Tale of the Tape:
Hayley Orrantia:
Age: 27
Height: 5'4
W/L: 12-19 (12KOs)
Vs
Michelle Rodriguez:
Age: 43
Height: 5'5
W/L: 11-12 (10KOs)
Former FCBA bantamweight champion.

(Free Agent vs Free Agent)

(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)

Intro:
Two women wanting to change their luck in the FCBA, Hayley Orrantia has recently been cut by the Odds & Ends stable after a run of bad results, Michelle Rodriguez has been struggling to get consistent results, one will break out of their slump tonight here in Madison Square Garden, who will it be?

Both women are from Texas to add a little derby flavour to the fight, The Goldberg's star Hayley posted on her social media "while I know some people will want to hear me talk about the past, it's time to look to the future, it's an honour to fight someone whose legendary tough but I am coming to win" a motivated sounding Hayley coming into the fight.

Michelle meanwhile posted her own message that said "while I would feel sorry for Hayley normally, mercy is for the weak, I will be in the ring ready to take your head off, hopefully she doesn't suddenly find out her toe is sore and pulls out huh?" Not showing much respect to the younger woman.

Who fired back once she saw the message "oh is that how it's going to be Michelle? OK I'll keep the respect out my mind when we are in the ring, should be easy fighting a bytch like you" the heat certainly being turned up between them over a few messages, Michelle didn't reply as clear she wants her actions to speak louder then simple words.

Fight night, onto the stage comes Hayley with her new coach, it'll be interesting to see how they work together as Hayley walks to the ring nodding to the crowd with a focused look, she is wearing a white sports bra with black stripes down each side, matching trunks and shoes, black gloves with her hair tied into a ponytail completes her look, she steps into the ring yelling "come on!" As she fires up her fans, who chant her name in response.

Out onto the stage comes Michelle now wearing a black robe with a hood up over her head, icy cold stare towards the ring as she begins to walk down the aisle, Michelle stops at the ring steps so her coach can remove her robe, revealing all black gear as she thuds her gloves together, once in the ring Michelle shadowboxes as her fans tell her to f**k up Hayley.

Brought together at the center of the ring, neither showing much love as they stare each other down, when they touch gloves with their opponent there is a crack of leather, they head back to their corners with their coaches giving last pieces of advice, the bell rings to start 10 rounds of bantamweight action.

Round 1:
Early on the clash of styles is evident as Hayley is up on her toes flicking out her jab, Michelle with a compact look to her guard, trying to walk down her younger foe, Hayley landing some crisp jabs to the body of Michelle, trying to open up that tight guard, getting clipped over the top with jabs from Rodriguez.

After feeling each other out, Hayley feints with a jab before slinging in a right around the guard of Michelle, that opens up the guard enough for a double jab to pepper the face of Michelle, who swings in a right hook that grazes the chin of the Goldberg's star, who retreats back at range as Michelle looked to be cocking her left ready to send in a hook.

The speed of Hayley is proving problematic for Michelle in the first half of the round, she is being beaten to the punch and is struggling to pin down the youngster, who is boxing nicely behind her jab, smartly not engaging in a firefight with the legendary tough Rodriguez, just chipping away at her from range.

But Michelle is a smart fighter, she is cutting off the ring with her own movement, mirroring the younger fighter till with just under a minute to go she strikes with a straight into the abs of Hayley, then lands an overhand left to her cheek to turn her head, crowding Orrantia onto the ropes, Michelle swings in hard hooks with her hips, generating some real power as Hayley grunts out, trying to fight back, instead Hayley needs to clinch as she gets a taste of the raw power of Michelle, at the bell both women lock eyes for a moment in a tense stare down before returning to their stools.

Round 2:
Hayley is sticking to her game plan well as again early on she is proving to be a pain for Michelle, more punches are starting to find homes on the Fast & Furious star, with Michelle taunting Hayley by tapping her chin, trying to tell her she isn't hurting her, though she certainly can't be enjoying getting hit through her guard to her face when her guard doesn't hold up.

Michelle spots an opening as she dips under a straight to bang in a right to the abs, then two short hooks under the ribs of Hayley to make her groan out, Orrantia pushing Michelle back as she taunts Michelle to bring it, before landing a double jab when the older fighter comes towards her.

While Hayley is looking good on the move, Michelle is slowly starting to close the gap more often, leading to some fiery exchanges that are getting the crowd hyped, Michelle looks to be enjoying roughing up Hayley on the inside, using forearms to push back younger woman, who snarls out as she fires back up hooks of her own.

Late in the round Hayley lands a left hook to the cheek of Michelle, followed by a clean one-two combo through her gloves, it's really the first time in the fight Michelle herself has been banged onto the ropes, when Hayley has her there she is throwing piston like shots towards the face of Michelle, most landing on the gloves or forearms of Rodriguez up until the round ends, Hayley on top over the first two rounds but she is seemingly wasting punches on the gloves of her opponent, who still has an ice cold stare aimed at her.

Round 3:
While Hayley again is starting off the faster out the blocks, Michelle is starting to open up more herself, maybe seeing holes in the younger woman's technique she can exploit, a missed straight by Hayley leads to her eating one onto her lips, followed by a left hook to turn her head.

Michelle is still predominantly targeting the body when she can get to the inside, the thuds of leather on flesh ring out as Michelle could rightly be called the body snatcher the way she is working the body, Hayley needing to push her away so she can get the fight back to range.

Smartly Hayley doubles up her jab and uses nicely timed straights to keep Michelle at range, slowing down the charges of the former champion, who is eyeing up Hayley with evil intentions, getting clipped more into her face as Hayley tries to use her legs to control the action.

Late in the round a left hook catches Hayley under her ribs with a straight snapping her head back, Michelle bullying Hayley into a neutral corner, head down as she works the body again, Rodriguez fans yelling at her to f**k up Hayley, with Orrantia clinching up with her, both women grinding heads as the referee breaks them up just before the bell rings, Hayley showing some of her temper to call Michelle a bytch, Michelle just grins as she knows she is getting to the young fighter.

Round 4:
It looks like Hayley wants to stand her ground more, not letting Michelle off the hook so easily as she trades with the former champion, then gets on the move after landing a double jab, trying to stick and move more so Michelle will respect her, with Michelle staring hard at her foe.

Stepping in with a straight, Hayley gets it parried away as a straight drills into her face, a left hook then slams into her body as she grits her mouthpiece, clinching up with Michelle as she isn't interested in being worked back, some dirty boxing from both as kidneys get hit till they are split up and warned.

Hayley can't seem to shake Michelle off, both landing stiff shots but Rodriguez is keeping on the move forwards, dipping under a left cross she slams in a jab to the abs, then two short right hooks drive into Orrantia's ribs as Michelle powers her onto the ropes, Hayley grabs onto Michelle with both women wrestling along the ropes in a power struggle, referee finds it difficult but does break them apart.

As they enter the final minute of the round, Hayley doesn't look as springy on her toes, Michelle is closing the gap more as they slug it out, which suits the older woman more as she lands hard hooks out, sweat flying off both women as their cheeks are getting marked up, at the bell Michelle jogs back to her corner looking relaxed as Hayley has some red marks on her body, her coach using an ice pack on her body as it seems to be giving her a little trouble.

Round 5:
Out they come with Hayley definitely not moving as quickly with Michelle closing the gap between them more easily, jabs smack into faces as they try to get the range where they want it, Michelle shows off her skills with a feint, deflecting a straight out the way before landing a harpoon like right into the solar plexus of Hayley, WHO CRIES OUT BEFORE ANOTHER RIGHT SLAMS INTO THE BODY, DOWN GOES HAYLEY TO HER KNEES!

Michelle stares at Hayley with hands on her hips before the referee can nudge her away, 1...2...3.. Hayley is breathing harder as she tries to catch her breath, 4...5... Pushing up to her right foot, Hayley rubs her stomach to numb the pain, 6...7.. Maybe unwisely she doesn't use all the eight count as she stands, fists up looking pained, Hayley showing some Texan toughness to say she wants to fight on.

Back at it they go with Hayley clearly hoping to catch out Michelle, problem is her power seems to be gone as Michelle walks through her shots, another right to the body has Hayley whining as she is driven to the ropes, a left to the solar plexus has Hayley bending over, BEFORE MICHELLE CAN BANG IN MORE SHOTS THE TOWEL FROM ORRANTIA'S CORNER COMES IN! THEY HAVE SEEN ENOUGH AND DON'T WANT THEIR YOUNG FIGHTER GETTING BADLY HURT, REFEREE WAVES THE FIGHT OFF!

Winner Michelle Rodriguez KO Round 5

After:
A mild upset here as the former champion rolls back the years to beat Hayley, Michelle heads to the center of the ring to raise her arms in the air, taking in the cheers of the crowd before thanking god for her victory as she looks to the heavens, her coach applauds her as she comes back to her corner to be wiped down and get a drink.

Meanwhile Hayley is helped over to her stool, she winces when the ice pack is applied to her body, she didn't seem to have the power to hold off Michelle, making some at ringside wonder if she is campaigning at a weight too high for her.

In the winners corner Michelle fist bumps her coach with a big beautiful smile, it's been a rough time for the women who once headed the bantamweight division, any win now seems a blessing, so to beat someone sixteen years younger then her must be a big confidence booster.

Soon when both women are ready they come to the center of the ring, Hayley clearly still in pain as she holds her stomach with her right hand, Michelle gets her right hand raised to loud cheers, Hayley can only nod as she knows she was beaten by the better woman today.

As she is helped out the ring, Hayley looks like she will need to do some soul searching over this festival period before next year, she has always looked a good solid boxer, though maybe she needs to look in the mirror and decide if she should move down to flyweight or still try campaigning at bantamweight, at twenty seven it's hardly like she is a right off.

Michelle meanwhile will probably struggle to fire up the rankings, though this should be a message to all young fighters wanting a stepping stone, Michelle will certainly give prospects big tests, for now she is grinning to a camera as she poses with her right arm flexed as her left arm is on her hip.

Leaving the ring with her coach, Michelle doesn't look interested in disappearing so easily, plenty of old grudges for her to settle and young fighters to test, she waves to her fans as they applaud and whistle her, a happy Michelle will have a good Christmas off this performance.