She came up short on the scorecards, but Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith did not leave empty-handed tonight at Invicta Fighting Championships 7 in Kansas City, Missouri. Smith earned her fourth Fight of the Night bonus for her bout with Invicta FC Flyweight Champion Barb “Little Warrior” Honchak.

Both Honchak and Smith pocketed an additional $1500 for their spirited five-round title tilt, which headlined tonight’s Invicta FC 7 card. Flyweight rising star Nina “The Strina” Ansaroff took home an extra $1000 for her Knockout of the Night victory over Munah “The Perfect Storm” Holland.

Honchak (9-2-0) showed again why she is MMA’s premier female flyweight with another impressive performance in tonight’s headliner. She set the tone early on with quick punching combinations and mixed things up with takedown attempts. Smith (6-4-1) stuffed the early takedowns, but she could not stay on her feet forever and Honchak eventually got her down to the mat, where she worked for both a rear-naked choke and an arm-triangle.

The fighters split rounds two and three and Smith appeared to be gaining momentum after 15 minutes, but Honchak put a halt to that with more effective striking combinations and takedowns in rounds four and five. Smith put on a game performance in defeat, but Honchak took the well-deserved Unanimous Decision victory when all three judges scored the bout 49-46 in her favour.

Opening up the card, Ansaroff (6-3-0) picked up her fifth straight stoppage win with a brutal knockout of Holland (5-3-0) in a 127-pound catchweight bout. Both fighters came in heavy at the pre-fight weigh-ins. Ansaroff took round one thanks to her varied striking and ground and pound. In round two, she took Holland down, but the fight soon returned to the feet. Ansaroff landed a four-punch combo that dropped Holland and she finished her off with a barrage of punches at the 3:54 mark of the second round.