PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a welterweight MMA rules bout between Thiago de Souza (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Dexter Mercier (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). de Souza comes to the cage accompanied by Dry County. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

de Souza
vs
Mercier

183 cm
29
177 lbs
29 - 9 - 0

182 cm
26
176 lbs
14 - 5 - 0

Powerful takedowns
Excellent boxer
Cardio machine

Decent wrestler
Excellent boxer
Powerful

Brute
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Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 5 rounds, for the welterweight championship of the world!
Introducing the champion to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 29 - 9 - 0, fighting out of Tokyo, Thiago de Souza!
And introducing the challenger to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 5 - 0, fighting out of London, Dexter Mercier!
The judges for this bout are Eddie Farnsworth, Jonathan Paton and John Kavanagh.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Mercier misses with a jab to the body
and Mercier takes a counter punch right on the button for his troubles.
de Souza moves in looking to clinch but Mercier pushes him off.
Mercier on the wrong end of a nice low kick. He's acting like it's no big deal but he doesn't want to take many more of those.
Mercier scores with a crisp jab that stopped de Souza in his tracks.
Mercier punishes de Souza's body with a nice straight punch.
Mercier throws a combination but it was largely blocked by de Souza.
Mercier swings for the body but de Souza moves out of range.
Mercier lands a nice hook to de Souza's body. de Souza takes it in his stride and looks to land his own strikes.
Dexter Mercier seems to be the more aggressive standup fighter in this bout.
de Souza misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from Mercier.
Mercier lands a body shot.
de Souza takes one on the chin but seems OK.
Mercier scores with a shot to the body.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Mercier looks to throw the jab but de Souza is out of range.

That's one minute gone in the round.
A looping hook to the body misses from Mercier. de Souza does a little dance to reset his feet.
Dexter Mercier is looking to keep the fight on the feet at all costs.
de Souza takes an uppercut right on the button but keeps his composure.
de Souza avoids the body shot from Mercier.
Mercier ducks down and throws a hook to the body.
Mercier misses with a lunging right hand

and de Souza counters with a takedown into full mount! That could mean trouble for Mercier!
It looks like the ref is thinking about a standup.
de Souza can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Mercier is looking to escape.
de Souza throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
de Souza scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Mercier?
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!

de Souza is in full mount, looking to secure a guillotine but Mercier is surviving well by controlling de Souza's body position as best he can.

de Souza looking for a guillotine from mount but Mercier is having none of it.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Mercier holding onto his opponent's waist for dear life, as de Souza tries to land some strikes to get him to release his grip.
de Souza looking to finish with strikes here!
de Souza looking to ground and pound but Mercier is blocking nicely.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Mercier wants to control but de Souza is having none of it.
de Souza throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
de Souza throws an elbow from mount that misses. Lucky escape for Mercier because de Souza loaded up on that one.
de Souza lands with some vicious ground and pound - can Mercier hang on?
Mercier tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Mercier regains half guard.

de Souza is trying to work for a kimura but Mercier is defending well.
Neither fighter is being very active at the moment, with de Souza in particular looking to stall.
Mercier avoiding damage under a succession of punches from de Souza.
de Souza throwing shots but Mercier is blocking nicely.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
de Souza sitting in half guard, looking to land shots. Mercier defending well though.

de Souza is trying a forearm choke… I don't think that's going to do much at this level of the game.
The fighters are starting to perspire pretty heavily.
de Souza is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
de Souza thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Mercier's head.
de Souza not landing any meaningful shots this time.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
de Souza throws a big elbow that misses, also allowing Mercier to regain full guard.
de Souza wants to control from the top but Mercier keeps moving.
de Souza pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Mercier is keeping the position for now.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thiago de Souza dominated that round.
The minute break is over - no more time for sponges and pep talks - back to the action!

A looping hook to the body misses from Mercier. de Souza does a little dance to reset his feet.
Mercier swings for the body but de Souza moves out of range.
de Souza takes a shot to the body in his stride.
Mercier scores with a hook.
Mercier just misses with a punch to the body.
de Souza moves in looking to clinch but Mercier pushes him off.
Mercier takes a swing at de Souza's ribcage but misses.
de Souza just misses with a punch to the body.
Mercier fakes high and swings low for a body shot but de Souza manages to avoid it.
de Souza moves away from the strike by Mercier.
Mercier will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.

That's one minute gone in the round.
de Souza lands a nice leg kick that just misses Mercier's sensitive parts.
Dexter Mercier seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Mercier throws out a loose jab but de Souza uses good head movement to avoid it.
Mercier lunges in with an uppercut that skims his opponent's chin.
Nice takedown defense from Mercier. No joy for de Souza on that attempt.
Mercier throws the left hand but de Souza avoids the punch easily.

de Souza looking to score a takedown here. Mercier is defending well but de Souza drives through and ends up in Mercier's guard.
de Souza pressing down on his opponent's thigh, looking to pass guard. Mercier is keeping the position for now.
de Souza pushing down on Mercier's thigh, trying to pass to half guard. He's managed it... Nice work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
de Souza missing with some ground and pound from the half guard.
Mercier is controlling de Souza's trapped leg to prevent de Souza from advancing to side control.
Mercier blocking the ground and pound attempt from de Souza.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
de Souza prevents Mercier from improving his position.
de Souza missing with the ground and pound from half guard.
de Souza is looking to advance position but Mercier won't allow it.

de Souza is trying to work for a kimura but Mercier is defending well.

de Souza seems to be working for a kimura but Mercier defends the submission attempt.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
de Souza wants to take a breather but Mercier is having none of it.
Mercier blocking the ground and pound attempt from de Souza.
We get told so often about how wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. Let's see if Mercier can do anything to dispel that myth.
de Souza thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

de Souza looking for a kimura but he'll have to free his other leg if he wants to finish that. Perhaps he's just using it as a distraction technique.

Mercier is defending against the submission attempts here by de Souza.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
de Souza thows a huge punch but Mercier dodges it nicely.

de Souza is thinking about going for an arm triangle but he can't free his leg.
Mercier is not content to let de Souza control the position.
The crowd applaud the fighters efforts here as the round comes to an end.
de Souza thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Thiago de Souza dominated that second round.
Well, the break between rounds is over. Let's get back to the scrappin!

Mercier throws a hard body shot but it just misses.
Mercier connects with a single shot there.
de Souza slips under a jab.
Mercier misses with a wild body shot.
Mercier scores with a jab to the body.
de Souza doesn't react quick enough there as he takes a shot to the body.
Mercier throws a right hand that de Souza ducks under and follows up with a left that de Souza also avoids with ease.
Mercier throws a body punch but de Souza moves out of range.
A jab from Mercier misses.
Mercier rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and de Souza counters with a good low kick that Mercier was not able to check.
de Souza looks frustrated there after his takedown attempt is stuffed easily.
Mercier misses with a body shot. Nice footwork from de Souza.

That's one minute gone in the round.
de Souza avoids the body shot from Mercier.
de Souza tries to clinch
and Mercier counters with a right hand to the body.
Mercier waving his hands out in front of him, looking to distract de Souza.

de Souza gets a takedown into half guard.
de Souza thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.
de Souza is looking for the mount but instead finds himself back in full guard.
de Souza passes easily into side control. Nice work.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
de Souza in side control, throwing shots but Mercier defends.

de Souza tries for a kimura. Not really close to a finish though.
Mercier really doesn't want to stay on the ground with de Souza. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.

de Souza is looking for a kimura. He might have it! No, Mercier has escaped the position, nice work there.
This has been an exciting period of action!
de Souza working away diligently from side control. Landing strikes effectively there - that will score him some points on the judges scorecards.

de Souza working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
de Souza throws a strike aimed at the side of Mercier's head but Mercier avoids it well.
de Souza cracks Mercier with a big elbow.
de Souza is putting a hurting on Mercier here, landing some big shots from side control.
You can see the frustration on Mercier's face, being in this tough position on the bottom.
de Souza works to advance to full mount. Mercier defends for a few seconds but eventually he succumbs.
de Souza looking to finish with strikes here!
de Souza landing strikes from the mount.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
de Souza dominating with strikes here.

Mercier is rocked!
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
de Souza postures up and connects with a big shot that has rocked Mercier badly. He's trying desperately to grab hold of de Souza around the waist but de Souza pushes him off and unloads with more strikes, forcing the referee to jump in and save him! de Souza is the winner by TKO! de Souza jumps onto the cage and shouts into the camera. "We did it momma!"

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:27 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Thiago de Souza!
Thiago de Souza retains his welterweight title!
After the big win, Thiago de Souza made sure to do all the important stuff like thanking his sponsors [WOT] GR Design - Top quality, from $10 to $150 ! and telling the interviewer how much he loves him.