Invicta FC 41 Results: Montserrat Ruiz Submits Janaisa MorandinReturning from a lengthy injury hiatus, Mexico’s Montserrat “Conejo” Ruiz put herself back in strawweight title contention with a quick and dominant victory tonight at Invicta Fighting Championships 41 in Kansas City, Kansas. Ruiz submitted Janaisa “Evil Princess” Morandin in the brief main event.

In addition to Ruiz’s impressive win, the Invicta FC 41 card also featured a breakout performance from Erin “Cold Blooded” Blanchfield, who scored a dominant Unanimous Decision victory over Brogan “Killer Bee” Walker-Sanchez to solidify her spot as a top contender in the flyweight division.

 

Ruiz (9-1-0) last competed in late 2018, but she showed no signs of ring rust following a lengthy recovery from a torn ACL. She exchanged punches with Morandin (10-4-0) early in tonight’s headliner, then clinched and scored with knees to the body. Morandin fought off Ruiz’s initial attempt to take the fight to the mat, but Ruiz got her down soon after and landed on top in the scarf hold position. She immediately worked for a scarf hold armlock and used punches to soften Morandin up. Ruiz adjusted her position and applied pressure to Morandin’s neck and right arm with the hold, forcing Morandin to submit at the 3:28 mark of round one.

The relatively rare scarf hold armlock submission earned Ruiz a Performance of the Night bonus, as well as a contender spot in Invicta FC’s strawweight division. Provided that she does not move on to the UFC, Ruiz will likely be contending for Invicta FC gold in her next bout, and she impressed many with her slick victory tonight.

 

Blanchfield (6-1-0) followed up on her knockout victory in February with arguably her biggest win to date tonight. She dropped Walker-Sanchez (6-2-0) with a straight right hand in the opening round and followed with more hard punches on the feet before taking Walker-Sanchez down to the mat. That is where much of the rest of the fight was contested, including the entire third round, and Blanchfield struck from the top with punches and elbows while also threatening with a keylock from a top-side cruficix in round two. Late in the final round, Blanchfield mounted Walker-Sanchez and battered her with hard punches and elbows that nearly ended the fight.

The final bell sounded and all three judges scored the fight 30-26 for Blanchfield, who has won three straight since suffering a Split Decision loss to current UFC fighter Tracy Cortez at Invicta FC 34. Tonight’s win also earned Blanchfield a Performance of the Night bonus.

 

In featured featherweight action, Kaitlin “The Striking Viking” Young (11-10-1) took a clear Unanimous Decision victory over the returning Latoya “Black Mamba” Walker (5-2-0). Young controlled the fight on the feet in all three rounds by chopping away at Walker’s lead leg and body with kicks. Walker was forced to switch stances to protect her damaged leg and, aside from a handful of quick punching combinations, she was never able to land anything significant. Young scored with numerous knees to the head and body in a lengthy clinch battle in round three, which sealed the one-sided victory in her favour. Scores were 30-26 twice and 30-27 for Young, who rebounded from a decision loss in her Invicta FC featherweight title bout in August.

Flyweight prospect Caitlin “Ginger” Sammons (3-0-0) stayed unbeaten thanks to a dominant final round in her otherwise closely-contested bout with Claire “Grizzly” Guthrie (1-1-0), taking a narrow Split Decision victory. Guthrie fought off Sammons’s takedown attempts and landed palm strikes and body kicks in a close first round. Sammons was unable to get Guthrie down in round two, but she was more effective with punching combinations on the feet and the judges’ scorecards varied heavily after ten minutes. The final round clearly belonged to Sammons, who alternated between back control and throwing elbows from mount after she took Guthrie down early in the round. One judge scored the fight 29-28 for Guthrie, while the remaining two had it 30-27 and 29-28 for Sammons.

Opening up the card, Alexa Culp (1-0-0) showcased her formidable skills on the ground in a second-round submission win over Natalya “The Beast” Speece (0-1-0) at flyweight. Culp spent most of the first round working for a rear-naked choke after taking Speece down and trapping her in a body triangle. Speece defended well, but Culp countered her knee strikes in the second round with another takedown. Speece tried for a triangle choke from the bottom and Culp used the opportunity to escape into side control and then to Speece’s back. Culp locked on a tight rear-naked choke and Speece was forced to submit at the 3:59 mark of round two. The successful pro debut also came with a Performance of the Night bonus for Culp.

Full play-by-play for all bouts on the Invicta FC 41 card can be found here.

 

 

(Photo Credit: Invicta Fighting Championships)