Invicta FC Interim Flyweight Champion Jennifer Maia became an undisputed titleholder with a hard-fought five-round Split Decision victory tonight at Invicta Fighting Championships 19 in Kansas City, Missouri. Maia edged out Roxanne “The Happy Warrior” Modafferi in the championship main event.
With tonight’s win, Maia was awarded the newly-vacant Invicta FC Flyweight Championship, which was taken from Barb “Little Warrior” Honchak earlier this week. In the Invicta FC 19 co-feature, Ayaka Hamasaki retained her atomweight title against Jinh Yu Frey via doctor stoppage due to a cut.
Maia (14-4-1) and Modafferi (19-13-0) battled back and forth on the feet and on the ground throughout tonight’s competitive and entertaining headliner. Modafferi put the pressure on her opponent early in the fight and tagged Maia with punching flurries and a kick to the liver, but Maia was game and she fired back with hard combinations that got Modafferi’s attention. Maia landed knees and a series of right hands that appeared to seal the round in her favour.
Modafferi threatened with armbars and mounted Maia late in round two, but she was unable to finish the interim champ on the ground. Maia countered a takedown in the third round with a guillotine choke and an armbar, but the veteran Modafferi fought her way free and she landed elbows from the top before threatening with two armbars of her own.
In round four, Maia caught a kick from Modafferi and dumped her to the mat, which allowed Maia to rain down punches from the top. When Modafferi scrambled back to her feet, she slowed down considerably and Maia backed her up with a combination. She stuffed a Modafferi takedown and finished the round by landing punches from a top-side crucifix. Maia stunned Modafferi with punches early in the final round, which was contested entirely on the feet until Modafferi shot in for a late takedown. Maia finished strong with a flurry and a front kick, and the bout went to the judges.
From cageside, judge Ross Swanberg scored the fight 48-47 for Modafferi. He was overruled by judges Marcus Danforth and Brett Miller, who had it 48-47 and 49-46, respectively, for Maia. With Honchak’s stripping of the 125-pound world title, Maia’s Split Decision victory earned her the Invicta FC Undisputed Flyweight Championship. She has won five straight fights since suffering a controversial decision loss to DeAnna “The Argentine Assassin” Bennett.
Tonight’s co-main event between Hamasaki (14-1-0) and Frey (5-2-0) was a thrilling one, but ended in disappointing fashion when a cut forced an end to the fight late in the second round.
Hamasaki tripped Frey to the mat in round one, but she was unable to keep her there for long and Frey landed some nice body kicks on the feet. She took Hamasaki’s back and dragged her down to the mat, but Hamasaki stood up and locked on a straight armbar. Frey maintained back control and took Hamasaki down again, and the round ended with Frey battering Hamasaki with ground and pound.
The second round also began with a takedown from Hamasaki, but Frey once again wasted no time in battling back to her feet. She landed counter left hooks and liver kicks, but Hamasaki rocked her with a big right hook that opened a deep gash beside Frey’s left eye. Hamasaki swarmed on her opponent with punches until time was abruptly called to check on Frey’s cut. The cageside doctor determined that Frey could not continue and Hamasaki was awarded a TKO victory at the 4:38 mark of round two. Both fighters expressed disappointment with the ending of the otherwise excellent fight.
Top bantamweight contender Irene Aldana (7-2-0) made a strong case for a second shot at Invicta FC title gold by stopping Faith “The Immortal” Van Duin (6-3-0) with mere seconds remaining in round one.
Van Duin pressured Aldana with flurries of punches in the opening seconds, which caused Aldana to lose her balance while backpedalling near the cage. She set up combinations and dropped Van Duin with a series of right hands, but Van Duin weathered the storm and came on strong again with more aggressive punches. Aldana dropped Van Duin once more with right hooks and uppercuts in the final 15 seconds, and she teed off with punches on the ground until the fight was waved off at the 4:57 mark of round one. Aldana requested a rematch with champ Tonya “Triple Threat” Evinger following the bout.
In a featured strawweight bout, Kaline “The Dark Angel” Medeiros (8-4-0) handed Manjit Kolekar (9-1-0) the first loss of her pro MMA career. Medeiros slammed Kolekar down to the mat in the opening round and threatened with armbars and ground and pound. Kolekar found success with a variety of kicks and two guillotine chokes in round two, but Medeiros maintained an edge in the striking and grappling exchanges. She chased after a retreating Kolekar throughout much of round three and cruised to a Unanimous Decision victory with scores of 29-28 and 30-27 twice.
Also at strawweight, Kalyn “.50 Kal” Schwartz (1-0-0) kicked off her pro career in a big way with a second-round submission victory over Lion Fight Muay Thai champion Tiffany “Timebomb” Van Soest (0-2-0). Schwartz dominated round one with takedowns, a suplex and a tight rear-naked choke attempt, but Van Soest persevered and she nearly knocked Schwartz out late in the round. Schwartz secured another key takedown in the second stanza that led to one final rear-naked choke, and Van Soest was forced to tap out at the 2:08 mark of round two.
Highly-touted atomweight prospect Julia “Jewels” Jones (5-0-0) made a statement in her long-awaited Invicta FC debut by quickly submitting Stephanie “The Scrapper” Skinner (4-6-0). The fighters traded kicks early on and Skinner attempted an armbar from the bottom after falling to her back. Jones evaded danger and dropped elbows from mount until Skinner gave up her back, which allowed Jones to secure a fight-ending rear-naked choke at the 2:38 mark of round one.
Rebounding from a disappointing loss, Amber Leibrock (2-1-0) returned to the win column with a first-round stoppage of Amy “Donkey Kong” Coleman (2-1-0) in featherweight action. Coleman countered early knees from Leibrock by taking her down, but Leibrock quickly regained her footing and she rushed forward with punches. A series of knees to the body dropped Coleman to the mat and Leibrock finished her off with punches at the 3:15 mark of the first round.
Opening up tonight’s card, strawweight pro debutant Sunna “Tsunami” Rannveig Davíðsdóttir (1-0-0) took a well-deserved Unanimous Decision victory over Ashley “Doll Face” Greenway (1-1-0) at strawweight. Davíðsdóttir’s ability to effectively mix up her strikes on the feet, coupled with takedowns and hard ground and pound in rounds two and three, was enough to earn the native of Iceland an impressive victory in her first fight under the Invicta FC banner.
Full play-by-play for all bouts on the Invicta FC 19 card can be found here.
(Photo Credit: Invicta Fighting Championships)