Top strawweight prospect Jamie Moyle took another step towards title contention with a hard-fought Split Decision win on Thursday night at Invicta Fighting Championships 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Moyle edged out Amy “The Resurrection” Cadwell Montenegro in Thursday’s Fight of the Night.

Moyle and Montenegro each pocketed an extra $1500 for their spirited bout, but they were not the only bonus winners on Thursday. Featherweight ace Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino and Amber Leibrock both earned Performance of the Night honours of $1000 apiece for their crushing first-round knockouts.

Moyle (3-0-0) and Montenegro (6-2-0) battled back and forth in the clinch throughout round one until Moyle scored with a combination and a front kick to the face. She took Montenegro down and tried for a rear-naked choke and two armbars, but Montenegro slammed her way free. Moyle continued to get the better of the striking exchanges in round two by mixing things up with more punch-kick combos, but Montenegro scored with some nice knees to the body before Moyle took her back down.

The fighters continued to fight for position in the clinch in round three and Montenegro remained effective with knee strikes to the ribs. Moyle answered with knees of her own and the entertaining round ended with an exchange of power punches. The close bout went to the scorecards and one judge had it 29-28 for Montenegro. The remaining two both saw it 29-28 for Moyle, who remained undefeated with the well-earned Split Decision victory.

In yet another dominant and brutal display of power and violence, Justino (14-1-0, 1 ND) made short work of featherweight title challenger Faith “The Immortal” Van Duin (5-2-0) in Thursday’s main event. Justino hurt Van Duin with an early flurry that backed her up against the cage and she dropped Van Duin with a knee to the body soon after. A final series of punches forced Van Duin to cover up and Justino was awarded a TKO victory at the 45-second mark.

Opening up the card, and also in the featherweight division, Leibrock (1-0-0) kicked off her pro career with a 37-second knockout win over Marina “The Supernova From Moldova” Shafir (1-2-0). Leibrock dropped Shafir with two right hooks early on and fought off a desperation heel hook attempt with more right hands from a standing position that left a downed Shafir unconscious in seconds.

(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)