PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rakeem Marley (ranked 2099 p4p, 2151 weight class) and Juan De Souza (ranked 274 p4p, 284 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Marley might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to Damian Marley - Welcome to Jamrock. Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Marley
vs
De Souza

189 cm
21
223
5 - 3 - 0

185 cm
22
210
7 - 7 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent boxer
Cardio machine

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Powerful

Ma Balls Is Hot Clothing
Urban Fighter

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 5 - 3 - 0, fighting out of New York, Rakeem Marley!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 7 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Juan De Souza!
The judges for this bout are John Roberts, David Schapiro and John Kavanagh.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Marley takes a step towards his opponent and connects with a left hand, before circling away.
De Souza throws a series of punches but Marley moves out of range.
Marley appears to be looking for a big counter.
De Souza jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
We've been told by Marley's head coaches at Dark Horse MMA (HBE) that he's been working on his takedown defense in preparation for this fight.

De Souza clinches with his opponent.

Marley pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Marley lands a right hook to the body.

De Souza has closed the distance and engaged Marley in a clinch.
De Souza misses with some punches.
Marley throws a blind hook that connects with the side of De Souzas head.
De Souza misses with the head strike.
De Souza tries to work over Marley's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
De Souza lands a nice uppercut.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
De Souza misses with a short punch on the inside.
De Souza throws a head punch that misses.
A right hand to the body from De Souza.
De Souza throws a head punch that misses.
De Souza lands a hook to the side of the head.
De Souza fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
De Souza swings wildly with an uppercut but Marley uses good head movement to avoid it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Marley is looking to break free of the clinch but De Souza has double underhooks.
Marley wants to get back to striking at distance but De Souza won't allow it.
De Souza has Marley pressed against the cage, preventing Marley from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
De Souza lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
De Souza misses with some punches.
De Souza looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
De Souza throws a head punch that misses.
De Souza lands a left hand that snaps the head of Marley backwards.
De Souza lands a hook that snaps the head of Marley backwards.
Marley has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Marley is trying to force a seperation but De Souza has the dominant position.
De Souza throws a head punch that misses.
Marley misses with a shot to the kidneys.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Marley.
De Souza slows down the pace here.
De Souza throws a punch but it's blocked by Marley.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for De Souza.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Marley is trying to break free.
Marley is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Marley blocks an uppercut.
Marley fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
De Souza misses with a hook to the ribs.
Marley blocks an uppercut.
De Souza swings away with an uppercut that misses.
De Souza misses with a punch on the inside.
Marley blocks a body shot from De Souza.
A right handed body shot lands from De Souza.
De Souza throws a head punch that misses.
De Souza misses with a short punch on the inside.
De Souza lands a body shot in the clinch.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Marley wants to break the clinch but can't.
De Souza scores with a nice hook to the head.
De Souza swings away with an uppercut that misses.
Nice body punch from De Souza - that landed with a thud.
A frustrated look appears on Marley's face as he tries to break the clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
De Souza tried to land a shot to the body but connects with Marley's elbow.
De Souza misses with a hook from the clinch.
De Souza softening up his opponent with strikes, against the cage.
De Souza misses with the head strike.
De Souza throws a punch but it's blocked by Marley.
De Souza pushes Marley back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.

De Souza's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
A combination from De Souza does no damage.
Marley throws a nice looking combination but De Souza bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.
Nice uppercut lands for Marley. That snapped De Souza's head back.
Marley throws a right hand that De Souza ducks under and follows up with a left that De Souza also avoids with ease.
De Souza uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Marley.
De Souza is looking to clinch.
De Souza dodges the punch combination from Marley.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

De Souza clinches up against the cage.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for De Souza.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
De Souza digs a right hand into Marley's ribs. Those have got to be taking their toll on Marley's gas tank.
De Souza tries a shoulder strike but it doesn't do any damage.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, De Souza creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
De Souza working on landing some head shots here - that one got through nicely.

Marley is rocked!

It looks like Rakeem Marley has been cut.
De Souza misses with a punch on the inside.
Oh Marley is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
De Souza swings away with an uppercut that misses.
De Souza misses with a hook from the clinch.
De Souza throws a punch but it's blocked by Marley.
A head punch on the inside from De Souza fails to land.
De Souza misses with a short punch on the inside.
Nice body punch from De Souza - that landed with a thud.
Marley blocks an uppercut.
Marley wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
De Souza swings away with an uppercut that misses.
De Souza holding his opponent close, against the cage.
De Souza swings wildly with an uppercut but Marley uses good head movement to avoid it.
Marley blocks an uppercut.
Marley lands with a short head shot on the inside.
A head punch blocked on the inside by Marley.
Marley seems to have got his legs back now.
Marley wants to take the fight to the mat but De Souza manages to get underhooks and keep the fight in the clinch.
De Souza fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
De Souza lands with a short shot to the head.
A head punch on the inside from De Souza fails to land.
De Souza throws a head punch that misses.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Juan De Souza dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Rakeem Marley's cut.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Marley is looking to score with low kicks.
De Souza is looking for the big counter here.
De Souza doesn't manage to clinch there - Marley circles away.
The fighters circling - De Souza throws out the jab but it was never going to land.
De Souza slips a jab from Marley.
De Souza flashes Marley a smile before throwing a beast of a right hand, straight down the pipe. Marley's eyes follow the hand right onto his nose, taking in it's full glory... and then darkness. Marley crumples to the floor! He's out cold! De Souza punches the air and yells at the top of his lungs - yeeeeeeeeeeah!!!! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:24 of round 2, we have a winner by way of KO (Punch). Juan De Souza!
During a confident post fight interview, Juan De Souza thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.