PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Gage Thomas (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Ricardo Martinez (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Martinez has chosen Non Phixion - The CIA Is Trying To Kill Me as his entrance music. Gage Thomas could well score a knockout today. He has the power to get to Ricardo Martinez's chin.

Thomas
vs
Martinez

183 cm
21
190 lbs
9 - 1 - 0

190 cm
22
202 lbs
9 - 0 - 0

Good wrestling
Great elbows
Cardio machine

BJJ Blue Belt
World class MT
Good gas tank

Brute

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Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 9 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Gage Thomas!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 9 - 0 - 0, fighting out of New York, Ricardo Martinez!
The judges for this bout are Bruno Lombardi, Anthony Taglia and Russell Pearce.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thomas misses with a hook.
Thomas fails with an attempt to clinch.
Thomas takes a swing at Martinez's ribcage but misses.
Thomas pushing out the jab but it's not landing.
Thomas lands a really nice looking cross but Martinez seems unphased.
Thomas avoids a low kick by using good footwork.
Thomas is pinned up against the cage taking some big shots here. The referee is looking closely deciding whether he should stop the fight.
Thomas swings widly with a right hand
and Martinez counters with a nice low kick that buckles Thomas's knee momentarily.
Thomas misses with a straight right.
Thomas paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button.
Gage Thomas seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Thomas throws a hook to the side of Martinez's head but Martinez sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Thomas misses with a wild body shot.
Martinez keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Martinez throws a quick inside leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez scores with a nice head shot.
Martinez goes to the watering hole and comes back with a big thumbs up from the judges as he scores a three punch combo.
Thomas throws a leg kick but he was too far away and it doesn't land.
Thomas misses the shot to the body.
Thomas lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Martinez at a distance.
Martinez wants to land a leg kick but Thomas is out of range.
Thomas just misses with a punch to the body.
A swing and a miss from Martinez.
Martinez throws a low kick, looking for Thomas's leg but Thomas calmly moves out of range.
Martinez moves into range and lands a nice leg kick.
Thomas throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
Thomas looks to land a left hand but Martinez moved out of range nicely.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Martinez scores with a hook to the body. Thomas takes a step back and tries to catch his breath.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Thomas will have to do better than that with his takedown attempts.
Thomas looks to throw the jab but Martinez is out of range.
Nice defenses there by Martinez.
Thomas lands with an overhand left.
A telegraphed right hand from Thomas misses the target.
Thomas with a body punch. A glancing blow.
Martinez lands with a thumping leg kick.
Thomas takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Martinez keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Thomas waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract Martinez.
Thomas misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Martinez.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Thomas keeping at a good range here, avoiding a leg kick.
Thomas throws the kick towards the body but Martinez avoids it.
Thomas jabbing away but nothing is landing.
Thomas tries to clinch up but Martinez circles away and keeps his distance.
Thomas misses with a low kick as Martinez jumps back.
Martinez fakes a jab and then connects with a hook.
Martinez lands a leg kick that knocks Thomas off balance momentarily.
Martinez defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Thomas.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Martinez!
Thomas throws a jab, cross combination which is slipped
and Martinez counters with a low kick, right behind Thomas 's knee.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Martinez scores with a jab to the body.
Thomas scores with a nice one two combo and darts back out of range to avoid anything coming in the opposite direction.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Thomas fails with an attempt to clinch.
Thomas throws a head kick that misses.
Martinez ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
Thomas scores with a body shot.
Thomas fakes with the hands and throws a leg kick but Martinez is out of range.
Ricardo Martinez is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Thomas fails with the takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Gage Thomas. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Thomas throws a body kick that misses.
Martinez lands a lovely overhand right.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Martinez checks the leg kick nicely there.
Thomas tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Martinez was well out of range. Poor timing from Thomas.
Jab by Martinez.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Ricardo Martinez dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Martinez takes a swing at Thomas's ribcage but misses.
Martinez lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Thomas at a distance.
Martinez lands a nice shot that snaps Thomas's head back.
Martinez fakes the leg kick and cracks Thomas in the body.
Thomas shoots in for a takedown but Martinez shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.

Thomas looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.
Thomas throwing shots but they're hitting the canvas more than the man.
Martinez blocking the ground and pound attempt from Thomas.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Thomas thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Martinez's head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thomas wants to control but Martinez is keeping him busy.
Thomas not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Martinez blocking the ground and pound attempt from Thomas.
Still in half guard, Thomas seems content to control.
Martinez keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Thomas trying to control the action but Martinez is working from the bottom.
Martinez avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Thomas.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well, if Thomas is going to just lie there, perhaps we should talk about what we're having for dinner tonight… I'm having a ham and pineapple pizza… Yum. Can't wait.

We're going to have a standup here because Gage Thomas wasn't active enough for the referee's liking.
Martinez checks a low kick. Bone on bone - not my idea of a good time.
Thomas avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Thomas is really struggling to find his range with his punches. Martinez's reach advantage is clearly causing him problems.
Martinez leaves Thomas with his face pressed against the mat as he sprawls beautifully, defending against a solid takedown attempt.
Martinez throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Martinez with a nice looking leg kick. You could hear that one land in a back row.
Thomas misses with a head kick.
Thomas scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
The crowd cheers as Thomas lands an impressive looking overhand right. Martinez doesn't seem phased though.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Martinez throws a quick inside leg kick.
Thomas takes a thudding leg kick, right into the meat of the thigh.
Thomas swings wildly with a hook that is half blocked by Martinez.
Martinez looks to throw the jab but Thomas is out of range.
Martinez moves out of range as Thomas strikes.
Martinez takes a kick to the body and keeps moving.
A lazy left from Martinez finds it's target.
Martinez avoids the body shot from Thomas.
Thomas misses with a wild body shot.
A lazy left from Martinez finds it's target.
Thomas is hobbling a little on that front leg after taking quite a few leg kicks so far in this fight.
Thomas throws a hook to the side of Martinez's head but Martinez sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Thomas changes levels and scores with a jab to the body.
Thomas showing good head movement there, avoiding the strikes from Martinez.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Martinez motions for Thomas to come forward. Martinez throws a leg kick but it misses it's target.
Martinez fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Thomas has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Thomas throws a wild body kick that Martinez sees coming a mile off.
Thomas throws a leg kick that is checked
and Martinez counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.
Martinez looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Thomas fails to land the takedown.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Gage Thomas. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Thomas stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Martinez.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

A close second round but Ricardo Martinez will probably get the nod - 10:9.
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.

Martinez avoids the body shot from Thomas.
Martinez swats away the attempt to clinch by Thomas.
Thomas misses with a straight left.
Thomas misses with a left hand
and Martinez counters with an inside leg kick.
Martinez lands a high kick!
Thomas pulls out of a head kick attempt.
Martinez chopping away at his opponent's legs.
Martinez throws a low kick but Thomas avoids it.
Martinez works Thomas's body with a nice hook.
Martinez lands a leg kick. The shin dug right into the meat of the thigh.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Thomas fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Martinez manages to avoid it.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Martinez buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.

Martinez lands a big head kick that sends Thomas tumbling to the mat! Martinez takes a step backwards and waves Thomas back to his feet - he wants the finish!

Thomas is rocked!
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Thomas on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Oh Thomas is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
Both fighters are breathing heavily.
Thomas misses with a left hand
and Martinez counters with a beautiful right hand that knocks Thomas out cold! What a finish! Martinez is going crazy, running around the mat, summersaulting off the corner posts and screaming into the cameras. Something tells me he's pretty happy!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:21 of round 3, we have a winner by way of KO (Punch). Ricardo Martinez!
An out of breath Ricardo Martinez thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.