PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Luciano Cruz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and George Thompson (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Cruz comes to the cage accompanied by Smack That. The key to victory for Luciano Cruz has got to be keeping the fight on the feet.

Cruz
vs
Thompson

185 cm
29
200 lbs
2 - 10 - 0

190 cm
25
204 lbs
2 - 0 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Solid Muay Thai
Granite chin

Decent wrestler
Brawler
Granite chin

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 2 - 10 - 0, fighting out of Amsterdam, Luciano Cruz!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 0 - 0, fighting out of Las Vegas, George Thompson!
The judges for this bout are Frank Dennis, Robert Twigg and Cecil Peabody.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
A big left from Thompson misses.
Cruz fails with a takedown attempt.
Cruz shoots in and drives through. Thompson sprawls well.

Thompson feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Thompson wants to pass the guard but Cruz is keeping the position.
Cruz has momentary wrist control but Thompson slips an elbow through the middle.
Thompson controlling from the top position.
Thompson looks more muscular than last time we saw him. He must have been on the weights.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Thompson's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Thompson content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Thompson with a nice head shot there.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Thompson stands up over Cruz, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Cruz is working an open guard here, looking to improve his position. No doubt that will leave him open to counters but at least he's being more offensive.
Thompson postures up and lands a big shot to Cruz's brow.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thompson stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Cruz swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Thompson is working the ground and pound from guard. He might want to try advancing position though to get more of an impact.
Thompson chips away with some ground and pound.
Cruz wants to stand up but Thompson is controlling him.
Cruz is breathing heavily.
Thompson scoring with punches to the head and body.
Both fighters really going for it on the ground here!
Thompson lands a couple of digs.
Thompson is taking a break and basically stalling. The referee will not allow him to do that for long.
Thompson working from the guard for now, landing some ground and pound.
Thompson is working Cruz over from the guard. He should look to pass the guard and do a little more damage with these strikes.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
Thompson content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Thompson postures up and scores with a shot to the body and a follow up elbow to the head.
Thompson wants to control from the top but Cruz keeps moving.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Thompson chips away with some ground and pound.
Thompson lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Thompson is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Thompson content to stall in guard here.
Thompson makes a bit of distance and scores with some ground and pound, still in guard.
Thompson scoring with some ground and pound.
Thompson scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Thompson with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Thompson with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Thompson distracts Cruz with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Thompson is pushing down on Cruz's leg trying to pass to half guard. Cruz is fighting to maintain full guard but Thompson has managed to sneak the leg through.
Thompson working Cruz over with strikes.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Thompson prevents Cruz from improving his position.
Thompson lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Thompson landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
Cruz on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Thompson controlling the action here.
Nice strikes from Thompson there.
Cruz on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Thompson is nestled in close to Cruz, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Thompson working Cruz over with strikes.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Cruz taking some punishment here, with Thompson in his half guard.
Thompson lands a big shot. The thud that echoes around the arena is like music to the fans' ears.
Cruz is trying to stand up here but Thompson is controlling him well.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Thompson looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Cruz with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.

Cruz is rocked!
Ground and pound from Thompson.
Oh Cruz is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!

Cruz manages to create a bit of space in order to work his way back to his feet. Thompson keeps hold of his opponent and drives him back against the cage.
Thompson pushes off and fires off an elbow that misses, before clinching up again, against the cage.

Thompson pulls Cruz into guard.
Cruz seems to have got his legs back now.
Thompson wants to stand up but Cruz is controlling him.
Connects with an elbow from the bottom, proving to the judges that he's still active off his back.
Cruz wants to stand but Thompson is controlling his posture from full guard.

Thompson is looking for a triangle but Cruz pushes his legs off easily.
Thompson has the superior BJJ but he's also working some ground strikes into his gameplan.
Cruz tries to free his leg and advance position but Thompson is retaining full guard.
The crowd are going absolutely nuts as the round comes to an end - what a fantastic round of action!
Thompson will have to put a bit more behind his punches if he's going to do any damage from this position.
Thompson strikes from his own guard.
Thompson has a closed guard, preventing Cruz from standing up.
Cruz postures up.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

George Thompson dominated that round.
That's time! Cruz's corner gives him a slap on the ass as he gets ready to fight.

Thompson takes one to the chin there.
Cruz tries to score a power double leg takedown but Thompson sees that one coming and sprawls well. That will dishearten Cruz somewhat.

Thompson shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Let's see what he's got on the mat.
Thompson cracks Cruz with a solid left hand.
Thompson stays in close to Cruz's body and controls the position.
Hammerfist, elbow! yells Thompson's corner. There ya go! There ya go!
Thompson lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Thompson is in close to Cruz's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Thompson has been the more effective fighter overall so far.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.
Cruz has momentary wrist control but Thompson slips an elbow through the middle.
Thompson distracts Cruz with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Cruz is looking to stand up but Thompson isn't so interested in that idea.
Thompson advances position into side control!

That's one minute gone in the round.
Cruz is working to avoid the ground and pound but Thompson connects with a decent elbow.
Both fighters are absolutely exhausted here.
Thompson working the head with strikes.
Cruz is not content to let Thompson control the position.
Thompson working the body and head with strikes.
Thompson in side control here. He's dropped a big elbow there and Cruz looks hurt! Oh, he is hurt! Thompson turns on the heat and pounds him out for a TKO victory! Good killer instinct there!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:44 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). George Thompson!
Our winner, George Thompson, made sure he spent some time buttering up the crowd during his post fight interview, which will no doubt bring him a few more fans.
Luciano Cruz spoke after the fight, saying 'I will be back'.