PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Mason Rua (ranked 24890 p4p, 4606 weight class) and Rick Smith (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Rua
vs
Smith

198 cm
22
202
0 - 3 - 0

190 cm
25
220
1 - 0 - 0

BJJ White Belt
Counter fighter
Cuts easily

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Powerful

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 0 - 3 - 0, fighting out of New York, Mason Rua!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 1 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Helsinki, Rick Smith!
The judges for this bout are Jonathan Paton, John Roberts and Chad Campbell.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Rua swats away the attempt to clinch by Smith.
Smith misses with a straight right.
Smith misses with a few strikes there.
Smith tries to clinch but Rua moves away
and Rua counters with a nice uppercut.
Rua keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.

Smith has taken the fight to the clinch.
Smith missing with knees to the body.
Smith lands a right uppercut that snaps the head of Rua backwards.

Rua breaks from the clinch.
Smith misses with a hook. Rua ducked under it nicely.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Smith blocks a jab.
And an attempted straight right on the counter from Smith! But no joy.
Smith throws a wild combination but nothing lands.
Smith moves in looking to clinch but Rua pushes him off.
Rua avoids the clinch attempt nicely.
Rua dodges the punch combination from Smith.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Nice uppercut there from Rua.
Rua looks to score with a jab to the body but Smith is just out of range.
Rua swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Smith bobs and weaves well there to avoid the strikes.
Smith rushes forward with a series of wild hooks but Rua moves out of range and avoids them all easily.
Smith throws the left hand but Rua avoids the punch easily.
An attempted straight right counter from Rua misses the target.
Smith connects with the punch.
Rua loads up on a big right hand but Smith slips the punch.

Smith closes the distance and pushes Rua back into the cage.
Smith pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.

Rua has managed to pull guard. Let's see whether he can work an aggressive guard. It will also be interesting to see what tactics Smith uses from the top position.
Rua looking to hit a scissor sweep but Smith is one step ahead there.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Rua scrambles and gets back to his feet.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Smith blocks a jab.
Smith fails to land with a series of punches.
Smith lands with a nice body punch.
Smith is looking to clinch.
Jab, cross, leg kick. Nice combination by Smith!

It looks like Mason Rua has been cut.
Smith tries to clinch up against the cage, rushing in to close the distance. Rua manages to break the clinch and circles back to the middle of the mat.
Smith keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Rua definitely looks more muscular than last time we saw him fight.
Rua ducks under an overhand right and circles away with a smile on his face.
A looping hook to the body misses from Smith. Rua does a little dance to reset his feet.
Smith tries to bum rush Rua with a series of wild strikes but Rua uses good footwork to avoid the assault.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Smith keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Smith looks to score with a jab to the body but Rua is just out of range.
Smith keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
Smith closes the distance and takes a jab right on the nose as he does so.
Smith dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Smith tries to clinch but Rua moves out of range.
Smith swings for the body but Rua moves out of range.
Smith jabs Rua to the body, keeping him at a distance.
Smith is really struggling to land any decent head shots against his taller opponent.
Smith misses with a double jab
enabling Rua to counter with a crisp jab.
Rua throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Rua with a nice cross.
Smith tries to clinch
and Rua counters with a good right hand that lands right on the jaw.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Rua swings and misses with a hook to the body.
Rua is breathing heavily.
Smith tries to clinch but Rua moves out of range.
Smith misses with a looping left.
An attempted straight right counter from Rua misses the target.
Smith with a body punch. A glancing blow.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Rua gets cracked there but stands up to it.
Smith swinging wildly here.
It looked like Rua wanted to counter with a hook but didn't fully commit.

Smith gets to the clinch - let's see what his plan is here.
Smith misses the knee to the body. Nice hip positioning from Rua.
Rua blocks a knee to the body. He'll have a nicely bruised forearm in the morning.
Rua looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Rua's head jolts backwards as he takes an uppercut right on the button!
Smith looking to throw knees to the head but Rua is blocking nicely.
Rua looks like he'd prefer to be striking at range right now.
Smith prevents Rua from breaking the clinch.
And that is the end of the round. The fighters go back to their corners.

Rick Smith dominated that round.
The cut man is working on Mason Rua's cut.
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.

Smith throws a nice hook to the body that draws an oooh from the crowd.
A jab from Rua misses.
Rick Smith seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Rua tries to land with a swinging hook to the body but Smith was well out of range. Poor timing from Rua.
Rua avoids the body shot from Smith.
Smith is throwing a lot of body shots here, looking to wear down Rua rather than just go for the knockout.
Smith lands a nice shot to the body.
Smith moves away from the strike by Rua.
Smith slips under a jab from Rua.
Smith misses with a double jab.
Rua misses with a looping left.
Smith is loading up here, looking for a big counter of his own.

Smith lands a left and a right that send Rua crashing to the mat, dazed. Smith thinks about following him to the mat but decides to wave him back up to his feet!

Rua is rocked!
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Rua throws the left hand but Smith avoids the punch easily.
It seemed like Smith was going to counter with the hook but didn't fully commit to it.
Oh Rua is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?!!
A combination from Smith does no damage.
Smith throws a left and a right that both miss
letting Rua counter with a right hand.
Smith drops Rua with a big left hand! Rua is injured, injured bad! Smith jumps in and finished him with strikes! The fight is over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:55 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Rick Smith!