PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Jackie Soap (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mihai Matei (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Matei has chosen MitiS & MaHi - Blu as his entrance music. Mihai Matei will no doubt be trying to keep this one on the feet, where he has a distinct advantage.

Soap
vs
Matei

168 cm
20
162 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

169 cm
28
150 lbs
5 - 1 - 0

Good wrestling
Basic striking
Cardio machine

BJJ Purple Belt
Excellent MT
Heavy handed

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the lightweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Jackie Soap!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 5 - 1 - 0, fighting out of London, Mihai Matei!
The judges for this bout are William Gold, Phil Schofield and Sam Margolis.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Matei throws a right and a left that both miss.
Matei misses with the combination.

Soap closes the distance and gets a trip takedown into side control. Matei quickly recovers to half guard.
Soap is trying to control the action in half guard but Matei is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
We could do with one of the fighters taking the initiative a bit more on the ground - they're both waiting to capitalize on a mistake.
Soap thows a huge punch but Matei dodges it nicely.
Matei is not content to let Soap control the position.
Soap looks to land a strike but Matei avoids it nicely and regains full guard.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Soap trying to land body shots but he keeps hitting the mat.
Soap controls the pace of the fight for a moment.

The ref stands the fighters back up because Jackie Soap just wasn't active enough.
Matei will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Soap tries for a takedown but Matei sees it coming a mile off and avoids it easily.
Soap swings for the body but Matei moves out of range.
Soap has been talking about how he's improved his wrestling in the run up to the fight so let's see if that's enough to sway the balance.
Soap 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.
Soap throws the kick towards the body but Matei avoids it.
Matei lunges in with swinging rights and lefts but Soap circles away quickly and effectively.
Soap looks to land a left hand but Matei moved out of range nicely.
Matei scores with a nice strike.
Matei fails to land with the punch combination there - jab, cross, hook, miss, miss, miss.
Soap looks to score with a jab to the body but Matei is just out of range.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Soap closes the distance and scores a nice trip takedown into half guard. Matei did well to prevent Soap getting side control.
Matei wants to get back to his feet.
Soap sitting and controlling from the half guard.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Matei is looking to escape.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Soap shoots in looking for a takedown. Matei tries to sprawl out of it but Soap keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Matei manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.

Soap gets a double leg takedown into Matei's guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Soap looking to pass the guard.
Soap passes into half guard.
Soap is pressing down on Matei's thigh, looking to free his foot. Matei is holding on for now.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Soap stops Matei from getting back to his feet.
Soap sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Matei defending well though.
Matei is trying to stand.

The ref calls for a clean break and stands the fighters back up. Mihai Matei wasn't active enough on the ground.
Soap doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Nice shot by Matei.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
Soap shoots in looking for a takedown but Matei manages to keep the fight standing, pushing Soap's face into the canvas for good measure before circling away.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Jackie Soap. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Soap pivots as if he's going to throw a leg kick but stops half way.
Soap shoots in for a takedown but Matei shows good takedown defense there and keeps this one on the feet.
Soap misses with a left hand
and Matei counters with a one-two to the body.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

That was a close round but I would say that Jackie Soap will probably get the nod.
The fighters' corners scream their final instructions, as the referee calls time. Here we go, back to the action!

Matei thows a body shot but no joy.
Matei tries to bum rush Soap with a series of wild strikes but Soap uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Soap swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Matei throws an overhand right from the outside, which connects and sends Soap stumbling backwards into the cage! Soap bounces back off the cage towards Matei, who cracks him with a two punch combination that drops him to his knees! Matei lands two more shots before the referee has chance to intervene - what a finish! Matei celebrates with his corner as the crowd cheer loudly.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:17 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Punches). Mihai Matei!
During a confident post fight interview, Mihai Matei thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.