PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Junior Dos Santos (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Benjamin Morales (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Junior Dos Santos could well score a knockout today. He has the power to get to Benjamin Morales's chin.

Dos Santos
vs
Morales

189 cm
21
246 lbs
1 - 3 - 0

200 cm
20
272 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Inexperienced

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 1 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Junior Dos Santos!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Benjamin Morales!
The judges for this bout are Alexandre Firmino, Leandro Rodrigues and Daniel Cesar.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Morales tries to bum rush Dos Santos with a series of wild strikes but Dos Santos uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Morales!

It looks like Junior Dos Santos has been cut.
Dos Santos looks for a takedown but Morales sprawls well.
Morales lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Dos Santos circles away quickly and effectively.
Morales thows a body shot but no joy.
Dos Santos fails with a rather predictable takedown attempt.
Morales throws a right hand that Dos Santos ducks under and follows up with a left that Dos Santos also avoids with ease.
Morales keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Junior Dos Santos. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Morales throws a combination but comes up with nothing but fresh air.
Dos Santos fails with a takedown attempt.
Morales stuffs the takedown attempt from Dos Santos. Dos Santos gets slowly back to his feet.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Dos Santos blocks the body kick.
Dos Santos tries to close the distance and clinch but Morales swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Morales misses with a wild combination.
Morales slaps away a takedown attempt from Dos Santos, before circling back to the center of the mat.
Dos Santos closes this distance looking for a takedown but Morales circles away.
Dos Santos wants to clinch

and Morales counters with a crisp one two that drops Dos Santos! Morales thinks about following him to the mat for a moment but instead steps back and waves Dos Santos to his feet! Dos Santos is in big trouble!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Morales throws a right and a left that Dos Santos avoids nicely.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Morales throws a head kick that misses
and Dos Santos counters with a flying knee. Nice.
Dos Santos fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Dos Santos is breathing heavily.

Morales has Dos Santos up against the cage in a clinch.

Morales manages to break the clinch.
No luck for Dos Santos with that takedown attempt.
Morales wants to land a leg kick but Dos Santos is out of range.
A telegraphed takedown attempt from Dos Santos is defended easily by Morales.
A low kick from Morales misses
and Dos Santos counters with a big head kick but Morales shrugs it off.
Morales tries a head kick but it misses.
Dos Santos takes one to the side of the head.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Dos Santos scores with a hook.

Dos Santos closes the distance and gets a double leg, slamming Morales to the mat! Morales manages to get full guard.
Dos Santos trying to control but Morales is working from the bottom.
Morales is looking to stand back up but Dos Santos counters by passing into half guard. Oops... bit sloppy there by Morales.
Dos Santos seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.
Dos Santos thows a huge punch but Morales dodges it nicely.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Dos Santos trying to control from half guard but Morales is working away.
Morales pushes Dos Santos off but Dos Santos dives into side control.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Morales trying to remain calm as Dos Santos controls from the top position.
Morales is looking to work his way out of this bad position but Dos Santos is controlling him well.

Dos Santos decides to stand up, so the ref orders Morales to his feet.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Dos Santos shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Morales but Morales pushes him off and we're back to square one.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Morales leaves Dos Santos with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Benjamin Morales dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Junior Dos Santos's cut.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Dos Santos will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Dos Santos throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Morales's waist but Morales gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing Dos Santos off to one side.
Horrible takedown by Dos Santos or perhaps it was just good defense by Morales which made him look bad.
Morales lands a jab-cross combination.
Dos Santos tries a head kick but it misses.
Dos Santos avoids a punch combination nicely.
Junior Dos Santos is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Dos Santos throws a lazy right hand but Morales sees it coming a mile off and sidesteps it easily.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
A bone on bone clash there as Dos Santos blocks the leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Dos Santos shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Morales defends it nicely.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Junior Dos Santos. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Morales defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Dos Santos.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Morales!

Junior Dos Santos's cut is getting worse.
Morales lands a nice shot to the body.
Morales looks to score with a jab to the body but Dos Santos is just out of range.
Dos Santos checks a leg kick.
Dos Santos tries to score a power double leg takedown but Morales sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Dos Santos somewhat.
Morales throws a combination but it was largely blocked by Dos Santos.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Morales tries to land a front kick but Dos Santos steps back. That was a bit too telegraphed.
Dos Santos's jab looks to have found its range, popping Morales under the eye.
Morales throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.

Dos Santos closes the distance and presses his opponent up against the cage.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

Dos Santos has picked Morales up - he's going for a ride! Dos Santos dumps his opponent to the mat with a thud and settles into half guard.
Morales is trying to stand up here but Dos Santos is controlling him well.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Dos Santos is looking for a kimura. It's going to be difficult to finish that from half guard though and Morales defends it well.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Morales can do anything to dispel that myth.
Dos Santos prevents Morales from standing back up.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Dos Santos throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Dos Santos scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Dos Santos content to control rather than advance.
Dos Santos working Morales over with strikes.

Dos Santos seems to be working for a kimura but Morales defends the submission attempt.
Morales taking some punishment here, with Dos Santos in his half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Dos Santos is trying to control. Morales wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.

Dos Santos gets to his feet - back to striking we go!
Dos Santos doesn't manage to clinch there - Morales circles away.
Dos Santos has a takedown stuffed.
Morales tries to land a leg kick but Dos Santos saw it coming and moves away.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Dos Santos tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Morales manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.

Dos Santos moves into the clinch.
Dos Santos lands a shoulder strike.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Junior Dos Santos will probably get the nod.
The cut man is working on Junior Dos Santos's cut.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin! And we move into the final round!

Dos Santos fails with an attempt to clinch.
Dos Santos tries to clinch there but Morales circles away.
Morales wants to clinch up but Dos Santos keeps it at a distance.
A punch combination from Morales misses.
Horrible takedown by Dos Santos or perhaps it was just good defense by Morales which made him look bad.
Dos Santos misses with a takedown attempt - Morales sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
Dos Santos shoots for a double leg takedown but Morales sprawls well. He's pushed Dos Santos's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Junior Dos Santos. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Dos Santos shoots in looking for a takedown. Morales tries to sprawl out of it but Dos Santos keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Morales manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Boom, another hit is landed. "You're gunna get knocked out" taunts Morales, as that shot connected.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Morales lands a jab-cross combination.
Thud! ouch! good body kick from Morales - that will leave a mark!
Morales displaying good standup as he scores with a three punch combination.
Morales pivots as if he's going to throw a leg kick but stops half way.
Morales misses with a body kick.
Morales throws a leg kick
and Dos Santos counters with a stiff right hand.
Dos Santos takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Dos Santos shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Morales napping and manages to drive through into side control!
The ground and pound from Dos Santos seems to be hitting the mat more than his opponent.
Morales wants to escape from the position here - easier said than done!

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Dos Santos stands up.
Morales tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Dos Santos manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
A really sloppy takedown attempt there from Dos Santos.
Morales stalks Dos Santos and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Dos Santos's face. Dos Santos staggers backwards, shaken.
Morales scores with a nice right hand.
Dos Santos works his jab well there, keeping his opponent at a distance.
Benjamin Morales is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Dos Santos shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Morales defends it nicely.
Dos Santos closes the distance and clinches up with Morales, looking for a takedown. Dos Santos pushes Morales against the cage but Morales circles to the side and manages to break the clinch.
Morales throws a right and a left that both miss.
Dos Santos dives in for a single leg takedown but Morales sprawls and the fighters end up clinched against the cage.
Morales is trying to break the clinch but Dos Santos is controlling him.
Dos Santos has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Morales avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.
Dos Santos tries to pull guard but Morales forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Morales wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Morales is trying to break the clinch but Dos Santos has him pressed against the cage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A frustrated look appears on Morales's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Dos Santos connects with a nasty looking knee right to Morales's face.

Dos Santos breaks the clinch.
Dos Santos moves forwards but Morales connects with a nice, crisp jab.
Morales defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Dos Santos.
Dos Santos shoots in for a takedown but Morales shows good takedown defense.
Dos Santos wants to clinch.
Morales tries a low kick but Dos Santos avoids it.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Dos Santos misses with a takedown attempt - Morales sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.

And that's the end of the fight!
Benjamin Morales comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
I think Morales has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. 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 Alexandre Firmino scores the fight 28:29
Judge Leandro Rodrigues scores the fight 28:29
Judge Daniel Cesar scores the fight 28:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Benjamin Morales!