Newly-crowned Invicta FC bantamweight champ Yana “Foxy” Kunitskaya was one of four women to earn a Performance of the Night bonus tonight at Invicta Fighting Championships 20 in Kansas City, Missouri. Kunitskaya submitted former champ Tonya “Triple Threat” Evinger in the main event.
In one of her most impressive performances to date, former atomweight titleholder Hérica Tibúrcio took a convincing Unanimous Decision win over Simona “Lil’ Evil” Soukupova tonight. Other key winners on the Invicta FC 20 card were strawweight J.J. Aldrich and bantamweight Alexa Conners.
Kunitskaya’s (10-2-0) bonus-winning victory tonight came as a shock to some, who had expected that Evinger (19-6-0) would made a successful defence of her title. Instead, Kunitskaya sent shockwaves through the division by forcing Evinger to tap out to an armbar at the 1:59 mark of round one.
In a three-round atomweight contender’s bout, Tibúrcio (10-4-0) showed off her much-improved striking skills en route to a well-deserved decision win over Soukupova (5-5-1). Tibúrcio controlled the opening two rounds on the feet and on the ground, and Soukupova’s late-fight rally was not enough to steal back a victory. Scores were 29-28 thrice for Tibúrcio, who bounced back from a pair of defeats.
Aldrich (4-1-0) ran her winning streak to three with a one-sided Unanimous Decision win over veteran Lynn “Weapon X” Alvarez (6-5-0). Aldrich damaged Alvarez’s eye and nose with punching combinations, and she continued to outstrike her slower opponent on the feet until the final bell. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 in Aldrich’s favour.
After suffering a controversial Split Decision loss at Invicta FC 17, Conners (1-1-0) evened her pro record with a victory over judoka Stephanie Egger (2-1-0) tonight. Conners was the superior striker in all three rounds, and she nearly finished Egger with a barrage of punches in the final stanza, but the bout went to the scorecards. Judges were once again unkind to Conners, and one even scored the fight 29-28 in favour of Egger. The remaining two saw it 29-28 for Conners, who put forth a solid showing in victory.