PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Thiago de Souza (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mike Matthews (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). de Souza's entrance music is Dry County. A fine choice. Matthews has chosen God's Gonna Cut You Down as his entrance music, which hasn't gone down very well with the crowd. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

de Souza
vs
Matthews

183 cm
29
177 lbs
26 - 9 - 0

185 cm
30
184 lbs
9 - 7 - 0

Powerful takedowns
Excellent MT
Cardio machine

BJJ White Belt
Excellent MT
Heavy handed

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Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the welterweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 26 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Thiago de Souza!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 9 - 7 - 0, fighting out of New York, Mike Matthews!
The judges for this bout are Franklyn Lucas, Dean Styles and David Schapiro.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Matthews swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Matthews misses the shot to the body.
Matthews fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.
Matthews tries to close the distance and clinch but de Souza swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.
de Souza ducks under a wild hook from Matthews.
Matthews dips to his left and cracks de Souza with an uppercut!
Mike Matthews seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Matthews avoids a punch combination nicely.
Matthews doesn't manage to clinch there - de Souza circles away.
Matthews moves into range and connects with a jab.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Matthews throws a chopping leg kick but de Souza manages to avoid taking any serious damage.

Matthews feints and then winds up with a huge right hand that connects perfectly and sends de Souza sprawling to the canvas! de Souza rolls over backwards and springs off the cage and manages to regain his footing - how acrobatic! Oh, he's still wobbly - can Matthews finish him?!

de Souza is rocked!
Matthews scores with a jab to the head.
Oh de Souza is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Matthews thows a body shot but no joy.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Matthews moves to clinch but de Souza breaks away
and de Souza counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
de Souza seems to have got his legs back now.
Matthews fakes high and swings low for a body shot but de Souza manages to avoid it.
de Souza throws a looping left and ducks down for a takedown. He's got his arms around Matthews's waist but Matthews gets an underhook and avoids the takedown by throwing de Souza off to one side.
Matthews connects with a leg kick. de Souza looked like he was expecting something else and didn't defend it.
Good leg kick by Matthews there. It's the ones that make that thud noise that hurt and that was an almighty thud.
de Souza throws a low kick but it's checked well by Matthews.
Matthews fakes a jab and throws a low kick but de Souza checks it well.
de Souza misses the jab.
Matthews tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but de Souza paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Matthews clobbers de Souza with an overhand right that has the crowd gasping. That made a horrendous noise.
Matthews walks straight into a jab right on the nose. That one stung - he's blinking and trying to clear his head.
Matthews tries to close the distance and clinch but de Souza swats him to one side with an open hand palm strike and circles away.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
de Souza throws a combination. Matthews tries to block but a couple of punches get through.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Matthews stuffs a takedown. It's all about dictating where the fight takes place and Matthews wants it to stay on the feet.
de Souza on the wrong end of a vicious looking body shot.
de Souza uses decent footwork to sidestep a right hand from Matthews.
de Souza displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Matthews throws out the jab.
The fight stays on the outside here - Matthews looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Matthews swings away with a leg kick that misses.
A looping hook to the body misses from de Souza. Matthews does a little dance to reset his feet.
A nice inside leg kick there by Matthews. That's going to slow de Souza down.
Matthews misses with a body shot.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
de Souza keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
de Souza keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
de Souza takes a jab right on the kisser.
Matthews darts in trying to clinch
and de Souza makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Matthews just misses with a punch to the body.
de Souza connects with a solid leg kick.
de Souza keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Matthews lands with a good body shot.
de Souza circles away from the clinch attempt
and de Souza counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Matthews tries to clinch but de Souza moves out of range.
Matthews takes a body kick right on the floating rib. Ouchie.
Mike Matthews is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Matthews tries to work over de Souza's front leg with a kick but de Souza checks it.
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as Matthews checks a leg kick.
Matthews misses the shot to the body.
de Souza pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Matthews tries to clinch
and de Souza finishes the little exchange by landing a big kick to the body.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Matthews thows a body shot but no joy.
Matthews slips a straight right by de Souza.
Nice body punch from Matthews.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

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

Matthews fails with an attempt to clinch.
Matthews is throwing a lot of body shots here, looking to wear down de Souza rather than just go for the knockout.
Matthews misses with a wild body shot.
Matthews fakes high and swings low for a body shot but de Souza manages to avoid it.
de Souza keeps the fight on the outside.
Nice defenses there by de Souza.
Matthews lands with a cross to side of his opponent's head.
Matthews moves out of range of the leg kick from de Souza.
Matthews tries to clinch but de Souza moves away
and de Souza counters with a leg kick.
de Souza uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Matthews.
This entire fight has taken place on the feet so far and you wonder whether de Souza might be better served trying to take this one to the ground because he's losing the standup battle so far.
Matthews tries to clinch
and de Souza counters with a crisp hook to the side of the head.
Matthews moves away from the strike by de Souza.
Matthews moves out of range of the body kick from de Souza.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Matthews tries to clinch but de Souza moves out of range.
Matthews misses with a body punch
and de Souza makes him pay by landing a thudding low kick.
Matthews tries to score with a low kick but de Souza moves his leg out of the way.
de Souza cracks the inside of Matthews's front leg.
Matthews throws a jab to the body, straight down the pipe. Boom. That sent de Souza stumbling backwards but he manages to regain his composure quickly.
Like a baseball bat into the meat of his leg there - nice leg kick by de Souza.
Matthews looks to score with a jab to the body but de Souza is just out of range.
Matthews wings a very wild body shot but it does the job and lands to the midsection.
de Souza checks the leg kick nicely there.
Mike Matthews seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Matthews tries to clinch but de Souza is having none of it.
de Souza with poor footwork there. He got himself in a bit of a tangle, enabling Matthews to score with a decent uppercut.
de Souza circles away from the clinch attempt
and de Souza counters with a slapping leg kick.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Matthews darts in trying to clinch
and de Souza counters with a quick right hand to the jaw.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
The fight stays on the outside here - Matthews looks like he's thinking about clinching though.
Matthews scores with a jab to the body.
de Souza circles away from the clinch attempt.

Matthews rushes de Souza and presses him up against the cage.

de Souza pushes off and circles away, back to the middle of the mat.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
de Souza thows a body shot but no joy.
Matthews takes a swing at de Souza's ribcage but misses.
A slapping leg kick lands for de Souza.
Matthews fails with an attempt to clinch.
Matthews takes a swing at de Souza's ribcage but misses.
de Souza shoots in looking for a takedown but Matthews manages to keep the fight standing, pushing de Souza's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
A decent looking body kick lands there for de Souza.
de Souza keeps Matthews at a distance using the push kick.
de Souza fails miserably with a takedown attempt.
de Souza thumps Matthews with a low kick.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Matthews doesn't manage to clinch there - de Souza circles away.
Matthews throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
de Souza scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
de Souza fakes with a right hand and throws a good leg kick, right into the thigh. That had to hurt Matthews.
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as de Souza checks a leg kick.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Matthews doesn't manage to clinch there - de Souza circles away.
de Souza changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.

de Souza decides to change it up a bit and drives through with a nice takedown into half guard.
We've had a lack of effective grappling in the last minute or so, which could well see a referee standup.
de Souza uses his free foot to push down on Matthews's thigh. Eventually he works his other foot free and he's advanced to mount - this is trouble for Matthews.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
de Souza raining down shots from the mount!
de Souza postures up and cracks his opponent a couple of times before moving back into close ground control. Matthews looks a forlorn figure.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thiago de Souza dominated that second round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

Matthews swings and misses with a hook to the body.
de Souza swats away the attempt to clinch by Matthews.
Matthews drops his hands momentarily and de Souza takes advantage with a crisp shot to the head.
Matthews is looking to clinch.
Matthews closes the distance looking to clinch
and de Souza counters with an inside leg kick.
Matthews tries to clinch but de Souza moves away
and de Souza counters with a nice uppercut.
de Souza throws a jab but it's blocked by Matthews.
Matthews thows a body shot but no joy.

That's one minute gone in the round.
de Souza fails with a takedown attempt.
Matthews on the receiving end of a decent leg kick there by de Souza. de Souza obviously looking to wear him down.
Matthews misses with an uppercut
and de Souza counters with a lovely straight right hand!
Matthews tries to close the distance and clinch up against the cage but de Souza paws at him with a jab and circles away.
Matthews tries a low kick but de Souza avoids it.
A slow jab from Matthews misses its intended target.
Matthews scores with the left hand. de Souza knows he should have avoided that one.
Matthews thows a body shot but no joy.
Matthews swings away with a leg kick that misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are starting to get sweaty, which will make takedowns a bit more tricky.
de Souza tries to score with a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Matthews misses with a body shot.
de Souza goes for a spinning back kick but it misses.
Matthews doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
de Souza throws a nice looking combination but Matthews bobs and weaves to avoid any damage.

Matthews clinches up with de Souza and pushes him back against the cage.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
The referee is keeping an eye on Matthews - much more stalling and he will separate the fighters.
Matthews using the Thai plumb to throw knees but de Souza has his back arched nicely, preventing the strike.
With the two fighters working up against the cage, Matthews just misses with a elbow thrown towards de Souza's brow.

de Souza pulls guard.
de Souza tries to land a sweep but no joy.

de Souza is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Matthews is aware though and is defending well.

Matthews is trying to tuck his arms in to keep them safe but de Souza has managed to isolate one of them and has got a loose triangle. Matthews is looking to defend but de Souza has done well to lock his legs together - this could be big trouble for Matthews! de Souza pulls down on the head and a little smile comes across his face - he knows he's got it. Yep, Matthews taps out and this one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3:18 of round 3, we have a winner by way of Submission (Triangle). Thiago de Souza!
Thiago de Souza retains his welterweight title!
Jumping up and down and very excited, Thiago de Souza waved his t-shirt featuring [WOT] GR Design - Top quality, from $10 to $150 !'s logo in front of the cameras.