Invicta 25 Results

After a missed opportunity in 2016, Yana Kunitskaya is an Invicta FC champion.

Kunitskaya beat Raquel Pa’aluhi by unanimous decision to win the vacant Invicta women’s bantamweight title Thursday night in the main event of Invicta FC 25 at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, Calif.

Kunitskaya dominated most of the fight with Pa’aluhi. The Russian fighter blooded Pa’aluhi with an up kick in the first round and was able to counter the Hawaiian for every takedown attempt.

Pa’aluhi has now lost two of her last three fights, in between a first-round submission victory over Pannie Kianzad in January that set up this title shot. Though she’s been fighting for seven years, Pa’aluhi, a Las Vegas resident, is still just 26 years old and a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Robert Drysdale.

In the co-main event, Livia Renata Souza put on an impressive performance just 19 days after the death of her father. Souza, the former Invicta strawweight champion, had a tough time with the striking of Janaisa Morandin, but got the fight to the ground  en route to a unanimous decision

Katharina Lehner missed weight by 4.5 rounds Wednesday. Yet, impressed with an aggressive, high-pressure style in finishing Alexa Conners by TKO at 4:21 of the first round. Lehner remained undefeated with the victory, Conners came in on a three-fight winning streak prior to her second loss.

Sharon Jacobsen fell surprisingly to  Kali Robbins, even though Jacobsen started with  incredible hip toss to the ground. Yet, it was Robbins who found a way to latch  onto Jacobsen’s arm, held onto it in transition and finished via armbar at just :42 Thursday night to remain undefeated.

38 years old Cheri Murask finished debuting Tracy Cortez by guillotine choke submission at 2:42 of the first round to move to a perfect 3-0. The flyweight fighter now has two out of three career wins by submission.

Also on the card, Yaya Rincón finished Courtney King by TKO at 3:41 of the second round via some ground a pound; Sarah Kleczka defeated Amberlynn Orr by split decision and Shino VanHoose inched out Alyse Anderson by split decision.

In the opener, both fighters made their pro debut, but it was  Jillian DeCoursey defeating Ashley Medina. DeCoursey dedicated the victory to her late father, as this was the anniversary of her final conversation with him and it was about one day fighting for Invicta.