PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rodrigo Sosa (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Dirk Nowitzki (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The atmosphere really building for this one as we go over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Sosa
vs
Nowitzki

183 cm
19
200 lbs
1 - 0 - 0

185 cm
22
198 lbs
1 - 1 - 0

Good takedowns
Brawler
Intelligent

Decent wrestler
Counter striker
Intelligent

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Rodrigo Sosa!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Dirk Nowitzki!
The judges for this bout are Luis Engracia, Thiago Cunha and Leandro Rodrigues.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sosa moves in looking to clinch but Nowitzki pushes him off.
Sosa looks exhausted already! Oh dear, he should have come in in better shape than this!
Nowitzki avoids a punch combination nicely.
Sosa has a takedown stuffed.

Sosa feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Sosa won't allow Nowitzki to sweep him here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Nowitzki striking off his back but it's not causing Sosa any problems.
Nowitzki is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Nowitzki perhaps working for something from half guard, or maybe not. It looks like he's just sitting there.
Nowitzki trying to mount his opponent but Sosa defends it.
Sosa taking some punishment here, with Nowitzki in his half guard.
Nowitzki performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Sosa throws a strike from the bottom that misses.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sosa punching from the bottom.
Nowitzki is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Nowitzki tries to pass the half guard into mount. Sosa knows what he's doing though and prevents the attempt.
Sosa tries to get to full guard but Nowitzki has control of the leg.
Nowitzki really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Sosa. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Nowitzki slips a nice elbow through Sosa's hands, connecting with Sosa's forehead.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Nowitzki scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Sosa wants to improve his position but Nowitzki is controlling well.
Nowitzki performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Nowitzki is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nowitzki is controlling the pace.
Nowitzki landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Sosa taking some punishment here, with Nowitzki in his half guard.
Nowitzki is pressing down on Sosa's thigh, looking to free his foot. Sosa is holding on for now.
Ground and pound from Nowitzki.
Nowitzki is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Nowitzki scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Nowitzki looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Sosa with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sosa is trying to control but can't.
Nowitzki is keeping good posture, landing some ground and pound.
Ground and pound from Nowitzki.
Nowitzki lands strikes from half guard.
Nowitzki stalling.
Nowitzki working over Sosa with some ground and pound. Sosa looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Nowitzki frees up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Sosa flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Nowitzki fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Sosa throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
Nowitzki lands a big elbow.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Sosa swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Sosa is in all sorts of trouble here.
Nowitzki scoring with strikes but Sosa is staying in there.
Sosa in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Nowitzki fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Sosa throwing hammer fists to the chest of Nowitzki. What's that going to do exactly?
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Nowitzki cracks Sosa with a nasty head shot there - the crowd let out an audible gasp there, as the noise reverberated around the arena.
Sosa throwing hammer fists to the chest of Nowitzki. What's that going to do exactly?
Nowitzki with good strikes from the mount here!
Nowitzki landing strikes, looking to finish!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Sosa takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Nowitzki blocks Sosa's feeble attempts to strike from the bottom.
Sosa working to try and regain half guard.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dirk Nowitzki dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Nowitzki shoots in and gets a takedown into half guard. Nowitzki showed some decent athleticism there.
Sosa punching from the bottom.
Nowitzki with a momentary lay and pray from half guard.
Sosa won't allow Nowitzki to pass to mount.
Nowitzki works his way into side control.
Sosa takes a couple of big shots there - the referee warns him that he has to defend himself better.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Nowitzki scores with a couple of short elbows.
Nowitzki tries to cartwheel into mount but he doesn't manage it.
Dirk Nowitzki has got the better of the ground game so far.
Sosa taking a bit of punishment here - Nowitzki scoring with strikes.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nowitzki scores with punches from side control.
Nowitzki wants to lay and pray for a moment but Sosa keeps working.
Sosa takes an elbow right on the bridge of the nose and winces in pain.
Sosa has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Nowitzki working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.
Nowitzki landing strikes.
Sosa is looking to reverse the position.
Nowitzki scoring with punches from side control.
Nowitzki lands a nice forearm strike.
Sosa on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Sosa tries to get out of the position.
Nowitzki landing with strikes to the head and body from side control.
Nowitzki happy to just control the position for now.
Nowitzki landing strikes.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Nowitzki lands an elbow.
Nowitzki lands a knee to the body and follows it up with some ground and pound to the head. That will wear Sosa down.
Sosa pushes Nowitzki away and creates a bit of space to escape. He's almost out here... but no, Nowitzki gets a good hold of his legs and remains firmly in side control.
Sosa is trying to get back to half guard.
Nowitzki works to advance to full mount. Sosa defends for a few seconds but eventually he succumbs.
Nowitzki looking to finish Sosa with some ground and pound. This is bad for Sosa!
Sosa keeping his composure momentarily, calmly looking to get back to half guard.
Nowitzki with the ground and pound from mount.
Sosa throwing hammer fists to the chest of Nowitzki. What's that going to do exactly?
Nowitzki lands a big shot there that rocks Sosa but he's holding on and managing to survive for now.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Sosa swinging wildly from the bottom but he's not landing.
Nowitzki with a couple of short strikes.
Sosa flailing away with punches but nothing is landing.
Sosa is desperately trying to improve his position but Nowitzki has a good base and remains in mount.
Nowitzki with the ground and pound from mount.
Sosa in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
Nowitzki has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Sosa's face.
Nowitzki pausing momentarily but resumes with a couple of decent strikes that do a bit of damage.
Nowitzki is in the full mount, landing strikes.
Nowitzki lands an elbow that was bordering on illegal but the referee lets it go with a warning.
Nowitzki raining down shots from the mount!
Sosa throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
Sosa is in a horrible position here. Nowitzki smacks him with another shot as he tries to escape the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Nowitzki is still in mount, landing shots to his trapped opponent. Sosa can't stay in a position like this for much longer.
Nowitzki with good strikes from the mount here!
Nowitzki controlling from the full mount.
The referee warns Sosa that he has to improve his position here as he takes two more clean shots to the head.
Nowitzki landing strikes from the mount.
Nowitzki lands with some strikes.
Sosa is trying desperately to improve position.
Nowitzki fakes a shot to the body and cracks his opponent in the head. Nice ground and pound there!
Nowitzki lands a shot to the body, followed up by a shot to the exposed head of his trapped opponent.
Sosa throwing punches from his back but nothing is landing.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Dirk Nowitzki showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The referee calls time. The cornermen exit stage left and we're back to business. This is the final round!

Nowitzki has Sosa up against the cage in a clinch.
A bit of stalling here from Nowitzki.
Sosa is working for takedown but Nowitzki is calmly controlling the position for now.

Nowitzki gets double underhooks and manages to take the fight to the ground.
Nowitzki is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Nowitzki connects with a couple of short punches.
Nowitzki is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Sosa wants to sweep but no luck.
Nowitzki controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.
Sosa looking to hit a scissor sweep but Nowitzki is one step ahead there.
Nowitzki working some strikes from top position.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Sosa keeping moving, preventing Nowitzki from controlling successfully.
Nowitzki chips away with some ground and pound.
Nowitzki must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.
Nowitzki makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Nowitzki trying to control but Sosa is working from the bottom.
Nowitzki working some strikes from top position.
Sosa trying to strike off his back.
Nowitzki content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Nowitzki scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Nowitzki is stalling in the full guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A few boos can be heard. I'm sure they will multiply if the fighters don't pick up the pace.
Nowitzki works over Sosa with some ground and pound from guard.
Nowitzki cracks Sosa with a solid left hand.
Sosa tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Nowitzki postures up.
Nowitzki has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
Sosa striking off his back but it's not causing Nowitzki any problems.
Nowitzki lands a couple of elbows.
Sosa striking off his back but it's not causing Nowitzki any problems.
Nowitzki with a nice head shot there.
Nowitzki postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.

Sosa has his foot on Nowitzki's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Nowitzki works his way back into a safe position though.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.

Sosa gets taken down but at least he's managed to land in guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Nowitzki stopping the sweep attempt from Sosa.
Sosa trying to strike off his back.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Nowitzki's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Nowitzki is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.

Sosa is working an open guard so Nowitzki takes the opportunity to get back to his feet.
Sosa with a lazy takedown attempt

and Nowitzki counters by moving into the clinch.
Nowitzki lands a damaging elbow.
Nowitzki lands an elbow just above Sosa 's eye.
Nowitzki lands an elbow inside.

Nowitzki gets a trip takedown into half guard.
Nowitzki takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Sosa missing with punches from the bottom.
Nowitzki trying to control the pace.
Sosa lands one or two decent shots to the body here. Although from his own half guard, he's not going to be causing too much damage.
Sosa has hold of Nowitzki's hands but Nowitzki slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Nowitzki scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Sosa missing with punches from the bottom.
Nowitzki wants to lay and pray for a moment but Sosa keeps working.
Dirk Nowitzki is fighting for a decision here - he's started to take the cautious approach.

The referee has ruled that neither fighter is active enough on the ground and has stood them back up.

Nowitzki scores a takedown into full mount!

And that's the end of the fight!
Dirk Nowitzki comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Nowitzki has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.

Judge Luis Engracia scores the fight for Dirk Nowitzki!
Judge Thiago Cunha scores the fight for Dirk Nowitzki!
Judge Leandro Rodrigues scores the fight for Dirk Nowitzki!

Dirk Nowitzki wins by unanimous decision!