PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Abdullah Zaire (ranked 3136 p4p, 3038 weight class) and Aldemir Santos (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Zaire might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to Hypnotize U by N*E*R*D. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Zaire
vs
Santos

189 cm
40
206
20 - 18 - 1

180 cm
23
205
5 - 6 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Granite chin

Good takedowns
Basic striking
Determined

Brooklyn Apothecary

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 20 - 18 - 1, fighting out of Tokyo, Abdullah Zaire!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 6 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Aldemir Santos!
The judges for this bout are Hirohito Nitta, Shirou Masuda and Shigeki Sano.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Zaire throws a right and a left that both miss.
Aldemir Santos seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Zaire slips a jab and a cross from Santos.
Zaire lands a slapping body shot.
Zaire misses with a head kick.

Santos shoots in from a long way out. He's driving through with the takedown attempt and he eventually gets it, landing in Zaire's guard.

Zaire scrambles and gets back to his feet.
Santos darts in looking for a takedown but Zaire gets double underhooks and turns Santos into the cage.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!

Zaire darts in and clinches Santos up against the cage.
Santos on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Zaire is pushing Santos up against the cage, for a bit of lean and pray action. Action being used the in the loosest possible sense of the word.
Santos tries to pull guard but Zaire forces him back to his feet, against the cage.
Zaire managing to block the knees to the body from Santos.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Zaire breaks the clinch and we return to the middle of the mat.
Zaire with a nice cross.
Santos fails to land the takedown.
Abdullah Zaire has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Aldemir Santos.
Santos dives in and grabs Zaire's left leg, looking for a takedown. Zaire pushes down on Santos's head and hops out.

Santos tries to keep at a distance but Zaire has taken the fight into the clinch.
Santos's corner are urging him to control the action in the clinch for a moment, rather than mount any serious offense. I'm sure the crowd appreciate those instructions... not.
Zaire is defending well against a takedown attempt.
Santos goes for a takedown attempt but Zaire pushes him away and we're back to fighting at a distance.
Crunch! Zaire slams his shin into Santos's torso.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Zaire drives through and clinches with Santos against the cage.
Santos avoids the elbow strike from Zaire, against the cage.
Zaire will no doubt start fighting again in a minute but for now he's just having a little rest, leaning Santos up against the cage.
Santos is trying to pull guard but Zaire has him pressed against the cage.

Zaire manages to break the clinch.
Zaire fails in his attempt to clinch.
Santos unleashes a big counter combination but Zaire bobs and weaves and avoids any damage.
Santos fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Santos takes a really solid shot there but just smiles back and shrugs his shoulders.
Santos jabbing away but nothing is landing.
This has been an exciting period of action!

Zaire gets in close and instigates a clinch.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Zaire lands a body punch - he's looking to wear down Santos.

Zaire breaks from the clinch.

Excellent takedown into side control there by Santos.

Zaire sneaks out the side door and pushes Santos away - he's back to his feet. The crowd show their appreciation for the escape.

Santos looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Zaire tries to kick Santos off but Santos keeps his base steady and stays in half guard.
Santos is looking to take a break and control but Zaire is keeping him honest, looking to work from the bottom.
Santos wants to advance to full mount but Zaire doesn't think that's going to happen and regains full guard instead.
Santos wants to pass the guard but Zaire is keeping the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Santos showing good wrestling skills to control the position.
Zaire is looking to get back to his feet but can't, whilst Santos is controlling him.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

Zaire manages to escape and get back to his feet.
Santos blocks the body kick.
Zaire throws a body kick but he wasn't in range.
Santos swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Zaire is looking to clinch but Santos is avoiding it.
The fight stays on the outside here - Zaire looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Abdullah Zaire dominated that round.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action!

Santos with a lazy takedown attempt
and Zaire counters with a big head kick but Santos shrugs it off.
Santos misses with a hook
and Zaire counters with a left to the body.

Zaire closes the distance and clinches.
Santos is trying to pull guard but Zaire has him pressed against the cage.

Zaire breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Zaire tries a head kick but it misses.
Santos misses with a straight right.
Zaire ducks low and lands a nice hook to the body of his opponent.

Zaire fakes with an overhand right and moves in to clinch with Santos, pushing him back against the cage.
Zaire makes some space for himself and lands an uppercut.

Zaire pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Zaire is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Zaire misses with an attempted mid kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Santos rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Zaire moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Zaire throws a big counter combination but Santos scrambles out of danger and avoids any damage.
Santos shoots in looking for a double leg takedown. Zaire defends it nicely.
Abdullah Zaire has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Aldemir Santos.
The fight stays on the outside here - Zaire looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Abdullah Zaire is winning the standup battle so far.
Santos lands a nice hook to Zaire's body. Zaire takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Santos swings wildly with a right hand that was never going to find it's target.
And Zaire counters with a quick kick to the body but Santos blocks it.
Santos swats away the attempt to clinch by Zaire.
Santos lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Zaire at a distance.
Zaire throws a sloppy head kick and Santos moves out of range easily.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santos swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Abdullah Zaire is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.

Zaire takes the fight into the clinch.

Zaire manages to break the clinch.
Abdullah Zaire is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Zaire fails with an attempt to clinch.
Zaire lands with a thumping leg kick.
Santos tries to drive through with a takedown attempt but Zaire defends well and Santos ends up having to push Zaire into the cage where they will battle it out in the clinch.
It appears Zaire was looking to counter with a kick there.

Santos closes the distance and clinches up, looking for a takedown. He shifts his weight and gets a nice trip into half guard.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Santos not doing much here.
Zaire is trying to stand.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santos lands with a punch from half guard.
Santos wants to pass the guard but Zaire is defending well.
Santos is still trying to improve position.
Santos sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Zaire defending well though.
Zaire looks like he's trying to stand up.
Zaire scrambles, trying to get to his feet, but Santos manages to mount him!
Zaire wants to try and get back to his feet.
Santos landing strikes, looking to finish!

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Santos tucks in and makes sure he doesn't lose the dominant position.
Santos trying to control but he's not successful this time.
Santos working the ground and pound effectively.

Santos goes for an armbar but Zaire turns quickly into his guard - lovely anticipation from Zaire.
Our spies down at at Alpha Brasil inform us that Santos has really been working on his submissions in the buildup to this fight. Will it pay off?
Zaire stopping the sweep attempt from Santos.
Zaire wants to get up but he can't break Santos's closed guard. He needs to be careful trying to break the legs open, as he's open to submissions here.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close second round but I would say that Abdullah Zaire will probably get the nod.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

Zaire stuffs the takedown.
Santos shoots in with a takedown attempt and he has Zaire pinned against the cage. Zaire gets the underhooks and manages to circle away.
Santos fails with the takedown
and Zaire makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Abdullah Zaire has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Aldemir Santos.

Zaire gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Santos being controlled against the cage.
Zaire stalling here - the referee won't stand for too much of that.
Zaire seems to have come into the fight with the intention of avoiding any damage in the clinch, rather than actually showing any aggression.
Abdullah Zaire has scored more points in the clinch so far.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Santos goes for a takedown in the clinch but Zaire prevents it.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Zaire's corner calls for him to break the clinch, which he does.
Horrible takedown attempt by Santos or perhaps it was just good defense by Zaire, which made it look bad.
Zaire is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Santos can do to turn this around?
Santos will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Zaire throws a body kick but he was well out of range there.
The fight stays on the outside here - Zaire looks like he's thinking about clinching though.

Zaire closes the distance and pushes Santos back into the cage.

Zaire escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.
Zaire tries to clinch up.
Zaire slips under a jab.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santos misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Zaire.
Zaire is looking to counter with head kicks.
Santos is the aggressor but that punch slipped nicely by Zaire.
Zaire throws a big counter combination but Santos scrambles out of danger and avoids any damage.
Zaire tries to clinch but Santos is having none of it.
Santos looks for a takedown but Zaire sprawls well.
Santos shoots for a double leg takedown but Zaire sprawls well. He's pushed Santos's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Santos shoots in for a takedown but Zaire shows good takedown defense.
Santos takes a kick to the side of the head.
A punch combination from Santos misses.
Zaire feinted there with a counter leg kick.
Santos shoots in for a takedown but doesn't get it.
Santos takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Zaire tries to land a knee to the head but misses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santos drops down looking for an ankle pick but Zaire pulls his leg out and moves away.
Zaire throws a mid kick that lands with a slap.

Zaire moves into the clinch successfully.

Zaire escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

Santos throws the overhand right but ducks down into a quick takedown attempt. Zaire was covering up waiting for the punch and Santos finishes the takedown easily into guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

The fighters are working up against the cage. Zaire manages to wriggle his way back to his feet, so the fighters are now clinched against the cage.
Zaire has Santos pressed against the cage.
Santos has hold of a leg and is looking for a trip takedown. Zaire avoids it nicely though and we remain in the clinch.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Zaire prevents the takedown attempt.

Zaire escapes the clinch and we're back to striking.

Zaire forces Santos back against the cage and clinches.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!

Zaire pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
The fighters circling - Santos throws out the jab but it was never going to land.

Santos looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Aldemir Santos has stepped it up - he knows he needs a finish here!
Zaire is looking to escape.

Santos is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. Zaire doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Santos.

Santos is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.

And that's the end of the fight!
Abdullah Zaire showed his dominance in that final round.
Well Zaire has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... 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 Hirohito Nitta scores the fight 30:27
Judge Shirou Masuda scores the fight 30:27
Judge Shigeki Sano scores the fight 30:27

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Abdullah Zaire!
Our winner, Abdullah Zaire, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.