PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a featherweight MMA rules bout between Patricky Freire (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lucas Faria (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Faria is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: Stevie B - Spring Love. Both these guys have really solid chins. Will we see a standup war or will they both decide that a knockout is unlikely and try to win the fight elsewhere?

Freire
vs
Faria

170 cm
25
155 lbs
8 - 0 - 0

180 cm
34
154 lbs
15 - 23 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Solid boxing
Granite chin

BJJ Purple Belt
Dangerous knees
Granite chin

Spartan Nutrition

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the featherweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 8 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Patricky Freire!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 23 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Lucas Faria!
The judges for this bout are Seu Braga, Emerson Jorge and Leandro Rodrigues.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Freire shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Faria but Faria pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Faria fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.
Lucas Faria seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Faria lands with a nice combination. Freire backs away looking to recover.
Faria misses with a two punch combination.
Freire shuffles to his left behind two crisp jabs. Faria eats them both and turns towards Freire to reposition himself and eats a stinging right hand-left hook combo.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Freire.
Faria looks winded!
Freire working the ground and pound but he's contacting the mat, not the fighter.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!

Freire wants to work for a kimura but he's foiled early by Faria, who protects the arm well.

Freire tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Freire is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Faria has escaped the position, nice work there.

Freire working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.
Freire is looking to take a break and control but Faria is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Faria really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Freire. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.

Freire is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Faria is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Freire tries to cartwheel into mount but he doesn't manage it.
Faria looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.

Freire working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Faria is trying to buck Freire off.
Freire slows the pace down.

Freire is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Faria knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.

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

That's four minutes gone in the round.
My god... these two guys really need to pick up the pace or everyone will leave to go get a beer.
The fighters are tangled up in the ropes here. We might need a restart if the fighters can't break free themselves.

Freire thinks about going for a far side armbar but bails out and retains the dominant position instead.

Freire tries for a kimura but Faria is defending well.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Freire advances nicely into full mount.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Patricky Freire dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Freire.
Faria misses with a jab and misses with a cross straight after too.

Freire shoots in with a lovely double leg takedown. Faria manages to land in full guard to minimise the damage.
Freire tries to free his leg and advance position but Faria is retaining full guard.
Faria avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Faria keeping moving, preventing Freire from controlling successfully.
Faria working the defensive guard well to avoid strikes from Freire.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Freire postures up as if he's going to throw some strikes but drops back for an ankle! Faria is in big trouble! He looks ready to tap! But no, he's escaped and dives on top of Freire, into his guard.
Patricky Freire overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

Freire is working actively from the bottom, looking for submissions. He's escaped his hips to the side and he's going for an armbar! Faria has his hands clasped together but Freire extends and breaks Faria's desperate grasp, forcing a tap out due to armbar! Nice BJJ displayed there by Freire.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:58 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Patricky Freire!
Patricky Freire retains his featherweight title!
A very excited looking Patricky Freire made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.