PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a middleweight MMA rules bout between Antonio Santiago (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Lex Luthor (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Santiago comes to the cage accompanied by Asesinos - Los Crudos. Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Santiago
vs
Luthor

188 cm
38
198 lbs
27 - 11 - 1

191 cm
28
190 lbs
14 - 4 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Excellent boxer
Cardio machine

Good wrestler
World class MT
Knockout power

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 27 - 11 - 1, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Antonio Santiago!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 14 - 4 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Lex Luthor!
The judges for this bout are Seu Braga, Paulo Santos and Mauricio Rocha.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Luthor misses with a head kick.
Nice takedown defense from Luthor. No joy for Santiago on that attempt.
Luthor tries a head kick but it misses.
Luthor throws a head kick but Santiago moves out of range.
Luthor lands with a kick to the temple. Santiago shrugs as if to say "is that all you've got?"
The sound of bone on bone echoes around the arena as Santiago checks a leg kick.
Luthor lands a pitter patter jab to the forehead of his opponent.
Luthor throws a sloppy head kick and Santiago moves out of range easily.
Santiago blocks the body kick.
Luthor throws a chopping leg kick but Santiago manages to avoid taking any serious damage.
Luthor throws a leg kick which misses Santiago's front leg but catches the back leg as Santiago tries to avoid it.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Luthor swings for the body but Santiago moves out of range.
Luthor throws a head kick that misses.
Santiago moves out of range of the body kick.
Santiago shoots in for a takedown - he's clinched up with Luthor but Luthor pushes him off and we're back to square one.
Luthor looking to take his opponent's legs away with the low kicks.
Santiago fails with a takedown attempt from distance.
That's three failed takedown attempts in the round for Antonio Santiago. That's going to take a lot out of him.
Luthor defends well against a solid takedown attempt from Santiago.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Luthor throws a head kick that misses.

Santiago closes the distance, clinches up and gets a nice trip takedown into side control. Very smooth.
Santiago in side control lands a decent elbow.
Santiago working away.
Luthor is looking for a sweep.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Luthor is sneaking out the side here. He's bucked Santiago off and has taken his back!
Santiago is very frustrated here, being controlled quite effectively by Luthor.
Luthor's corner are shouting for him to control the position and he seems happy to oblige.
Luthor controlling well, preventing Santiago from escaping the position.
Luthor trying to secure his dominant position for a moment - making sure Santiago doesn't escape.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Santiago rolls and manages to get back to half guard. Nicely done.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Luthor is trying to control the action in half guard but Santiago is working away on the bottom, looking perhaps to get back to full guard.
Santiago tries to get to full guard but Luthor has control of the leg.
Luthor content to control rather than advance.

OK we're going to have a standup here. Lex Luthor hasn't been effective enough on the ground and the referee wants a restart.
Santiago avoids the body shot from Luthor.

Santiago looks for a takedown. He's got it. We're now in half guard.
Luthor is doing well to control the position and prevent Santiago from advancing to side control.
Santiago tries to pass to full mount but Luthor defends it.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Santiago is figuring out what he wants to do next.
Santiago stalling away here and it's allowed Luthor to slip out his trapped foot and regain full guard.
Santiago throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Luthor trying to control the position.
Santiago is in close to Luthor's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Santiago throws a big right hand that misses.
Santiago trying to control the position from guard on top but Luthor is wriggling around, looking for whatever he can.
Santiago looking to pass the guard.
Santiago slips nicely into half guard.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Luthor trying to get back to full guard but Santiago takes advantage of the position and moves to full mount!
Luthor tries to get back to half guard but can't.
Santiago with shots to the head and body - Luthor looks very uncomfortable down there.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Luthor is in all sorts of trouble here.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Santiago with a couple of short strikes.
Santiago with a couple of short strikes.

Luthor is rocked!
Oooooh, big shot lands for Santiago! Luthor is hurt baaadly! Santiago is firing away with more strikes - Luthor is covering up... the ref is warning him to do something. He's just covering up though still and the ref has to step in to end the fight! This one is all over!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:56 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Antonio Santiago!
Antonio Santiago seemed lost for words in his post fight interview but he remembered to thank his fans and directed everyone to his website.