After a fun night of fights in Shawneee, OK, the undefeated “Fee-nom” Felicia Spencer beat Pam ‘Bam’ Sorenson, with her third RNC finish in four fights, to claim the vacant Invicta FC featherweight title.
To open the title fight Spencer clinched with Sorenson, bullying the veteran up against the cage. The vast majority of the fight would end up being spend in this position. In this instance both women landed well with knees on the inside before Spencer rag-dolled Sorenson to the ground. On the canvas Spencer quickly took back control and began hunting for a choke. But Sorenson defended calmly, despite eating some punches and elbows to the side of the head, and was able to gut out the position until the bell rang.
In the second, Spencer immediately bull-rushed Sorenson and held her up against the fence. Within a minute she had dragged her down and was again looking for back control. However, Sorenson was able to slip out and get on top of Spencer, where she landed a few strikes before Spencer worked her way back to her feet. Sorenson caught Spencer with a hard knee on the way up, but was unable to prevent Spencer pushing her back to the fence.
After some clinch work, Spencer rushed a takedown attempt and found herself having to cover up to avoid punches from Sorenson. More clinchwork followed, but with Sorenson finding more success on the inside. Sorenson then went for a guillotine with around two minutes remaining. That failed and the remainder of the round was fought mostly against the fence, though Sorenson did catch Spencer with punches during brief periods of separation. As the buzzer sounded, Sorenson scored with a last ditch takedown.
In the third Spencer opened with a few front kicks, but wasn’t able to land with any real intensity. Sorenson was patient and swung on Spencer as she came in, but she was also unable to land anything with venom. Spencer eventually took the action back to the fence, where she worked for a takedown. She got Sorenson down for a second, but they were back to clinch work almost immediately, with Sorenson landing some stiff elbows on the inside.
When they separated both women looked a little tired as they took turns lunging forwards with kick and punch attempts. Of the two, Sorenson was able to connect with harder strikes, including some stiff kicks to the body and few clean punches to the head. With a minute left of the round Spencer secured a takedown, but Sorenson was able to defend against most of the ground-and-pound Spencer offered.
In the fourth round Spencer again showed she wanted to clinch. She super-woman punched her way into Sorenson, but Sorenson was able to shuck her off and land a few punches in the exchange that followed. Spencer then focused on leg kicks, while Sorenson swung over the top with her right hand. After Sorenson landed a decent punch, Spencer connected with a front kick to the head that pushed her opponent back. Spencer then peddled forward catching Sorenson with the most meaningful punches of the fight.
Sorenson weathered the storm and then reversed a takedown to get top position on Spencer. But Spencer was up quickly and grinding Sorenson back against the fence. With two minutes remaining Sorenson used Spencer’s pressure to execute a harai goshi (hip throw), but Spencer rolled through it and the pair were back up and against the fence.
The ending sequence began with only a minute left, after Sorenson botched a second harai goshi attempt. That resulted in Spencer getting her back. Sensing urgency, Spencer fought to sink in the choke. Ten seconds later she was under Sorenson’s chin.
Though it wasn’t a dominant display, thanks to Sorenson’s gritty defense and stiff counter-punching, the victory was well-earned for Spencer who became the third featherweight champion in Invicta history.
The Invicta featherweight title has been a golden ticket to the UFC, with both Megan Anderson and Cris Cyborg vacating the belt to accept contracts there. Though she’s not the finished product, it’s likely the UFC would call upon her should they decide to earnestly support a weight-class for rarely found 145 lb female fighters.
In the co-main event the mixed-martial-artist formerly known as Mizuki Inoue, who now goes by the mononym MIZUKI, beat former UFC strawweight Viviane Pereira by unanimous decision.
In the first round Pereira was successful with a takedown and was able to hold Mizuki down for a minute or two. However, the Japanese fighter — who had Ray Longo and her UFC fighter brother (Naoki Inoue) in her corner — was able to defend against anything offensive the Brazilian was considering, while landing strikes of her own from the bottom. Mizuki got on top of Pereira later in the round, securing full mount and landing a little ground and pound.
The second round was spent exclusively on the feet with Mizuki beating Pereira to the punch, utilizing feints and head movement to keep Pereira guessing and swinging at mostly air. Mizuki had success darting in with right crosses and crisp two punch combos, one of which snapped back Pereira’s head.
The third round started like the second, with Pereira seemingly mesmerized by Mizuki’s evasiveness on the feet. Mizuki capitalized on this with a successful takedown in the middle of the cage, though she wasn’t able to do anything before Pereira powered up to her feet. Back on the feet Pereira plodded forward and landed a few jabs. But she couldn’t hurt Mizuki or get the stoppage she needed.
At atomweight Ashley ‘Smashley’ Cummins took her second win a row since losing to current Invicta champion Jinh Yu Frey. Cummins out wrestled Jessica Delboni over 15 minutes after almost finished the fight with an arm bar in round one. The victory put Cummins in pole position for a shot at atomweight gold. Depending on how the main event of Invicta FC 33 goes, that could mean a rematch with Frey or a fight with the Fin Minna Grusander.
Late replacement Sarah Patterson was no match for former Invicta match-maker Kaitlin Young. Young landed everything she threw in a minute and twenty seconds, hurting Patterson with a leg kick and then dropping her with a couple of punches for the TKO win.
Before that ‘Raging Panda’ Julia Avila got the job done in her home state; battering Alexa Conners with punch combinations and knees until she got the finish via TKO late in the second round. The end came via a front kick and follow-up punches, earning Avila status as a potential challenger for Sarah Kaufman’s bantamweight belt.
19-year-olds Erin Blanchfield and Kay Hansen had a grinding back and forth over 15 minutes. One judge scored it a draw, but the other two gave Blanchfield the nod and a majority decision victory.
The best fight of the night was probably Stephanie Geltmacher vs. Liz Tracy. The fun back and forth fist-fight was scored a unanimous decision for Geltmacher. Before that Kathryn Paprocki dominated MMA debutante Isis Verbeek on the ground and Chelsea Chandler out-brawled Mitzi Merry for lopsided decisions.
Check out the full results below, as well the finishes for Spencer, Young, and Avila.
Featherweight: Felicia Spencer def. Pam Sorenson via submission (rear-naked choke), round four (4:23).
Strawweight: Mizuki Inoue def. Viviane Pereira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Atomweight: Ashley Cummins def. Jessica Delboni via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Catchweight: Kaitlin Young def. Sarah Patterson via TKO (leg kick and punches), round one (1:25).
Bantamweight: Julia Avila def. Alexa Conners via TKO (front kick and punches), round two (4:43).
Flyweight: Erin Blanchfield def. Kay Hansen via majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Flyweight: Stephanie Geltmacher def. Liz Tracy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
Strawweight: Kathryn Paprocki def. Isis Verbeek via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-26).
Catchweight: Chelsea Chandler def. Mitzi Merry via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).