Olympic silver medallist Sara McMann put her standout wrestling skills to good use this evening, as she outwrestled former rival Tonya Evinger to a clear-cut Unanimous Decision victory at Titan Fighting Championship 19 in Kansas City, Kansas. The win was unquestionably her biggest to date.

McMann’s takedowns were too much for the smaller Evinger, who took the fight on one week’s notice and quickly found herself in the co-main event after original headliner Bobby Lashley withdrew from the card. McMann will next compete for ProElite on the promotion’s August 27th comeback card.

From the start, McMann (3-0-0) took advantage of a wild spinning back kick from Evinger (8-6-0) and scored a quick takedown. She would remain on top and held Evinger down while throwing enough short punches to keep referee David Clifton from standing her up. He eventually did so, but McMann caught a kick and took Evinger back down before the end of the round.

The second stanza was more of the same, as McMann got the fight to the ground and controlled from the top throughout, though Evinger did well to defend and prevented McMann from landing anything damaging. It was McMann who was bloodied in round three, and she also had to fight out of a pair of inverted triangle chokes, but she closed out the round and the fight strong with knees in a clinch.

All three judges awarded the bout to McMann, who was successful in her toughest fight to date. She praised Evinger’s efforts following the bout and expressed a desire to gain more experience before making the jump to a top-level promotion such as Strikeforce.

Winner: Sara McMann by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) after three rounds. She improves to 3-0-0.

McMann had initially announced that she had signed on with the California-based Strikeforce promotion prior to its recent sale, but ultimately opted not to officially sign due to issues with an extension clause in the contract. She has instead kept busy in smaller shows and will face Raquel Pa’aluhi for ProElite at the promotion’s return event on August 27th in Hawaii.