PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Alistair Overeem (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mark Thomas (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Overeem has a slight injury, which hopefully won't affect the fight too much. On his way into the cage it seems that Alistair Overeem has been attacked by a crazed fan! It looks like it might have been the just bleed guy! Luckily Alistair Overeem seems to be OK! I thought that lunatic was in prison!?

Overeem
vs
Thomas

195 cm
25
265 lbs
3 - 1 - 0

225 cm
23
255 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

Decent wrestler
Solid boxing
Granite chin

Decent wrestler
Brawler
Tends to cut

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 3 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Alistair Overeem!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Mark Thomas!
The judges for this bout are Paul Aken, Daniel Blasius and Nard Betker.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A combination from Overeem does no damage.
Alistair Overeem seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
No joy there for Overeem, who threw a few shots but didn't land.
Overeem has his takedown stuffed

and Thomas counters with a nice single leg takedown and he's in Overeem's guard now.
Overeem is breathing heavily.
Thomas advances to half guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Thomas throwing punches and elbows but they're not doing any damage.
Thomas is controlling the pace.
It looks like Thomas might be adopting somewhat of a lay and pray gameplan here, which I'm sure won't go down too well with the paying fans in attendance... Or the ring announcers come to think of it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Overeem has hold of Thomas's hands but Thomas slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
Thomas has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Thomas content to control rather than advance.

The ref calls for a clean break and stands the fighters back up. Mark Thomas wasn't active enough on the ground.
Thomas does a little shimmy and throws a leg kick. The leg kick missed by a considerable margin though, making him look a little bit silly for doing the shimmy.
Thomas plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!

It looks like Alistair Overeem has been cut.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Thomas throws a body kick but he wasn't in range.
Nice sprawl there from Overeem as Thomas shoots in.
Overeem takes a body punch that cleary hurt but he's trying not to show any weakness.
Thomas throws a head kick that misses.
Thomas missing with a left hand there. Overeem was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Thomas shoots in for a takedown but Overeem shows good takedown defense.

Thomas scores with a takedown into Overeem's guard.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Thomas's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Thomas passes easily into side control. Nice work.
Thomas scoring with punches from side control.
Thomas remains in side control and seems content to stay there. It's a versatile position from which he can work both strikes and submissions, whilst maintaining that control, so maybe he'll sit here for a while.
Thomas is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Overeem is not content to let Thomas control the position.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The referee asks Thomas politely if he wouldn't mind getting on with it and actually doing something. Thomas prefers to stall for the moment though.
Thomas fails to land a wild elbow strike.

The ref calls for a clean break and stands the fighters back up. Mark Thomas wasn't active enough on the ground.
Thomas shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Overeem as he jumps to the side.
Alistair Overeem has stuffed three takedown attempts in the round now. That's going to take a lot out of Mark Thomas.
Overeem misses with a jab, cross combination.
Overeem pulls out of a head kick attempt.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Thomas changes levels and looks for a double leg takedown. Overeem tries to avoid it but Thomas manages to keep hold of a leg and drag Overeem to the ground. Overeem escapes though and pops straight back up to his feet.
Overeem stuffs the takedown.
Thomas throws out a leg kick but Overeem moves out of range and Thomas only half commits.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mark Thomas dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Alistair Overeem'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.

Thomas shoots in for a takedown from distance. He catches Overeem napping and manages to drive through into side control!
Thomas wants to lay and pray for a moment but Overeem keeps working.
Overeem taking a bit of punishment here - Thomas scoring with strikes.
A lull in the action here as Thomas stalls from top position.
Thomas wants to lay and pray for a moment but Overeem keeps working.
Overeem is trying to improve his position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Overeem pushes Thomas away and creates a bit of space to escape. He's almost out here... but no, Thomas gets a good hold of his legs and remains firmly in side control.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Thomas taking a breather here.
Mark Thomas has got the better of the ground game so far.

Thomas is trying to land an Americana. He has the arm isolated but Overeem is keeping cool and he's avoided the danger for now.
Thomas scores with punches from side control.
Thomas cracks Overeem with a big right hand but Overeem just smiles back at him and invites him to have another go.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Thomas is looking to finish here, going for an Americana. Overeem knows the correct defense though, so he's OK.
Overeem takes a nasty elbow to the side of the head.

Thomas stands up and we're back to a striking position.
Overeem swings away but doesn't land with a series of punches.
Overeem lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Thomas circles away quickly and effectively.

Thomas clinches.

Thomas manages to pull guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Thomas is working the butterfly guard. He manages to land a nice scissor sweep and is now in half guard on the top. Nice move.
Overeem might be looking to lock onto one of his opponent's long limbs for a submission, whilst we're on the ground.
Overeem is trying to stand up here but Thomas is controlling him well.

Thomas is trying to work for a kimura but Overeem is defending well.
Thomas seems content to maintain position for now, rather than mounting any offense.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Thomas's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.
The referee must be thinking about standing these guys back up.

OK we're going to have a standup here. Mark Thomas hasn't been effective enough on the ground and the referee wants a restart.
Overeem scores with a jab to the body.
Thomas has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Overeem blocks a head kick by Thomas.
Thomas cracks Overeem with a nice right hand that draws applause from the crowd.
Overeem scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Mark Thomas showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The cut man is working on Alistair Overeem'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. And we move into the final round!

Overeem ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Thomas displays good takedown defense there as he swats away a double leg from Overeem.

Overeem gets tackled into the cage by Thomas. Thomas maintains the clinch.

Thomas pulls guard effortlessly.

Thomas has his feet on Overeem's hips. He pushes off and gets to his feet. Nice work.

Thomas drives through with a takedown into Overeem's guard. Let's see what he can do from the top position.
Thomas showing good wrestling skills to control the position.

That's one minute gone in the round.
The referee is asking the fighters to pick up the pace.
Overeem can't keep his opponent in guard - Thomas advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Thomas lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Thomas is working hard to pass the guard. He's done it - he's now in full mount! Trouble for Overeem!
Thomas with good strikes from the mount here!
Thomas controlling the pace for now.

Thomas with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Overeem on his back here. We all know that wrestlers don't like being on their back so let's see if Overeem tries to get out of the position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Thomas breaks from Overeem's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Thomas content just to control the position here.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Thomas breaks from Overeem's wrist control and lands an elbow.
Overeem takes a big shot to the head but keeps on trying to improve his position.

Thomas looks like he's working for a submission but he's not found anything just yet.
Thomas controlling from the full mount.
Overeem has given up his back. Will we see Thomas going for some submissions?

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Overeem is covering up but some of the strikes from Thomas are getting through and doing damage.
Thomas throwing strikes from the back - he gets a warning from the referee for striking the back of the head but all these shots are hurting Overeem!
Thomas controls the position.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!

Overeem is staying cool under pressure, defending well against the rear naked choke attempt from his opponent.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Thomas keeps control of the position easily here as Overeem tries to buck him off.

And that's the end of the fight!
Mark Thomas comfortably won the final round on my scorecard.
Well Thomas has outworked and out performed his opponent in all aspects of the game today. He was simply too good and the decision should be no more than a formality. 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 Paul Aken scores the fight 26:30
Judge Daniel Blasius scores the fight 26:30
Judge Nard Betker scores the fight 26:30

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Mark Thomas!