PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Humberto Cruz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Murray Esson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Cruz comes to the cage accompanied by Deja Vu. Esson has chosen Amy MacDonald - This Is The Life as his entrance music. Murray Esson has the eye of the tiger tonight.

Cruz
vs
Esson

170 cm
35
165 lbs
30 - 16 - 5

174 cm
30
156 lbs
11 - 4 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Excellent grappler
Lethal high kicks
Good gas tank

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Meet the Future
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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 30 - 16 - 5, fighting out of London, Humberto Cruz!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 11 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Murray Esson!
The judges for this bout are Arvi Lind, Matti Vanhoillinen and Anni Minnemäki.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Esson throws a series of strikes that have Cruz backpedaling.
Cruz lands a slapping body shot.
Esson has been spending a lot of time sparring his boxing in the run up to the fight, trying to sharpen up those hands and look for a knockout.
Cruz scores with a nice head shot.
Esson lands with a nice body punch.
Cruz ducks under a wild hook from Esson.
Nice defenses there by Cruz.
Esson swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Esson looks for the body kick but Cruz saw that one coming.
Cruz tries to check the leg kick but that clearly hurt him.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.

Cruz moves into the clinch.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Esson creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Esson misses with the head strike.
Cruz is trying to slow down the pace of the fight but Esson is keeping busy.
A frustrated look appears on Esson's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Good body shot from Esson.
Esson throws a punch but it's blocked by Cruz.

Esson breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Some bone on bone action there as Cruz checks a low kick. Luckily it wasn't a particularly hard one.
Esson lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cruz changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Esson scores with a sloppy right hand. Cruz should have avoided that one.
Esson misses with a straight right.
Cruz misses with a body shot.
Cruz connects with a right hand. Esson shakes it off.
A swing and a miss from Cruz.
Cruz ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.
Esson lands with a nice body punch.
Esson moves away from the strike by Cruz.
Cruz shoots in looking for a takedown but Esson manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Cruz's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
Esson motions for Cruz to come forward. Esson throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Esson misses with an uppercut. Cruz saw that one coming.
Esson throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Esson scores with the left hand. Cruz knows he should have avoided that one.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Esson misses with an uppercut. Cruz saw that one coming.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Esson swings and misses with a shot to the body

and Cruz counters with a shoot takedown. Esson fights it but they end up in guard.
Cruz loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Cruz postures up.
Esson 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.
Esson throwing some rather feeble looking strikes off his back.
Esson wants to sweep but no luck.
Esson is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Esson lands with a punch from half guard.
Esson prevents Cruz from improving his position.
Esson working to pass to mount. He's got his hand pressing down on Cruz's thigh. Cruz counters though and makes it back to full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Esson wants to control from the top but Cruz keeps moving.
Esson stands and throws Cruz's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Esson misses with an attempted head punch from side control.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Esson working the head and body with strikes.
Esson passes to full mount! That's big trouble for Cruz!
Esson 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.
Esson landing strikes from the mount.
Cruz is squirming around, avoiding Esson's attempts to control the action.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Esson working Cruz over with strikes here.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Esson working Cruz over with strikes here.
Cruz tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Esson throwing sloppy strikes here. Perhaps if he tightened up his striking from such a dominant position, he'd be able to finish easier.
Esson unloads with some shots from mount but Cruz bucks and avoids them well.

Esson working to secure an arm triangle but it's not happening for him just yet.
Esson pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Cruz tries to hold on but Esson postures up.
Cruz blocking the ground and pound.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Murray Esson dominated that round.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Esson waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Cruz.
Nice uppercut there from Esson.
Esson lands an uppercut out of nowhere! Cruz falls backwards - clearly groggy! Esson dives in and finishes the fight with more strikes for a TKO finish!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:13 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Murray Esson!
Murray Esson decided to hype himself up post fight. It was going well but he went on about it a bit too long and the crowd turned on him a little.