PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Nilmar Assuncao (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Frank Diaz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Frank Diaz has the power to score a knockout today if he connects clean with Nilmar Assuncao's chin.

Assuncao
vs
Diaz

188 cm
22
190 lbs
0 - 0 - 0

180 cm
21
190 lbs
2 - 1 - 0

BJJ Brown Belt
Brawler
Intelligent

BJJ Purple Belt
Counter striker
Solid chin

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the middleweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Nilmar Assuncao!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 1 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Frank Diaz!
The judges for this bout are Alexandre Firmino, Daniel Cesar and Paulo Santos.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Diaz lands with a nice low kick. That'll leave a bruise.
Diaz tries to work over Assuncao's front leg with a kick but Assuncao checks it.
Diaz pivots, looking for a leg kick but Assuncao is out of range and Diaz settles back down.
Diaz throws a feint and then finishes with a kick to the body.
Assuncao wants to clinch up but Diaz keeps it at a distance.
Diaz checks a leg kick.
Assuncao fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
Nilmar Assuncao seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Diaz dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Diaz will need to close the distance a bit before he attacks - that leg kick was thrown from too far away.
Assuncao tries to score with an inside leg kick but telegraphs it and Diaz is able to avoid easily.
Ooooh, nice body kick lands from Diaz. Assuncao shrugs it off though.

Diaz gets a takedown into half guard.
Assuncao tries to strike from the bottom but it doesn't land.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Assuncao is trying to control but can't.
Assuncao keeping control of the position.
Diaz not landing any meaningful shots this time.
Assuncao wants to control but Diaz is keeping busy and won't allow it.
Diaz controlling the action here.
Diaz missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
Diaz is trying to control the action in half guard but Assuncao is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.

Well, the referee has seen enough. Neither fighter is active enough on the ground so he's stood them back up.
Diaz scoring well with a low kick there.
Assuncao is breathing heavily.

Diaz looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
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.
Assuncao is trying to control but can't.
Assuncao is trying to get back to full guard.

Diaz is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.
Assuncao is in trouble now - Diaz has advanced to mount!
Diaz working the ground and pound effectively.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diaz landing strikes, looking to finish!
Assuncao tries to hold on but Diaz postures up.
Diaz working the ground and pound effectively.

Diaz is working for a guillotine from mount but Assuncao frees his head quite easily.
Assuncao tries to hold on but Diaz pushes him away.
Diaz looking to control but Assuncao is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Assuncao wants to hold on but Diaz pushes him away.
Assuncao wants to get back to his feet.
Assuncao tries to hold on but Diaz postures up.
Diaz looking to control but Assuncao is working nicely, looking to advance position himself.
Diaz in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Frank Diaz dominated that round.
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.

Assuncao gets his takedown attempt stuffed easily

and Diaz counters with a nice shoot takedown that brings the fighters to the ground.
Assuncao keeping moving, preventing Diaz from controlling successfully.
Diaz controlling from the top position.
Assuncao manages to sweep nicely, so he's now on top. Diaz manages to get himself to full guard.
Diaz controls Assuncao momentarily but Assuncao frees himself.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.

Diaz is looking for a triangle but Assuncao pushes his legs off easily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Diaz keeping moving, preventing Assuncao from controlling successfully.
Assuncao throws a big right hand that misses.
Assuncao wants to stand but Diaz has a closed guard, so he can't escape.
Assuncao in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.

Assuncao decides to stand up and beckons his opponent to follow.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are getting on the fighters' backs, as the pace has dropped off in the last minute or so.
Assuncao shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Diaz but Diaz pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Assuncao tries to clinch but is not successful on this occasion.
Assuncao misses with a takedown attempt. He shot from a bit too far out.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Nilmar Assuncao. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Diaz buckles his opponent's knee momentarily with a nice leg kick.
Diaz thuds his shin into the meat of Assuncao's side.
Assuncao misses with a takedown attempt - Diaz sprawls well and throws a nice strike on the way out which just misses.
A jab from Diaz finds it's way through Assuncao's defenses.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Assuncao misses with a leg kick
and Diaz counters with a nice body kick.
Diaz tries to bum rush Assuncao with a series of wild strikes but Assuncao uses good footwork to avoid the assault.
Diaz throws a chopping leg kick but Assuncao manages to avoid taking any serious damage.

Assuncao closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Diaz sneaks a leg under to get back to half guard.
Diaz moves his hips nicely and gets into full guard.
Assuncao tries to stand but Diaz is controlling from the bottom.
Assuncao wants to control from the top but Diaz keeps moving.
Diaz is working from a closed guard but he's struggling to control his opponent.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Assuncao throws a big right hand that misses.

Assuncao decides he's had enough of playing guard and decides to stand. Come on Diaz, up you get!
Assuncao fails with the takedown
and Diaz counters with a right hand to the body.
Assuncao stumbles momentarily as he takes a strong leg kick from Diaz.
Assuncao falls off balance throwing a combination
and Diaz counters with a body kick that stops Assuncao in his tracks momentarily.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Frank Diaz showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The fighters get back to their feet, the hooter sounds and we're back to the action! This is the final round!

Diaz misses with a low kick as Assuncao jumps back.
Diaz misses with a low kick.
Diaz explodes with a nice body kick and back out of range. Nice work.
Assuncao stuffs the takedown.
Diaz throws a low kick but Assuncao avoids it.

Assuncao feints and as Diaz raises his hands in defense, Assuncao changes levels and drives through with a takedown into guard.
Assuncao wants to control from the top but Diaz keeps moving.
Assuncao throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Diaz can't keep his opponent in guard - Assuncao advances to half guard, no doubt looking to mount.
Assuncao seems to have lost interest with the ground game and is thinking about standing back up.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Both fighters are breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Assuncao is looking for a kimura here.
Diaz trying to hold on to Assuncao's head to control him but Assuncao postures up.
Assuncao working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Diaz is looking to improve his position.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.
Assuncao is trying to get back to his feet now but his leg is trapped.
Diaz wants to improve his position but Assuncao is controlling well.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Diaz thows a body shot but no joy.
Assuncao tries to clinch but Diaz moves out of range.
Assuncao shoots for a double leg takedown but Diaz sprawls well. He's pushed Assuncao's face into the mat and manages to get back to his feet relatively easily.

Diaz shoots in for a takedown and gets it.
Assuncao wants to get back to full guard.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Diaz prevents Assuncao from standing back up.
Diaz not throwing his punches with enough precision this time.
Assuncao is refusing to be controlled, as Diaz sits in half guard.
Assuncao is trying to get back to full guard.
Diaz is thwarting Assuncao's attempts to control the position.
Assuncao won't allow Diaz to pass to mount.

Diaz is working for submissions here but there's nothing on.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
The crowd are starting to boo a lack of action.

Neither fighter is doing enough for the referee's liking and he's decided to stand them back up.
Assuncao has his takedown stuffed
and Diaz counters with a straight punch to the midsection.
A thudding body kick lands there by Diaz!
Assuncao scores with the left hand. Diaz knows he should have avoided that one.
Assuncao shoots in for a takedown. "Ole!" shouts Diaz as he jumps to the side.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Nilmar Assuncao. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Diaz scores with a shot to the body.

Assuncao has managed to clinch.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.

Assuncao jumps guard.
Diaz throws a strike but Assuncao rolls with it and manages to sweep. Now he's in guard on top.

And that's the end of the fight!
Nilmar Assuncao showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Diaz has won this one but let's see whether the judges agree with me. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Alexandre Firmino scores the fight 28:29
Judge Daniel Cesar scores the fight 28:29
Judge Paulo Santos scores the fight 27:29

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Frank Diaz!