PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Ares Espiro (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rocha Freire (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Freire has chosen Fuel - Won't Back Down as his entrance music. Ares Espiro has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Espiro
vs
Freire

185 cm
20
191 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

180 cm
27
187 lbs
4 - 3 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Brawler
Prefers standup

BJJ Blue Belt
Good kicks
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Ares Espiro!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Rocha Freire!
The judges for this bout are Steven Brown, Chris Edwards and James Ackerman.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Freire avoids a lazy jab quite easily.
Freire looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
Freire throws a head kick that misses.
Espiro wants to clinch up but Freire keeps it at a distance.
Freire looks to land a combination. Espiro sees it coming but can only parry a couple of the shots.
Freire moves out of range of the strikes.
Freire dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Espiro. That did some damage!
Freire's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Espiro connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Freire scrambles back to his feet.
Freire dodges the punch combination from Espiro.
Espiro looks to have improved his striking defense since last time we saw him fight.
Freire misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Espiro misses with a hook to the body

and Freire counters with a crisp one two that drops Espiro! Freire thinks about following him to the mat for a moment but instead steps back and waves Espiro to his feet! Espiro is in big trouble!

Espiro is rocked!
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Espiro pushing out the jab but it's not landing.

The fight moves into the clinch position.

Freire breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.

Freire lands a big head kick that sends Espiro tumbling to the mat! Freire takes a step backwards and waves Espiro back to his feet - he wants the finish!
Oh Espiro is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Espiro fails in his attempt to clinch.
Freire circles away from the clinch attempt
and Freire counters with a nice body shot.
Espiro seems to have got his legs back now.
Espiro throws a lazy uppercut
and Freire counters with an inside leg kick.
No joy there for Freire, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Espiro throws a hook to the side of Freire's head but Freire sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Espiro throws a lazy uppercut
and Freire counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Espiro on the wrong end of a nice jab.
A punch lands to the side of Freire 's head but he takes it in his stride.
Freire cracks Espiro with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Espiro is looking to clinch but Freire is avoiding it.
Freire feints a jab promting Espiro to slip. Freire then demonstrates his capabilities by jabbing again. Espiro slips again and ducks right into an uppercut.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
A slow jab from Espiro misses its intended target.
Espiro lands with an overhand left.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Espiro swings and misses with a shot to the body
and Freire counters with a nice leg kick.
Espiro tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Freire manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Ares Espiro seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Espiro misses with a hook
and Freire counters with an outside leg kick.
Freire takes one to the side of the head.
Espiro misses with a hook

and Freire counters with a crisp one two that drops Espiro! Freire thinks about following him to the mat for a moment but instead steps back and waves Espiro to his feet! Espiro is in big trouble!
Freire displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Espiro throws out the jab.
A good leg kick by Freire.
Boom, another hit is landed. "You're gunna get knocked out" taunts Espiro, as that shot connected.
Espiro misses with a right hand
enabling Freire to counter with a crisp jab.
Espiro throws an uppercut from half a mile away. Freire sees it coming and avoids it easily.
Freire walks forward and throws a big overhand right! Espiro drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes! Freire swarms on him with more punches until the referee wrestles him away from Espiro's unconscious body! Wow, that was brutal!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:52 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Rocha Freire!
A relieved looking Rocha Freire thanked the fans for their support and gave the usual line about them being amazing. They seemed to believe that he actually meant it.