PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Kevin Durant (ranked 1315 p4p, 772 weight class) and Fortunado Sampaio (ranked 167 p4p, 104 weight class). Sampaio is bobbing his head along to his entrance song: Corre Riba Corre Baixo. Fortunado Sampaio told me before the fight that he's been watching a lot of DVDs so let's see if that helps him in this one! I can't wait to find out!

Durant
vs
Sampaio

191 cm
29
205
25 - 3 - 0

190 cm
27
217
8 - 4 - 0

Good wrestling
Lethal high kicks
Very quick

Olympic wrestler
World class MT
Heavy handed

30th Century Beer Store
NARCOS

30th Century Beer Store
Bondi MMA 🏝️

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 25 - 3 - 0, fighting out of London, Kevin Durant!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 8 - 4 - 0, fighting out of London, Fortunado Sampaio!
The judges for this bout are Donald Grub, Colin Fotheringham and Chris Edwards.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Sampaio dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Durant throws an off balance right hand
letting Sampaio counter with a right hand.
Durant bobs and weaves and throws out a fast jab that snaps Sampaio's head backwards.

It looks like Fortunado Sampaio has been cut.
The fighters circle momentarily. Sampaio darts into range and connects with a nice straight punch.
Durant tries to close the distance and clinch but Sampaio swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Durant throws a shot from downtown. Sampaio moves away and avoids it.
Sampaio now looks to counter with a shot at the body.
Durant misses with a looping right.
Sampaio throws a jab but it's blocked by Durant.
Durant lands with a straight right. Sampaio didn't see that one coming.

Durant pushes Sampaio up against the cage in a clinch.
Sampaio tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
Sampaio misses with a shot to the kidneys.
Sampaio tries to work over Durant's body with a swooping hook but it only glances the target.
Durant blocks a body shot from Sampaio.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
A head punch on the inside from Durant fails to land.
Sampaio lands with a short head shot on the inside.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Sampaio.
Durant lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Sampaio backwards.
Sampaio tries to land a shot to the body but it's blocked.
I was talking to Durant's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Sampaio lands a left hand.
Sampaio lands a body punch in the clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Durant has a couple of punches blocked by Sampaio.
Sampaio lands with a quick shot inside that doesn't really do much damage.
Durant fails to land with a short punch on the inside.
Sampaio presses Durant against the cage and delivers a mid-strength body shot.
Durant gets through Sampaio's defenses to land a nice punch to the side of the head.
Sampaio scores with a shot to the side of Durant's head.
With the fighters clinched against the cage, Durant creates a bit of distance for himself and scores with a nice uppercut.
Sampaio works on Durant's body with a couple of short punches.

Sampaio manages to break the clinch.
Durant misses the shot to the body.
Sampaio throws out a counter right but Durant avoids it with no problem.
Durant doesn't manage to clinch there - Sampaio circles away.
Sampaio slips a straight right by Durant.
Durant tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Sampaio counters with a one-two to the body.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Sampaio scores with a hook to the body. Durant takes a step back and tries to catch his breath.
Sampaio throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
Durant is breathing heavily.
Durant throws a big shot that misses.
Durant throws a sloppy body shot
and Sampaio makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Sampaio displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Durant throws out the jab.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A clash of legs there as Sampaio blocks the low kick.
Sampaio throws a right hand that Durant ducks under and follows up with a left that Durant also avoids with ease.
Durant takes a body punch but keeps moving.
Durant misses with a series of wild punches.
Sampaio is clearly trying to counter these attacks from Durant with a body shot.
Durant throws a body kick but he wasn't in range.
Durant backing away here, and Sampaio unleashes a leg kick that just misses.
Durant throws a lazy right hand but Sampaio sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Durant misses with a hook. Sampaio ducked under it nicely.
Durant tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Durant throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent Sampaio stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Sampaio slips a jab from Durant.
Durant throws a leg kick

and Sampaio counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by Sampaio.
Sampaio struggles to land a body shot inside as Durant controls his hands.
Sampaio struggles to land a body shot inside as Durant controls his hands.
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Durant.
Durant fails to land with a short punch on the inside.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Still in the clinch, Sampaio scores with a nice short uppercut.
Durant throws a head punch that misses.
Durant tries to throw a body punch but Sampaio avoids it by throwing Durant back against the cage.
Sampaio pushes Durant back against the cage and lands a hook to the side of the head.
Still in the clinch, Sampaio scores with a nice short uppercut.
Sampaio makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.

Durant is rocked!
Sampaio lands a left hand.
Oh Durant is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Sampaio.
Sampaio lands a shoulder strike that jolts his opponent's head backwards.
Sampaio creates some distance for himself and unleashes a massive uppercut that sends Durant's eyes rolling into the back of his head! Durant drops to his knees and Sampaio pours it on with more strikes until the referee steps in to end the bout!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:29 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Fortunado Sampaio!
In his post fight interview, Fortunado Sampaio started talking himself up. Luckily his charisma kept the crowd on side and gave him a good reception.