PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Ritchie Souza (ranked 3137 p4p, 350 weight class) and Long Thai (ranked 2512 p4p, 298 weight class). Souza comes to the cage accompanied by Gwen Stefani-Luxurious. Rumors backstage are that the fighters have been paid to keep it standing but we know that would never happen in MMA!

Souza
vs
Thai

170 cm
26
170 lbs
10 - 9 - 0

178 cm
22
165 lbs
4 - 7 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Solid boxing
Granite chin

Good wrestler
World class MT
Good gas tank

Vegan Gains

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 10 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Ritchie Souza!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 7 - 0, fighting out of Los Angeles, Long Thai!
The judges for this bout are Frank Antenori, and Jack Bonds.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!

Thai closes the distance and clinches.
I was talking to Souza's coach per-fight and he was telling me that they'd been working on the clinch in the runup to this fight.
Souza tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Souza tries to take the fight to the ground by pulling guard but can't manage it.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Thai obliges.
Souza blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Thai tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Knees in the clinch landing for Thai.
Souza managing to block the knees to the body from Thai.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Souza managing to block the knees to the body from Thai.
Thai lands a knee to the head.
Thai tries to land knees in the clinch but Souza avoids the damage to the body.
Kneeeeees! The crowd are calling for knees to the body. Thai obliges.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Souza tries to pull guard but can't drag his opponent to the mat. Thai just stands there and leans against the cage.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Ritchie Souza. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Thai utilising his Muay Thai to score with a knee to the body.
Thai comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Souza takes a knee right on the jaw!
Thai lands an elbow just above Souza 's eye.
Thai trying to land knees to the body.

Souza has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Thai uses from the top position.
Thai preventing the sweep.
Thai controlling from the guard. I say controlling but really, he's stalling.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Souza looking for a guillotine here but Thai defends easily.
Souza lands a beautiful sweep and he's now moved into his opponent's guard.

Souza trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Thai not looking particularly offensive just at the moment.
Souza working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Thai looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Souza 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.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Thai can't keep his opponent in guard - Souza advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Thai wants to improve his position but Souza is controlling well.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Souza lands strikes from half guard.
Thai is trying to stand up here but Souza is controlling him well.
Souza throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Souza throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Thai has no desire to be mounted, so is trying to control. Souza is working away from the top position though.
Thai is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Thai controlling the leg, holding on to half guard.

Souza is working for a kimura but Thai is defending it quite comfortably.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Souza scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Thai wants to get back to his feet.
Ground and pound from Souza.
Thai is doing well to control the position and prevent Souza from advancing to side control.
Souza working the head and body with strikes.
Souza lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Souza not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Souza sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Thai defending well though.
Thai is trying to get back to full guard.
Souza thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Thai's head.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close round but Long Thai will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business.

Souza darts in looking for a takedown but Thai gets double underhooks and turns Souza into the cage.
Souza shoots in looking for a takedown. Thai tries to sprawl out of it but Souza keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Thai manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Thai wants to counter with a clinch but Souza pushes him away.

Souza dives in and scores a takedown into Thai's guard.
Thai bucks up whilst keeping hold of a body lock, managing to reverse the position. Now he's in top in Souza's guard.

Thai trying to control the position from guard on top but Souza is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Souza looking for a guillotine here but Thai defends easily.
Thai engaging in some classic timewasting tactics.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thai stopping the sweep attempt from Souza.
Thai must be cautious of submissions here, given that his opponent has the superior Jiu Jitsu.

Souza has managed to work for a loose triangle. I think Thai should be able to defend this one pretty easily though. Oh, Souza has tightened it up now! Thai should have reacted faster there - he's in big trouble and yes, he's tapped out! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:44 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle). Ritchie Souza!
Jumping up and down and very excited, Ritchie Souza waved his t-shirt featuring BuriedAlive// Fight Gear's logo in front of the cameras.