PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Chris Maurelli (ranked 3835 p4p, 5984 weight class) and Sayten Thursar (ranked 412 p4p, 506 weight class). This should be fireworks!

Maurelli
vs
Thursar

185 cm
19
195
2 - 1 - 0

188 cm
20
190
0 - 1 - 0

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Phoenix

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Chris Maurelli!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 1 - 0, fighting out of New York, Sayten Thursar!
The judges for this bout are Robert Douchet, Alec Ball and Gregory Folan.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Maurelli throws a hook but Thursar blocks it.
Nice sprawl there from Maurelli as Thursar shoots in.
A left and a right from Thursar both land. Nice combination.
Thursar tries for a takedown but Maurelli circles away easily
and Maurelli counters with a nice uppercut.
Thursar shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Maurelli sprawls well. Maurelli wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Thursar gets slowly back to his feet.
Chris Maurelli has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Sayten Thursar.
Maurelli swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Thursar blocks a jab.
Thursar takes a shot to the eye socket. That's gotta hurt.
Maurelli jabbing away but nothing is landing.
Maurelli misses the jab.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Maurelli jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
Maurelli throws a poor cross that misses

and Thursar counters with a takedown into side control! That could mean trouble for Maurelli!
We could do with one of the fighters taking the initiative a bit more on the ground - they're both waiting to capitalize on a mistake.
Thursar working away.
Thursar really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Maurelli. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Maurelli is looking to regain half guard here but Thursar keeps moving and retains side control.
Maurelli is working hard here to advance position.
You can see the frustration on Maurelli's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Thursar is maintaining the dominant position - no doubt Maurelli will start to get frustrated soon if he's not already.
Thursar wants to take a breather but Maurelli manages to regain guard - a lesson learnt for Thursar.
Thursar slows down the pace of the fight for a moment. He'll need to remain active if he doesn't want to see the fight stood back up.
Maurelli is trying to control the position from the bottom.
Maurelli is controlling Thursar's posture.
Thursar is stalling in the full guard.
Thursar looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Maurelli looking to try and escape his hips here, looking for a submission. It looks like he's going for a triangle but Thursar is defending well. Maurelli quickly switches to an armbar and extends the arm! Thursar has no choice but to tap, to a very quick submission! Wow, that was lightning fast! Maurelli celebrates on the cage, with the crowd.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:28 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Chris Maurelli!
A very excited looking Chris Maurelli made sure he remembered to thank all the fans both in the arena and on the internet. He said all the coolest people spend all day on MMA websites, which got a big reaction.