PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a lightweight MMA rules bout between Edvard Matiae (ranked 3119 p4p, 3070 weight class) and Samuel Cooke (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). The crowd seem to be enjoying Cooke's choice of entrance music: Harm's Way - Warriors Will Reign. Cooke has a niggling injury. He would have liked to come in 100% fit but that's not always possible. Samuel Cooke looks lathargic as he enters the arena. Wake up son, you're about to have a fight!

Matiae
vs
Cooke

178 cm
28
166
4 - 4 - 0

184 cm
42
155
26 - 28 - 1

BJJ White Belt
Excellent boxer
Cardio machine

BJJ Brown Belt
Dangerous knees
Powerful

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 4 - 4 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Edvard Matiae!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 26 - 28 - 1, fighting out of Las Vegas, Samuel Cooke!
The judges for this bout are Ivan Kurochkin, Konstantin Menshow and Viktor Lagutenko.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Matiae wants to clinch.
Cooke keeping a good distance there, avoiding the body shot.
And Cooke tries to counter it with a takedown but Matiae pushes his down on his head and steps out.
Good exchange - Matiae coming out on top.
Cooke is a painfully thin specimen of a man. You do wonder whether a good body kick would snap him clean in two.
Matiae misses with a straight left.
And Cooke tries to counter it with a takedown but Matiae pushes his down on his head and steps out.
Matiae lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
Cooke keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Matiae.
Cooke tries a counter takedown but it's more of a dummy move, and he uses it to push himself away.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Matiae throws the left hand but Cooke avoids the punch easily.
Matiae throws a hook to the side of Cooke's head but Cooke sees it coming and ducks under it beautifully.
Cooke with the counter takedown but Matiae avoids it easily.
Cooke displays some good footwork, moving neatly out of range as Matiae throws out the jab.
Cooke drops down looking to force a counter takedown but Matiae defends it well.
Edvard Matiae seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
Matiae dips down and scores with a jab to the body.
Cooke looks winded!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cooke avoids the body shot from Matiae.
Cooke takes one to the side of the head.

Cooke is rocked!
Cooke uses good footwork to avoid the strikes from Matiae.
Cooke is still on wobbly legs! Can Matiae finish him?
Matiae drops Cooke with a straight left! Oh this is bad for Cooke! Matiae dives in and starts dropping bombs - the referee has no choice but to step in and save him!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:26 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Edvard Matiae!
During a confident post fight interview, Edvard Matiae thanked all his fans. He seemed very genuine when describing how motivated his fans keep him.