KSW Women’s Strawweight Champion Karolina Kowalkiewicz earned a big win in her Invicta FC debut on Saturday at Invicta Fighting Championships 9 in Davenport, Iowa. The Polish star outpointed Deep Jewels Lightweight Champion Mizuki Inoue in the action-packed Invicta FC 9 Fight of the Night.

On just eight days’ notice, Raquel “Rocky” Pa’aluhi earned an Invicta FC 9 Performance of the Night bonus for her hard-fought Unanimous Decision win over Kaitlin Young. A second Performance Bonus went to Tuff-N-Uff champ Jamie Moyle, who won her pro debut by dominating Jenny Liou Shriver.

Kowalkiewicz (6-0-0) opted to stand and trade strikes with the highly-touted Inoue (8-3-0) and she surprised some by getting the better of the striking exchanges. Kowalkiewicz’s reach advantage and her ability to effectively mix things up with punching combinations and body kicks propelled her to an early lead on the scorecards. Inoue came back strong in round two and secured a takedown into side control that led to rear-naked choke attempts before the bell.

With the competitive fight even after ten minutes, Kowalkiewicz stuffed a takedown in round three and both women scored with leg kicks and punching flurries. Kowalkiewicz pressed the action and, while Inoue’s head movement allowed her to avoid many of her opponent’s strikes, the final round appeared to belong to the Polish champion. Two judges agreed and returned 29-28 scorecards for Kowalkiewicz. A third had it 29-28 for Inoue, whose Split Decision loss derailed her hopes for an Invicta FC title shot.

Kowalkiewicz remains under contract with KSW in Poland and may be tasked to defend her KSW title early next year, but she will likely be next in line for a shot at newly-crowned Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Katja “Killer Bunny” Kankaanpää when she returns to the Invicta FC cage. Both Kowalkiewicz and Inoue took home an extra $1500 apiece for Fight of the Night honours.

Pa’aluhi (4-4-0) had to fight through adversity in order to earn her $1000 Performance of the Night bonus against Young (7-9-1), who easily won round one after battering and bloodying Pa’aluhi with punches early on. Pa’aluhi scored takedowns in rounds two and three and threatened with rear-naked chokes. She was unable to secure a submission finish, but did mount Young late in the final round and landed some hard ground and pound that left no doubt in the judges’ minds. Scores were 29-28 thrice for Pa’aluhi, who has won back-to-back fights.

Former Tuff-N-Uff Women’s Strawweight Champion Jamie Moyle (1-0-0) made a big statement in her pro MMA debut by dismantling Jenny Liou Shriver (2-1-0) in one of the most lopsided fights on Saturday’s card. Aside from a Shriver armbar attempt in round two, Moyle was never in any danger. She bloodied her opponent with countless knees and punches, and mixed things up with kicks to the lead leg and body. Shriver had no answer for Moyle’s relentless offence and Moyle took a Unanimous Decision win with scores of 30-27 thrice. She also pocketed an extra $1000 in the form of a Performance Bonus.

(Photo Credit: Scott Hirano, InvictaFC.com)