PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Thomas Raske (ranked 703 p4p, 98 weight class) and Billy Marques (ranked 3119 p4p, 391 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Marques's choice of entrance music: Raining Blood. Billy Marques acknowledges the crowd's support as he enters the cage.

Raske
vs
Marques

188 cm
22
185 lbs
9 - 0 - 0

191 cm
32
185 lbs
8 - 6 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Excellent MT
Insanely flexible

BJJ Purple Belt
Decent boxing
Powerful

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the welterweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Thomas Raske!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Billy Marques!
The judges for this bout are Wagner Zegers, Daniel Blasius and Patrick Alders.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Raske throws a body punch but Marques moves out of range.
Raske steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Marques.
Raske misses with a body kick.
Marques lands a nice shot to the body.
Raske fails with an attempt to clinch.
Raske takes a swing at Marques's ribcage but misses.
Marques just misses with a punch to the body.
Raske throws a body shot but no joy.
Marques looked like he wanted to counter with a punch but didn't throw it.
Raske doesn't manage to clinch there - Marques circles away.
It seemed like Marques was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.
Raske is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Marques.
Marques keeps the fight on the outside.
Raske slips under a jab from Marques.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Marques misses with an uppercut. Raske saw that one coming.
Marques circles away from the clinch attempt
and Marques counters with a straight right hand.
Marques jabbing away but nothing is landing.
As Marques backs away, Raske returns fire with a leg kick that just misses.
Raske looks to score with a jab to the body but Marques is just out of range.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raske moves into range and lands a nice leg kick.
Marques throws a hook but Raske blocks it.
Raske tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Marques manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Raske's hands are dropping dangerously low here and Marques connects clean with a right hook that sends him down to one knee! Raske scrambles back to his feet.

Raske closes the distance and clinches.
Raske lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Raske working aggressively here.
Raske lands a body punch in the clinch.

Marques pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Raske is looking to land body kicks.
Marques ducks down and throws a hook to the body but Raske moves away.
Raske was looking to counter that move with a punch but didn't quite pull the trigger.
Marques gets cracked with a nice right hand there by Raske.
Raske misses with a body shot.
Marques doesn't fully commit to the body shot counter.

Raske clinches up with Marques and pushes him back against the cage.
Raske misses with the head strike.
Raske working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
A head punch blocked on the inside by Marques.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Marques blocking some punches.
Raske swings wildly with an uppercut but Marques uses good head movement to avoid it.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Raske creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Raske digs a right hand into Marques's ribs. Those have got to be taking their toll on Marques's gas tank.
Marques wants to get back to striking at distance but Raske won't allow it.
Marques wants to break the clinch but can't.
Marques wants to get back to striking at distance but Raske won't allow it.
Marques has been looking to improve his clinch game in recent weeks. Raske seems to have the measure of him in the clinch so far, so let's see if Marques can turn it around.

Marques escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Raske looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
A lazy left from Raske finds it's target.
Raske swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Marques.
Raske misses with a hook.
We've been told by Raske's head coaches at Aspire Academy that he's been working on his takedown defense in preparation for this fight.
Good leg kick by Raske there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
Marques throws a body punch but Raske moves out of range.
Marques displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Raske throws out the jab.
Marques looked like he wanted to counter with a punch but didn't throw it.
Raske avoids a kick to the body.
Marques misses with a jab, cross combination.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Raske misses with a straight left.
Marques throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Raske tries to clinch but Marques is having none of it.
Marques pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
No joy there for Marques, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Raske moves away from the strike by Marques.

Raske gets a clinch.
Raske tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Raske can't find room to land a body shot as Marques controls the action.
Raske tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Raske pushes Marques back against the cage and unloads with a body punch.
Raske lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Marques or not.
Raske gets through Marques's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Marques is trying to break the clinch but Raske has him pressed against the cage.
Raske lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Marques.
Marques looks winded!
Marques can't break the clinch.
Raske lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Marques.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raske lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.

Marques breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Good exchange - Raske coming out on top.
Thomas Raske seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Marques misses with a looping right.
Raske cracks Marques with a hook to the jaw. Both fighters smile at eachother and high-five before getting back down to business.
Raske throws a head kick that connects with a bit of head and a bit of hand.
Marques drops his hands and takes a jab to the jaw for his troubles.
Raske thuds a left hand into Marques's body.
Raske connects with a body shot that sends Marques's belly button to the back.
A big left from Marques misses.
Raske misses with a shot to the body
letting Marques counter with a right hand.

Raske darts in and clinches Marques up against the cage.
Raske cracks Marques with a nice body shot.
Raske lands with a short head shot on the inside.
Raske lands a short shot on the inside that snaps the head of Marques backwards.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Marques.
Raske lands a shot to the body.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thomas Raske dominated that round.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Raske misses with a wild body shot.
Marques throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Marques chopped to the floor by a nice leg kick but he springs right back up before Raske can pounce on him.
Raske lands a nice hook to Marques's body. Marques takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Raske connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.
Marques misses with a straight left.
A swing and a miss from Marques.
This fight brought to you by 5M nutrition - it's mmmmm tasty. Nice jab by Raske.
Raske fails in his attempt to clinch.
Marques circles away from the clinch attempt
and Marques counters with a nice jab to the body that keeps Raske thinking.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Marques takes a shot to the nose. Hopefully that hasn't broken it.
Raske scores with a slapping inside leg kick.
Raske is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Marques can do to turn this around?
Raske swings for the body but Marques moves out of range.
Raske tries to clinch up.
Marques misses the jab.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Raske throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Raske uses good footwork to get in and out, landing a nice hook.
Marques is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Raske.
Raske keeps his opponent at a distance with a nice jab.
A solid leg kick lands there for Raske.
Raske lands with a hook. Marques tried to avoid it but it clipped the top of his head.
Marques avoids the head kick by Raske.
Marques misses with an attempted mid kick.
Marques takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Marques's leg has a nasty welt from taking a succession of leg kicks. That must be slowing him down.
Marques moves his head to the side to avoid a jab but walks straight into a cross.

Marques gets tackled into the cage by Raske. Raske maintains the clinch.
Marques blocks a body shot from Raske.
Raske lands with a short punch from the clinch.
Raske can't find room to land a body shot as Marques controls the action.
Raske misses with a short punch on the inside.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Raske misses with a hook from the clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Marques is looking to break free of the clinch but Raske has double underhooks.
Thomas Raske has scored more points in the clinch so far.
Raske working aggressively here.

Marques's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Marques throws a jab when Raske was well out of range.
Marques misses with a hook. Raske ducked under it nicely.
Raske throws a jab when Marques was well out of range.
Raske throws a body kick that digs right into the meat.

Marques gets tackled into the cage by Raske. Raske maintains the clinch.
Raske working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.
Raske lands punches inside but they're not really causing much damage.
Raske swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Raske working aggressively here.
Raske misses with a short punch on the inside.
Raske throws a head punch that misses.
Raske doesn't land with the attempted body shot.
Raske scores with a nice hook to the head.
Raske works for underhooks and lands a body shot in the process.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Marques looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Marques wants to break the clinch but can't.
Raske lands a left hand that snaps the head of Marques backwards.

Marques is rocked!
Marques blocking some punches.
Raske misses with the head strike.
Raske misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Raske misses with a body punch.
Marques tries to break free but Raske pushes him back against the cage.
Raske lands a hook to the body. It's hard to tell if that hurt Marques or not.
Raske misses with a punch to the body.
Still in the clinch, Raske scores with a nice short uppercut.
Marques is still on wobbly legs! Can Raske finish him?
Raske misses with a hook from the clinch.
Raske has a couple of punches blocked by Marques.
Marques is trying to break the clinch but Raske is controlling him.
Raske misses with a hook from the clinch.
A head punch on the inside from Raske fails to land.
Marques looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Raske tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
Raske lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Marques.
Marques blocks an uppercut.
A hook to the body from Raske.
Marques seems to have recovered his senses.
Marques is breathing heavily.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Marques.
A shot in the inside from Raske.
Raske is leaning against Marques and scores with a nice uppercut to the body.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Raske misses with a punch to the body.
Raske misses with a hook from the clinch.
Raske throws a big uppercut that drops Marques! More strikes from Raske and the referee jumps in to stop the fight! Marques lies dazed against the cage as Raske celebrates with his cornermen!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:19 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Thomas Raske!
Thomas Raske thanked the fans post fight for their support.
In defeat, Billy Marques stepped up to the mic, saying 'I would like to apologize to my fans for what they witnessed here tonight. I am A LOT better than what you all seen here, trust me, the next time I step inside this octagon, you will witness something you've never seen before. MARK MY WORDS!'.