PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Mano Thao (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rodrigo Almeida (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Thao comes into the arena with Sabotage by Beastie Boys blaring out of the sound system. Almeida has chosen Rock You Like a Hurricane as his entrance music. Fingers crossed for an exciting fight - I'm sure both fighters are looking for a nice under the table bonus!

Thao
vs
Almeida

197 cm
31
212 lbs
11 - 8 - 0

176 cm
25
182 lbs
6 - 1 - 0

Decent wrestler
World class MT
KO power

Good wrestler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 11 - 8 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Mano Thao!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Rodrigo Almeida!
The judges for this bout are Daniel Cesar, Emerson Jorge and Alexandre Firmino.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thao scores with a nice strike.
Thao throws a sloppy body shot

and Almeida counters with a shoot takedown. Thao fights it but they end up in guard.
Thao will need to keep those long limbs tucked in whilst he's on the ground, to prevent any submissions.
Thao avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Almeida trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Almeida missing there with some ground and pound from the guard.
Almeida postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Almeida working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Almeida postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Almeida stands and throws Thao's legs to the side, diving into side control.
Almeida has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Almeida is working Thao over with some ground and pound from side control.
Thao on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Thao tries to get out of the position.
Almeida scores with a couple of nice shots to the head there. The referee takes a look at Thao to see if he's OK.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Almeida cracks Thao with a big elbow.
Almeida misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Almeida in side control, trying to ground and pound but not landing this time.
Almeida in side control lands a nice looking series of punches and elbows.
The referee tells the fighters to keep busy.
Almeida scoring with punches from side control.
An elbow from Almeida crashes against the mat.
Thao is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Almeida is controlling him well.
Thao takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.
Almeida working the strikes but Thao uses the opportunity to regain half guard.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Thao blocking the ground and pound attempt from Almeida.
Thao avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Almeida.
Thao knows he needs to get back to his feet asap. He's simply no match for Almeida on the ground.
Almeida throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Almeida scores with a couple of good hammerfists.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Almeida thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Almeida thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Almeida thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Almeida throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Almeida thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Almeida throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Thao looks to be in better condition than last time we saw him fight. Obviously he's been working hard on his cardio.
Almeida seems to be taking a bit of a break to think of his next move. He lands a short punch in the meantime.
Almeida takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Thao tries to kick Almeida off but Almeida keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Almeida is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Almeida throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Almeida throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Almeida working the head and body with strikes.
Nice strikes from Almeida there.
Almeida is keen to just control but Thao is a slippery customer.
Almeida trying to mount his opponent but Thao defends it.
Almeida is looking to take a break and control but Thao is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Thao avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Almeida.
Almeida takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Thao is trying to stand back up but Almeida is controlling him
Almeida looks to score some points with some ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Almeida lands strikes from half guard.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Almeida is nestled in close to Thao, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Almeida wants to control but Thao is keeping him busy.
The referee walks around the fighters to get a better view of the action. Almeida lands a nice short elbow.
Almeida scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Almeida working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Almeida throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Almeida thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
Almeida misses with a head shot. Thao uses the momentum to regain guard.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Almeida postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rodrigo Almeida dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Thao stuffs the takedown.
A head kick misses from Thao.

Almeida gets the takedown into side control.
Almeida misses with a strike but at least he's keeping busy, looking to cause some damage - that will still help him when it comes to the judges scorecards.
Thao is not content to let Almeida control the position.
Almeida working the ground and pound.
Almeida scoring with punches and elbows.

Thao is rocked!
Almeida working the body and head with strikes.
Oh Thao is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
This has been an exciting period of action!
Almeida lands a strong strike to the head of Thao. That's dazed him! Almeida looking to finish here. Thao is waving his arms around trying to block but he's hurt badly - Almeida lands more strikes and the referee steps in to end the fight!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Rodrigo Almeida!
After winning the bout, Rodrigo Almeida thanked all his fans and promised he'd do even better in his next fight. The crowd seemed to love his humility.