Cole Escovedo vs. Renan Barao
Round 1: Barao comes forward early, clinches and lands a big slam. He then starts working for ground-and-pound from the top, working for position for a full minute from the top before finally moving back to his feet. He lets Escovedo up and the two restart. Barao throws a left body shot, then a right kick that has Escovedo backing up. As Barao clinches, Escovedo jumps guard and Barao slams him again. With two minutes left, he again works from on top, throwing body shots as Escovedo defends. With 1:10 left in the round, Steve Mazzagatti stands them up. A pair of nice exchanges from each is answered when Barao again is able to get a slam. From the top, he throws a tight left elbow, then fends off Escovedo's brief thoughts of a triangle. It's a good first round for Barao, and MMA Fighting scores the round for him 10-9.
Round 2: A touch of gloves starts the second. A hard left from Barao has Escovedo backing up, but he answers with a big shot that wobbles Barao. And then he throws a knee that lands to Barao's head – a knee that was dangerously close to coming with Barao grounded. Barao survives a brief offensive surge from Escovedo and gets back to his feet. Escovedo's corner yells for him to not stand in the middle, and he tries to back out. Barao throws a pair of decent kicks to the body, but Escovedo answers with a smacking one of his own. But as they clinch along the cage, Barao again moves the fight to the mat. When the action sort of stalls after a minute, Mazzagatti again stands them up. When Escovedo again tries to jump guard and pull Barao's neck in for a choke attempt, Barao takes the fight to the ground, and that's where the round ends. It's another 10-9 round for Barao on our card.
Round 3: More of the same, as Barao has a quick barrage, then gets the fight to the ground. He's been able to do very little of note on the ground, but he's scoring points with the judges. Escovedo stumbles Barao as he kicks his way to his feet, but it's of little consequence. Barao lands a nice outside leg kick, but Escovedo answers with a strike. Barao then lands a spinning back elbow, then a big teep kick. Escovedo begins looking for the kind of kicks and uppercuts that could end the fight with one shot, but Barao is blocking well. Big spinning back kick for Barao, and then he just misses a flying kick. One-two combo from Escovedo misses, and Barao catches him with a jab that wobbles him. He follows that up with another pretty big slam takedown with 1:30 left, and that is probably going to be enough to seal the deal. Escovedo will have to look for a miracle submission from here. With 40 seconds left, Barao gets out of there, then throws a pair of big kicks – he's still trying to finish it though he's ahead on points. Escovedo throws a kick, Barao catches it, and again we hit the mat. Barao wraps it up with one final slam at the horn. He gets the third 10-9 and the fight 30-27 on the MMA Fighting card.
Result: Renan Barao def. Cole Escovedo, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)