PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Aderbal Maia (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Abraham Kurse (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Kurse is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: Counting Stars - OneRepublic. Abraham Kurse will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Maia
vs
Kurse

180 cm
26
218 lbs
9 - 0 - 0

186 cm
19
207 lbs
5 - 1 - 0

Good takedowns
Counter fighter
KO power

Excellent grappler
Counter fighter
Granite chin

WatercoloR - 90% Laundry
Heisenberg

Kemists ↑ 5x160Q

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the light heavyweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Aderbal Maia!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Abraham Kurse!
The judges for this bout are Alexandre Firmino, Luis Engracia and Mauricio Rocha.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
We've got one fighter who appears to only be looking to counter and the other not looking particularly aggressive either, so we could be in for a dull fight.
Maia ducks under a wild hook from Kurse.
Kurse misses with a straight left.
Maia moves away from the strike by Kurse.
Kurse misses with a wild body shot.
Kurse takes a swing at Maia's ribcage but misses.
Maia closes the distance and clinches up with Kurse, looking for a takedown. Maia pushes Kurse against the cage but Kurse circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Maia shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Kurse pinned against the cage. Kurse gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.
Maia moves out of range as Kurse strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Kurse tries for a takedown but Maia sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Maia has his head snapped back a nice jab. A little nod from Maia there as he acknowledges the shot.

Maia shoots in for a takedown and gets it.
The referee claps his hands together and tells the fighters to work.
Maia controlling the action here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Maia is looking to advance position but Kurse won't allow it.

Maia is sneakily working for an arm triangle but Kurse sees it coming and defends easily.

Maia wants to work for an arm triangle but Kurse is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.

Maia is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.

Kurse looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Maia seems to be looking for submissions.
Maia is figuring out what he wants to do next.

Kurse looking for submissions from an awkward position here.

Maia is looking for a kimura here.
Maia prevents Kurse from improving his position.
Kurse felt the need to train up his defensive grappling in the buildup to the fight. Presumably he was expecting to be in a difficult position like this, so let's see if he can get out of it.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Maia works his way into side control.
Kurse tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Maia in side control, throwing shots but Kurse defends.
Kurse gets back to half guard.
Kurse is refusing to be controlled, as Maia sits in half guard.

Maia is actively looking for submissions here but good counter grappling here from Kurse as he works his way to full guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Maia gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily

and Kurse counters with a shoot takedown into half guard.
Maia regains full guard. Nicely done.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Kurse wants to control from the top but Maia keeps moving.
Kurse passes easily into side control. Nice work.
Maia is positioning himself to get back to half guard.
Maia manages to land a sweep and he's now on top! Lovely Jiu Jitsu!
Maia lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Kurse works his way to full guard. Good work.
Kurse can't keep his opponent in guard - Maia advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Kurse looking for submissions off his back.

Maia is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. Kurse doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Maia.
Kurse avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Maia.

Maia is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. Kurse doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Maia.
Maia wants to lay and pray for a moment but Kurse keeps working.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Maia is working for a kimura but Kurse is defending it quite comfortably.
Kurse gets full guard.

Kurse working away from the bottom but not quite defensive enough there because Maia has passed into half guard!

Kurse looking for submissions from an awkward position here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Maia drops an elbow to the side of Kurse's head.

Maia is trying to work for a kimura. This could be trouble! No, Kurse has managed to free his arm - good work.

Maia moves into side control, avoiding a weak kimura attempt from Kurse.
Kurse is trying to improve his position.
Aderbal Maia overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Maia looking for an arm triangle but it's way too loose to do anything.

Maia tries for an arm triangle. That looks pretty tight to me. Is this one over!?! Possibly, maybe, no Maia has let go of the choke. Obviously it wasn't as tight as we thought!

Maia is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Kurse is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.

Maia has an Americana. Kurse didn't react quickly enough there and he's in big trouble now! He tries to squirm out but is forced to tap! Maia is delighted and gyrates in front of the ring girls. They seem to like the attention - it'll be interesting to see if Maia hooks up with any of them at the after show party.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Americana). Aderbal Maia!
Aderbal Maia retains his light heavyweight title!
Our winner, Aderbal Maia, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.
The defeated Abraham Kurse had this to say: 'Congrats, Aderbal. We're the top 2 guys in the weight class and we'll meet again soon. Glad to have fought you.'.