While Canelo Alvarez was out in Las Vegas sending Amir Khan into an unscheduled nap, Invicta FC 17 was rolling on in Costa Mesa, California. There were two title fights topping this event, but while Tonya Evinger retained her bantamweight title, ex-UFC fighter Angela Hill stormed to the strawweight championship in just her 3rd fight under the Invicta FC banner.
Evinger dominated Colleen Schneider in Saturday’s main event, repeatedly taking her opponent down and scoring with big strikes over the course of the bout. The champion nearly finished the challenger with a rear-naked choke in the 1st, and was winning with such ease that two judges gave her a 10-8 for the 1st round. Schneider had some success on the feet, but Evinger was able to impose her game from start to finish and come away with a decision win in her first title defense.
Oh, and Evinger kissed Invicta FC reporter Laura Sanko after vomiting at the end of the fight.
#InvictaFC17 pic.twitter.com/I51iW5b3YD
— caposa (@GrabakaHitman) May 8, 2016
In the co-main event, Angela Hill continued her terrific Invicta FC run with a thrilling split decision win over Brazil’s Livia Renata Souza to become the new strawweight champion. Working on her skills at Alliance MMA has paid its dividends in rapid time, and against a dangerous submission threat in Souza, she demonstrated just how much she’s improved on her ground game and takedown defense. Souza’s early guillotine and leglock attempts were thwarted by Hill, who clearly dropped the 1st round. As the fight wore on, Hill was able to stuff Souza’s takedowns, escape when she was taken down, punish Souza from top position with ground-and-pound, and use her superior striking to bust Souza’s face up. Hill’s timing on her punches was on point, and after round 4, Hill’s jabs had bloodied Souza’s nose. The end to round 5 was dramatic, as a desperate Souza sought to retain her title by jumping to guard for a last-chance guillotine choke. With Hill seemingly in trouble, she fought her way out of it, then defended the armbar attempt all the way until the horn sounded. In the end, the judges saw it 48-47 twice in Hill’s favor, with one 48-47 score for Souza. Gone from the UFC after two tough losses to Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas, “Overkill” Hill is now Invicta’s strawweight queen, and it’s fully deserved.
Highlights of the main and co-main event, as well as other Invicta FC action, can be seen at the top of the page. There was also a buzzer-beater KO, as Megan Anderson put away Amanda Bell just as the horn sounded to end round 1. Watch that in the clip below.
Megan Anderson delivers the first knockout of the night in the final second of round 1. #InvictaFC17 https://t.co/UiyR3KWrO3
— UFC Fight Pass (@UFCFightPass) May 8, 2016
Here are the full results from Saturday night:
Tonya Evinger def. Colleen Schneider via unanimous decision (49-45, 50-44 x2)
Angela Hill def. Livia Renata Souza via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Charmaine Tweet def. Latoya Walker via first-round TKO (3:41)
Kaline Medeiros def. Aline Serio via second-round TKO (4:04)
Megan Anderson def. Amanda Bell via first-round TKO (4:59)
Christine Stanley def. Shannon Sinn via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Rachael Ostovich def. Ariel Beck via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Laura Howarth def. Alexa Conners via split decision (29-28, 28-29,29-28)
About the author
