PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Diego Brandao (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Alex Hopkins (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Hopkins comes into a darkened arena with his song building. Coming home -Dirty money kicks in, the lights come on and the crowd goes wild! What a showman! Both fighters look fresh as a daisy as they make their way towards the cage.

Brandao
vs
Hopkins

180 cm
32
166 lbs
11 - 9 - 0

180 cm
35
154 lbs
15 - 12 - 0

Good wrestling
World class boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
World class boxer
Good gas tank

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 11 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Sydney, Diego Brandao!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 12 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Alex Hopkins!
The judges for this bout are Steve Erwin, Ben Watson and Chris Dean.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Hopkins takes a step back and watches a body kick go sailing past his mid section.
Ouch! a nice leg kick from Brandao, right into the meat.
Hopkins's jab looks to have found its range, popping Brandao under the eye.
Hopkins takes a kick to the side of the head.
Brandao throws a solid leg kick but Hopkins takes the impact on his shin and smiles at Brandao.
Hopkins raises up his leg as if looking to counter with a high kick.
Hopkins misses with a hook. Brandao ducked under it nicely.
It looked like Brandao was trying to counter with a body shot coming off that last attack from Hopkins.
Brandao 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.
Brandao swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Hopkins fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Brandao manages to avoid it.
Brandao throws a shot to the body.
Brandao lands an overhand right.
Hopkins is looking to land body kicks.
Brandao tests Hopkins's chin there with a solid looking shot.
Diego Brandao seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Hopkins on the wrong end of a nice jab.
This has been an exciting period of action!
Brandao takes a solid shot to the body. That one hurt him but he's trying not to show it.
Hopkins paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button.
Hopkins misses with a wild body shot.
A lazy left from Brandao finds it's target.
Hopkins connects with an inside leg kick.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Oooooooooooh, not good. A low kick from Brandao lands where it shouldn't have, right in the... well, you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis. He's injured, injured bad. The referee sends both fighters to their corners and Hopkins has 5 minutes to recover. He's OK now though... a thumbs up from Hopkins and we're back underway with a touch of gloves.
Hopkins looks like he wants to counter punch here.
Brandao on the wrong end of a kick to the body.
Brandao throws a head kick that half lands.
Brandao dodges the punch combination from Hopkins.
Hopkins scores with a hook to the body. Brandao takes a step back and tries to catch his breath.
Hopkins misses with a kick to the body.
Brandao blocks a leg kick.
Hopkins misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Brandao.
Brandao fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Hopkins manages to avoid it.
Brandao cracks the inside of Hopkins's front leg.
Hopkins throws a body kick despite being completely out of range
and Brandao counters with an outside leg kick.
Hopkins scores with a slapping inside leg kick.
Brandao avoids the head kick by Hopkins.
Brandao fakes a couple of low kicks, before throwing one on the third attempt. It connects and Hopkins has to reset his feet before getting ready to engage.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Hopkins pushing out the jab but it's not landing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Hopkins throws a push kick but Brandao slaps the foot to one side.
Brandao scores with a leg kick.
Hopkins takes a kick to the side of the head.
Brandao connects with a body shot.
Hopkins misses the shot to the body.
Brandao throws a head kick that misses.
Hopkins swings away with a counter right hand but no contact made.
Hopkins takes a hook to the side of the head. I wonder if that's got his ears ringing.
Hopkins is throwing a lot of body shots here, looking to wear down Brandao rather than just go for the knockout.
A looping hook to the body misses from Hopkins. Brandao does a little dance to reset his feet.
Hopkins walks into a left hand.
Hopkins shoots in for a takedown. He's persisting with it as Brandao sprawls well. Brandao wins this battle and keeps the fight standing. Hopkins gets slowly back to his feet.
Brandao takes a nasty kick to the mid section... That should keep him thinking. Does he try and block and risk a head kick landing?
Brandao keeps the fight standing with a nice sprawl.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Hopkins 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.
A solid leg kick lands there for Brandao.
Brandao scoring well with a low kick there.
Brandao scores with a jab to the body.
Brandao scores with a shot to the body.
Hopkins scores with a hook.
Brandao scores with a leg kick.
Hopkins's leg has a nasty welt from taking a succession of leg kicks. That must be slowing him down.
Hopkins lands an overhand right.
Hopkins throws a monster uppercut resembling something out of street fighter but it doesn't land.
A counter left hand to the body from Brandao misses its target.
Brandao feints with a shoulder and throws a nice leg kick to Hopkins's calf.
Brandao swings for the body but Hopkins moves out of range.
Brandao throws a head kick that misses and slips in the process. He scrambles back to his feet and the fighters circle.
Hopkins keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Hopkins throws a sloppy head kick
and Brandao counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Brandao ducks under a wild hook from Hopkins.
Hopkins swings for the body but Brandao moves out of range.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Brandao stooping low to avoid any incoming strikes and then lunges in with an uppercut come cross that lands flush.
Brandao tries to work over Hopkins's front leg with a kick but Hopkins checks it.
Hopkins is on the wrong end of a nice combination from Brandao.
Brandao misses with a hook. Hopkins ducked under it nicely.
And Hopkins responds with a good body kick, but Brandao manages to step out the way in time.
Brandao scores with a body shot.
Hopkins is looking to score with low kicks.
Hopkins looks to land a right hand but Brandao moved out of range.
Brandao throws a body punch but Hopkins moves out of range.
Hopkins takes a jab on the nose. He smiles like he loves it and keeps coming.
Hopkins throws a push kick but Brandao slaps the foot to one side.
Brandao dances in quickly and lands a nice inside leg kick on Hopkins. That did some damage!
Brandao connects with a hook to the side of his opponent's head.
Brandao just misses with a punch to the body.
The crowd applaud the fighters' efforts here as the round comes to an end.
A solid leg kick lands there for Brandao.
Hopkins jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
Brandao tries a switch kick but it misses it's target.
Hopkins misses with an uppercut
and Brandao counters with a slapping leg kick.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Diego Brandao dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Hopkins thuds his right hand into Brandao's forehead from close range. That could be painful for both fighters.
Brandao stooping low to avoid any incoming strikes and then lunges in with an uppercut come cross that lands flush.
A nice leg kick lands there from Hopkins.
Brandao throws a hook to the body but it doesn't connect.
Hopkins gets cracked with a nice right hand there by Brandao.
Diego Brandao is winning the standup battle so far.
Brandao keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Brandao checks a low kick. Bone on bone - not my idea of a good time.
Hopkins connects with a crisp jab.
Hopkins shoots in looking for a takedown. Brandao tries to sprawl out of it but Hopkins keeps driving through. The fighters are pinned against the cage. Brandao manages to get underhooks and after a bit of a struggle, circles away and we're back to standing.
Hopkins cracks Brandao with a hook to the jaw. Both fighters smile at eachother and high-five before getting back down to business.
Hopkins misses the jab.
Hopkins throws a body kick but he wasn't in range.
Brandao keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Hopkins.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Hopkins takes a nice looking leg kick right on the meat of his thigh there.
Brandao throws a body punch but Hopkins moves out of range.
Hopkins stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Brandao.
Hopkins jabbing away but nothing is landing.
Brandao lands a glancing blow to the side of Hopkins's head.
Hopkins missing with a left hand there. Brandao was out of range so wasted energy throwing that one.
Brandao cracks the inside of Hopkins's front leg.
Brandao scoring well with a low kick there.
Brandao throws a body punch but Hopkins moves out of range.
Brandao stalks Hopkins and leaps in with a furious combination of punches. Uppercuts and crosses smash into Hopkins's face. Hopkins staggers backwards, shaken.
Brandao misses with a low kick.
A looping hook to the body misses from Brandao. Hopkins does a little dance to reset his feet.
Hopkins uses some good footwork to avoid the body shot by Brandao.
Hopkins throws out a counter right but Brandao avoids it with no problem.
Hopkins throws a jab when Brandao was well out of range.
Hopkins throws the kick towards the body but Brandao avoids it.
Brandao is really dominating this fight. Is there anything that Hopkins can do to turn this around?
Hopkins misses with an uppercut
and Hopkins takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Brandao throws a head kick that misses
and Hopkins counters with a straight right hand.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
A big left from Hopkins misses.
Brandao slips a straight right by Hopkins.
Both these guys seem content to just stand up and trade with eachother but Hopkins might want to think about changing up his gameplan a bit because over the course of the fight, Brandao has got the better of the exchanges.
Brandao jabs Hopkins right on the nose. Hopkins blinks but takes it well.
Hopkins throws the left hand but Brandao avoids the punch easily.
Brandao throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Diego Brandao is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
Hopkins blocks a head kick by Brandao.
Hopkins gets cracked with a nice right hand there by Brandao.
Hopkins throws a leg kick but Brandao sees it coming and moves out of range.
Brandao misses with a jab to the body
and Hopkins counters with a huge head kick that drops Brandao! The ref dives in to stop the fight and the crowd goes wild!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:38 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Alex Hopkins!
After the fight, Alex Hopkins was humble in paying tribute to his opponent but made it clear he wants to go on to bigger and better things. It seemed to go down well with the crowd who cheered him loudly.
In defeat, Diego Brandao stepped up to the mic, saying 'Hell I took this fight on 2 days notice, and I was at less than 80% energy when I came in. I did my best given the situation. He wouldn't stand a chance in a rematch.'.