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Souza in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Souza throwing strikes but missing.
Souza stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Moriga swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Souza wants to control from the top but Moriga keeps moving.
Souza 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.
Souza postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Souza will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Souza is looking to work some ground and pound but Moriga has wrist control.
Moriga utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Souza postures up in Moriga's guard and throws a big left but Moriga blocks it.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Souza is looking to work some ground and pound but Moriga has wrist control.
Souza throwing strikes but missing.
Moriga really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Souza. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Souza wants to control from the top but Moriga keeps moving.
Souza throws a big right hand that misses.
Souza trying to control the position from guard on top but Moriga is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Moriga utilising some decent striking defenses from the guard, preventing the ground and pound.
Souza postures up and lands a big shot to Moriga's brow.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Souza trying to control the position from guard on top but Moriga is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Souza loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Moriga wants to get back to his feet but Souza is in a dominant position and won't allow it.
Moriga preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Moriga preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Souza throws a big right hand that misses.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Souza working some strikes from top position.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Moriga can do anything to dispel that myth.
Souza trying to control but Moriga is working from the bottom.
Moriga preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Souza connects with a couple of short punches.
Souza working some strikes from top position.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Souza throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Moriga works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Souza in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Murilo Souza dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Souza gets caught napping as Moriga dives in and scores a takedown. Souza manages to retain guard.
Moriga is looking to advance position but Souza has hit a scissor sweep - now he's on top in mount!
Souza throws some wild stikes that Moriga manages to avoid easily.
Souza lands a couple of nice shots there from mount.
Souza thowing shots but they're missing.
Souza content just to control the position here.
Moriga is really trying hard to get back to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Souza scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Moriga?
Moriga'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.
Moriga is squirming around, avoiding Souza's attempts to control the action.
Souza throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
Souza unloading with bombs!
Murilo Souza overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.
Souza punching from mount but Moriga doing a good job of avoiding damage.
Moriga is trying to get to the cage to help him get back to his feet.
Souza controlling the pace for now.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A nice elbow there by Souza.
Souza trying to control but Moriga is having none of it.

Souza is going oldschool here, as he tries to force Moriga to tap using a forearm choke. This isn't 1993 though, so Moriga shrugs it off.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Souza unloads with some shots from mount but Moriga bucks and avoids them well.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Souza looking to ground and pound his opponent to a finish here.
Souza misses with a series of strikes from mount. He'll no doubt be working on his ground and pound when he gets back to the gym.
Souza has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Moriga's face.
Souza looking to control but Moriga is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Souza unloads with some shots from mount but Moriga bucks and avoids them well.
Souza scores with a couple of good head shots there.
Moriga holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Souza tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
Souza punching from mount but Moriga doing a good job of avoiding damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Moriga avoids a series of strikes thrown by Souza.
Souza sends his fist crashing into the mat - the crowd let out a collective ooooooh. Let's hope he's not broken it!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Moriga wriggling around on the bottom manages to avoid the strikes thrown by Souza.
Souza working away from the top, dropping strikes.
Moriga holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as Souza tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.

Souza working from mount. He moves in close and looks like he might be going for an arm triangle... He's hopped off to the side and he's transitioned into an Anaconda choke. Moriga turning a nasty shade of purple. He's refusing to tap but he's gone! He's out! The ref rips Souza off and cradles Moriga's limp body as Souza celebrates with his corner.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:58 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Anaconda Choke). Murilo Souza!
In his post fight interview, Murilo Souza started talking himself up. Luckily his charisma kept the crowd on side and gave him a good reception.