PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Steve Diehard (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Drew Hughes (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Hughes has chosen Far From Over as his entrance music. Steve Diehard has the edge in experience - let's see if he can make that count tonight.

Diehard
vs
Hughes

186 cm
20
185 lbs
4 - 3 - 0

182 cm
21
190 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
KO power

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Prefers standup

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 4 - 3 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Steve Diehard!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Drew Hughes!
The judges for this bout are Alexandre Firmino, Emerson Jorge and Daniel Cesar.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Diehard circles away from the clinch attempt.

Diehard clinches with his opponent.
Hughes lands an elbow that stopped Diehard in his tracks for a moment.

It looks like Steve Diehard has been cut.
Hughes has Diehard pressed against the cage, preventing Diehard from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Hughes gets an overhook and lands an elbow to the side of the head.
Hughes throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Diehard blocks it with crossed arms.
Diehard on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Hughes lands a nice elbow.
Hughes unloads a knee to the mid-section. Diehard lets out a prehistoric sounding urrrrgh.
Knees to the body from Hughes.
Hughes looking to throw knees to the head but Diehard is blocking nicely.
Hughes with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Diehard wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Hughes lands a knee to the head.
Diehard is breathing heavily.
Diehard wants to break free but Hughes has control.

Diehard breaks from the clinch.
Wow, both these guys are really going for it!

Hughes clinches.
Hughes prevents Diehard from breaking the clinch.
Hughes connects with a nasty looking knee right to Diehard's face.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Diehard takes a knee right on the jaw!
Knees in the clinch landing for Hughes.
Hughes landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but Diehard blocks with his arms.
Diehard working hard to break the clinch.
Hughes has Diehard pressed against the cage, preventing Diehard from circling away and getting back to striking at range.
Diehard avoids a wild elbow strike from Hughes.
Hughes creates a bit of space for himself and sneaks an elbow through Diehard's defenses.
Hughes lands a knee to the head.
Knees in the clinch landing for Hughes.
Hughes landing some nice looking knees to the body.
Hughes putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Diehard in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Hughes landing some nice looking knees to the body.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hughes trying to land knees to the body.
Hughes putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Diehard in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Diehard is trying to break the clinch but Hughes has him pressed against the cage.
Hughes lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Hughes misses with an elbow strike.
Diehard blocks an elbow strike from Hughes.
Hughes throws a vicious knee straight up the middle but Diehard blocks it with crossed arms.

Diehard breaks from the clinch.
Diehard swings away with a leg kick that misses.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves away
and Diehard counters with a nice low kick that buckles Hughes's knee momentarily.
Hughes is looking to clinch.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up but Diehard swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Hughes checks a low kick from Diehard.
Steve Diehard seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.

Hughes gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Diehard takes a knee to the side of the body.
Diehard blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.

Diehard breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Hughes tries to clinch up
and Diehard counters with a nice low kick that buckles Hughes's knee momentarily.
Diehard throws a chopping leg kick but Hughes manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Hughes fails with an attempt to clinch.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Diehard will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch but Diehard swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Hughes wants to clinch but Diehard slips to the side
and Diehard counters with a thumping low kick.
Diehard keeps the fight on the outside.
Hughes doesn't manage to clinch there - Diehard circles away.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch but Diehard swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Hughes tries to clinch up but Diehard circles away and keeps his distance.
Hughes doesn't manage to clinch there - Diehard circles away.
Hughes fails with an attempt to clinch.
Hughes checks the leg kick.
Hughes doesn't manage to clinch there - Diehard circles away.
Hughes doesn't manage to clinch there - Diehard circles away.
A swing and a miss from Diehard.
Hughes tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Diehard throws a body kick that digs right into the meat.
A nice inside leg kick there by Diehard. That's going to slow Hughes down.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves out of range.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hughes is looking to clinch but Diehard is avoiding it.
Hughes blocks a leg kick.
Hughes wants to clinch.
Hughes is looking to clinch.
Hughes fails in his attempt to clinch.
Diehard wants to land a leg kick but Hughes is out of range.
Hughes closes the distance but Diehard moves to the side
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.
Hughes is looking to clinch.
Hughes looks to clinch
and Diehard counters with a slapping leg kick.
Hughes moves away from the strike by Diehard.
Hughes staying out of range there.
Hughes darts in trying to clinch
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are hurling abuse towards the fighters... You can hardly blame them though because there isn't a lot going on in the fight.
Hughes looks to clinch
and Hughes takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
Hughes tries to clinch up but Diehard circles away and keeps his distance.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch but Diehard swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Diehard swats away the attempt to clinch by Hughes.
Diehard throws a leg kick but Hughes sees it coming and moves out of range.
Hughes closes the distance but Diehard moves to the side
and Diehard counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Diehard keeps the fight on the outside.
Hughes tries to clinch up.
Hughes is looking to clinch but Diehard is avoiding it.
Hughes closes the distance looking to clinch
and Diehard counters with a slapping leg kick.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Hughes darts in trying to clinch
and Diehard makes the exchange count by landing a cracking kick to the body. Hughes really felt that one!
Diehard misses with a low kick.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Drew Hughes dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Steve Diehard's cut.
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.

Diehard keeps the fight on the outside.
Hughes closes the distance but Diehard moves to the side
and he gets countered with a snapping leg kick.
Hughes keeping at a good range here, avoiding a leg kick.
Hughes is looking to clinch but Diehard is avoiding it.
Hughes tries to grapple but his opponent circles
and Diehard counters with a good low kick that Hughes was not able to check.
Drew Hughes is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Diehard motions for Hughes to come forward. Diehard throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves away
and Diehard makes him pay by landing a nice hook to the body before moving out of range.
Hughes tries to clinch
and Diehard counters with a leg kick.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves away

and Diehard counters by moving into the clinch. Good anticipation by Diehard.
Hughes crunches a lovely knee into Diehard's ribcage.
Hughes putting his Muay Thai to good use. He has Diehard in a tight clinch and is doing some damage with knees to the body.
Hughes misses with a knee to the head.

Diehard pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Diehard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Diehard avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Hughes closes the distance looking to clinch
and Diehard counters with a good low kick that Hughes was not able to check.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves away
and Diehard counters with an outside leg kick.
Hughes looks to clinch
and Diehard counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.
Hughes darts in trying to clinch

The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
and Diehard counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
Hughes throws a nice elbow but it doesn't land.
With the fighters up against the cage, Hughes throws an elbow but misses.
With the fighters up against the cage, Hughes throws an elbow but misses.
Diehard is trying to break the clinch but Hughes has him pressed against the cage.
Diehard on the defensive, avoiding the knees to the body.
Hughes with the Thai clinch, lands a knee to the head.
Diehard is trying to work out of this bad position, with his back against the cage.
Diehard wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Hughes with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
A frustrated look appears on Diehard's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Hughes creates a bit of distance and throws an elbow that only just misses.
Diehard wants to push off and get back to the center of the mat but Hughes has him pressed against the cage.
Diehard wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
A frustrated look appears on Diehard's face as he tries to break the clinch.
Hughes lands an elbow just above Diehard 's eye.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Hughes lands a nice knee to the body.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Hughes with an attempt at a knee that misses.

Diehard breaks the clinch and we're back to striking at distance.
Hughes avoids a kick to the body.
Hughes wants to clinch.
Hughes is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Jab by Diehard.
Hughes tries to clinch up but Diehard circles away and keeps his distance.
Diehard tries to work over Hughes's front leg with a kick but Hughes checks it.
Diehard swats away the attempt to clinch by Hughes.
Hughes tries to clinch there but Diehard circles away.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Diehard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Hughes moves in looking to clinch but Diehard pushes him off.
Diehard throws and low kick but Hughes moves out of range easily.
Hughes takes a nasty kick to the mid section... That should keep him thinking. Does he try and block and risk a head kick landing?

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diehard fakes with the hands and throws a leg kick but Hughes is out of range.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves away

and Diehard counters into the clinch. Nicely done.
Hughes landing knees to the head.
Hughes lands a nice knee to the body.
Diehard wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Diehard has not gone for a single takedown so far in this fight, which seems like a very strange tactic when you consider that he has the superior wrestling and BJJ.
Hughes keeps control of Diehard as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
Diehard wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Hughes with the Thai clinch. He's looking to land a big knee but he's not managed it this time.
Hughes connects with a nasty looking knee right to Diehard's face.
Diehard tries to break free but Hughes pushes him back against the cage.
Diehard has had enough of the clinch but Hughes keeps him there for the moment.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but Diehard blocks with his arms.
Diehard avoids a wild elbow strike from Hughes.
Diehard wants to break the clinch but can't.
Diehard looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Hughes trying to land knees to the body.
Diehard wants to get back to striking at distance but Hughes won't allow it.
Diehard is trying to break free.
Hughes looks to throw an elbow but misses.
Hughes scores with a knee to the head.
Diehard has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Diehard wants to break the clinch but can't.
Hughes using the Thai plumb to throw knees but Diehard has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
Hughes lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Diehard blocks an elbow strike.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Neither fighter has done anything of merit for a good minute or two here and the crowd are not happy about it.
Hughes comes over the top with an elbow. That landed flush.
Hughes tries to land knees in the clinch but Diehard avoids the damage to the body.
Hughes keeps control of Diehard as he tries to wriggle out of the double underhooks.
A nice glancing elbow lands by Hughes.
Diehard wants to break the clinch but can't.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but Diehard blocks with his arms.
Diehard wants to get back to striking at distance but Hughes won't allow it.
Diehard wants to strike at distance but he can't break free of the clinch.
Diehard wants to break free but Hughes has control.
Hughes landing knees to the body.
Drew Hughes seems to be working more effectively in the clinch in the fight so far.
Hughes lands an elbow inside.
Hughes prevents Diehard from breaking the clinch.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the body but he is off balance and Diehard avoids it.
Diehard has had enough of the clinch but Hughes keeps him there for the moment.
Hughes lands a nice elbow.
Hughes pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.

Diehard pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Diehard misses with a low kick as Hughes jumps back.
Hughes fails in his attempt to clinch.
Diehard swats away the attempt to clinch by Hughes.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Diehard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Diehard tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Steve Diehard dominated that second round.
The cut man is working on Steve Diehard's cut.
That's the end of the round. The referee orders the cornermen out of the cage so we can get back down to business. Let's hear some noise people - this is the final round!

Diehard keeps the fight on the outside.
Hughes is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves out of range.
Hughes checks the leg kick nicely there.
Diehard goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Diehard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Hughes tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Diehard throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Hughes moves out of range as Diehard throws a body kick.
Diehard tries to close the distance and clinch up but Hughes swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Hughes tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Diehard pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Hughes wants to clinch.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch but Diehard swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Hughes fails with an attempt to clinch.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Diehard circles away from the clinch attempt.
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as Hughes checks a leg kick.
Hughes tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Hughes moves in looking to clinch but Diehard pushes him off.
Hughes tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Hughes is looking to clinch.
Diehard throws a leg kick but Hughes sees it coming and checks it nicely.
Good work by Hughes as he checks the leg kick.
Hughes is looking to take this fight into the clinch.
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard is having none of it.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Diehard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Diehard throws a low kick but it's checked well by Hughes.
Diehard avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Hughes closes the distance but Diehard moves to the side
and Diehard counters with a kick to the head that grazes his opponent. Hughes is lucky that one didn't land flush.
Hughes moves in looking to clinch but Diehard pushes him off.
Hughes wants to clinch up but Diehard keeps it at a distance.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
The fight stays on the outside here - Hughes looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but Diehard paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Hughes checks a leg kick.

Hughes clinches.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Hughes just misses with a elbow thrown towards Diehard's brow.
Hughes is trying to wear down his opponent with knees to the body.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Hughes tries to land a knee to the head but misses.
Hughes lands a knee to the head.
Hughes keeps the fight in the clinch, despite Diehard's efforts to push away.
Hughes landing knees to the body.
Diehard tries to circle away but Hughes has him pinned against the cage.
Diehard dodges an elbow strike from Hughes.
Hughes with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Diehard has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.

Diehard breaks from the clinch.
Hughes doesn't manage to clinch there - Diehard circles away.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch but Diehard swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
Diehard throws a leg kick but Hughes checks it.
Diehard tries to score with an inside leg kick but telegraphs it and Hughes is able to avoid easily.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hughes moves in looking to clinch but Diehard pushes him off.
Hughes moves in looking to clinch but Diehard pushes him off.
Hughes wants to clinch.
Hughes is looking to clinch.
Diehard lands a nice hook to Hughes's body. Hughes takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Diehard will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.
Hughes tries to close the distance and clinch up but Diehard swats him away and circles back towards the center.
Hughes tries to clinch up.

The fight moves into the clinch position.
Hughes connects with a knee to the head.
Hughes looking to throw knees to the head but Diehard is blocking nicely.
Diehard wants to get back to striking at distance but Hughes won't allow it.
Diehard avoids the elbow strike from Hughes, against the cage.
Diehard has had enough of the clinch and is looking to separate.
Diehard tries to break the clinch but Hughes is controlling the position.
Hughes landing knees to the head.
Diehard tries to break free but Hughes pushes him back against the cage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.
Diehard wants to break free. God knows he wants to breaaaak freeee.
Hughes with an attempt at a knee that misses.
Diehard can't break the clinch.
Diehard wants to break the clinch but can't.
Diehard wants to break free but Hughes has control.
Hughes connects with a nasty looking knee right to Diehard's face.
Hughes with the Thai clinch, lands a knee to the head.
Diehard blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Diehard tries to break the clinch but Hughes is controlling the position.
Diehard takes an elbow to the temple.
Hughes lands a knee to the head there! That was nasty!
Hughes throws an elbow that misses.

Diehard pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.
Hughes is looking to clinch but Diehard is avoiding it.
Hughes tries to clinch but fails miserably
and Diehard makes him pay by landing a nice hook to the body before moving out of range.
Hughes slips a jab from Diehard.
Hughes blocks a leg kick.
Hughes closes the distance looking to clinch
and Diehard counters with a nice low kick that buckles Hughes's knee momentarily.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!!! God, this has been a terrible round. Come on you two, sort yourselves out!
Hughes tries to clinch but Diehard moves away
and Diehard counters with a leg kick that reverborates around the arena.
Hughes fails with an attempt to clinch.

And that's the end of the fight!
I would just about give that final round to Drew Hughes.
I think Hughes 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 Emerson Jorge scores the fight 28:29
Judge Daniel Cesar scores the fight 29:29

In favor of your winner, by majority decision... Drew Hughes!