A total of five fighters received bonuses for their performances on Saturday night at Invicta Fighting Championships 3 in Kansas City, Kansas. Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson and Lacey “The Ladie” Schuckman each pocketed an extra $1500 for their spirited Fight of the Night bout.
Unbeaten Scottish standout Joanne Calderwood earned an additional $1000 for her first-round Knockout of the Night over Ashley “Smashley” Cummins. The $1000 Submission of the Night honour was split between bantamweight prospect Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke and Stephanie “Macaquinha” Frausto.
Waterson (10-3-0) and Schuckman (7-6-0) battled back and forth across three action-packed rounds, with both fighters coming close to finishing the bout with submissions. Schuckman came out strong in round one, but Waterson was equally impressive in the middle stanza and the bout appeared to be even heading into round three. A takedown from Schuckman looked to have sealed the final round for her, but Waterson swept into mount and threatened with a late armbar. She could not get it, but landed some nice kicks before the bell.
The judges were divided in their verdict, but two awarded the fight 29-28 for Waterson, who walked away with the razor-thin victory. Both Waterson and Schuckman received bonuses for their performances.
The most dramatic finish on the card came in a strawweight bout between Joanne Calderwood (4-0-0) and Ashley “Smashley” Cummins (3-1-0). Both fighters scored with some nice punching combinations in the early goings and traded knees in the clinch. A devastating knee to the body dropped Cummins like a rock at the 3:13 mark of round one, giving Calderwood the Knockout of the Night.
On a card with six submission finishes, two stood out enough to earn Submission of the Night bonuses. Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke (2-0-0) survived an onslaught of punches on the ground from Marciea “Black Widow” Allen (1-1-0) and locked on a fight-ending armbar 4:42 into their bantamweight bout. In the very next fight, Stephanie “Macaquinha” Frausto (4-4-0) needed just 48 seconds to force Amy “Lil’ Dynamite” Davis (3-4-0, 1 NC) to submit to a guillotine choke.
Full play-by-play for all bouts on the Invicta FC 3 card is available here.