Originally Posted by Bullitt68
Round One:
The first round of this fight consists of mainly Randy working inside the clinch. Rizzo is showing good defense, continuously circling to the center to try to keep Randy from getting him up against the fence the way he did Randleman in his last fight. However, Randy eventually gets on Pedro's hips and slams him to the ground up against the fence where he proceeds to maul Pedro with GNP in a fashion I wish we saw out of Randy against Josh and Ricco when he was on top. Pedro is able to whether the storm though and the fight moves to the second.
10-8 for Randy.
Round Two:
After the massive beating Randy put on Pedro in the last part of the first round, he is visibly tired coming out for the second round. He tries to shoot on Pedro but his phenomenal sprawl gets the better of Randy's shot and he flattens Randy out. He starts opening up with strikes, connecting over and over with his famous leg kicks on Randy, blowing up his nose with a glancing RHK, and finishing the round on his knees administering punches to Randy on all fours all the way up until the bell. Now Randy wasn't "hurt" in the sense that Pedro didn't connect with a kick or punch that dropped him, but Randy was so tired that he just went down and basically just survived to the bell. A 10-9 round would be justifiable, but with how tired Randy was and the fact that he was offering no defense to Pedro's punches, I personally could see it being 10-8 for Pedro.
10-8 for Pedro.
Round Three:
Randy, still tired, has definitely benefited from the break between rounds and is a bit lighter on his feet. He engages Pedro, gets to the clinch, and scores with some dirty boxing before trying another shot, again stuffed by Pedro's great sprawl. Once apart and back on the feet, Randy gets in on Pedro's hips and is able to take him down with more than half of the round remaining. Randy isn't as aggressive as he was in the first round, but he controls Pedro on the ground, reopens the cut on Pedro he opened in the first round, and is able to finish with some clean hammerfists.
10-9 for Randy.
Round Four:
Pedro seems uncharacteristically aggressive at the start of the fourth round, coming right out and closing the distance with Randy pretty early, not something we're used to seeing him do. He seems real eager to land on Randy, and within a minute we see him connect on Randy with a hard, clean left hook. However, this enables Randy to get in and land his own punches on the way to the clinch, where he hits Pedro with numerous uppercuts similar to his fight with Vitor at UFC 15. After a bit of a slow-down within the clinch, they break, but not long after they both start trading, Randy landing more but Pedro landing harder, and Randy starting to feel the momentum swing to his side. He starts to stalk Pedro, attempts a shot and nearly gets him but Pedro's defense is still there and he is able to push on the head and break free. Pedro sprawls out of another TD, but not long after, Randy goes in on his hips, gets underneath Pedro's arms, and drags him to the mat again where he controls the majority of the remaining time from side-mount before eventually being brought back to the guard where he finishes out the round. Now this is a close round, but I see it for Randy for a few reasons: Firstly, he had Pedro on the defense for almost the entire round; secondly, he forced Pedro to fight where he wanted, that being the clinch; and lastly, because he was able to put the fight where he wanted against Pedro's will, took Pedro out of his comfort zone, and controlled the fight on the ground in dominant position before ending up in guard for the closing seconds.
10-9 for Randy.
Round Five:
Pedro takes the center of the Octagon to start the fifth and final round and connects with two good jabs before evading a sloppy combination from Randy. Randy comes in for a shot but Pedro gets his arms underneath Randy and shrugs him off with intimidating ease. Randy, a little flustered but by no means deflated, opens up with his hands, tries to work to a clinch but is shrugged off by Pedro, and then is stuffed in yet another attempt at a double. Once back on their feet, Pedro hits Randy with his first leg kick since way back in the second. The landing of the kick immediately sends Randy into wrestler mode and he attempts another telegraphed shot, easily defended by Pedro and his pancake sprawl. He stays down in the sprawl position for a while, but once back on the feet, he glances Randy's chin with two hooks, left and right respectively, before dodging another TD. Now down to the final minute, Pedro takes a few steps in to close the distance on Randy, avoids a one-two, and finds his mark with another hard leg kick. With ten seconds left, Pedro hits Randy with a hard leg kick, shoves him to the ground in defense of another TD, and finishes with Randy on the ground trying to find Pedro's legs and Pedro swinging trying to find Randy's chin.
10-9 Pedro.
After a great fight with shift after shift in momentum, the fight, while unquestionably close, is still a clear victory for Randy. He won the first round in dominant fashion, taking a 10-8 round, and then after a poor second round was able to get his second wind in the third and come out and control both the third and fourth round with good clinch work and two good, deep shots that brought Pedro down where he could control him, and although he lost the last round, he still did enough to take home a 47-46 decision, and mind you that's giving Pedro the benefit of the doubt in the second and giving him a 10-8 based on the finish. It's quite possible that round wasn't even a 10-8 round thus making the final decision 48-46, still in favor of The Natural.
The conclusion: Although the fight was very close and saw both fighters imposing their will on the other at certain points, at the end of the day, Randy controlled more of the action and was able to bring the fight into his world more often and more effectively than Pedro, thus giving Randy the edge on the judge's scorecards.
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