PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between Henrique Tavares (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Mauricio Rua (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Tavares comes to the cage accompanied by Devour the Day - Get Out of My Way. Mauricio Rua has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Tavares
vs
Rua

195 cm
23
210 lbs
4 - 2 - 0

185 cm
25
207 lbs
4 - 0 - 0

Decent wrestler
Solid boxing
Cardio machine

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter fighter
Determined

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 4 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Henrique Tavares!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 4 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Mauricio Rua!
The judges for this bout are Thiago Cunha, Mauricio Rocha and Emerson Jorge.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Tavares rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Rua moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Rua shoots for a double leg takedown but Tavares sprawls well. He's pushed Rua's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.
Tavares lands the left hand.
We can't be sure of the tactics at this early stage but we have heard that Rua has been working on his takedowns a lot in the buildup to the fight and we can only assume he's going to look to take this to the mat.
Rua takes a punch to the jaw and another one to the bread basket.

It looks like Mauricio Rua has been cut.
Tavares misses with a wild combination.
Tavares definitely looks more muscular than last time we saw him fight.
Sloppy strikes from Tavares. Those never looked like landing.

Tavares cracks Rua with a big right hand that sends him crashing to the floor. Tavares has the opportunity to follow him to the ground but instead he's beckoning Rua to stand back up!

Rua is rocked!
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.

Rua rushes Tavares and pushes him back against the cage in a clinch.
Rua is still on wobbly legs! Can Tavares finish him?

Tavares breaks the clinch.
Rua seems to have recovered his senses.
Tavares plants his feet and throws a brutal three punch combo that sends Rua swiftly into unconsciousness! Right, left, right! Boom, boom, boom! Rua face plants, battered and bloodied! He might never be the same again after that finish!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:42 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Punches). Henrique Tavares!
Henrique Tavares spent the whole post fight interview bigging himself up. It didn't go down that well with the fans after a while as they thought it was a bit arrogant.