The world knew Tonya Evinger wanted to become Invicta’s bantamweight champion, but what few expected came more in how she handled Irene Aldana so easily.
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After the fight, Cyborg cut straight to the chase to call out Rousey.
The event was headlined by Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino defending her Invicta FC Featherweight Championship against top contender Faith Van Duin.
This would be the ideal time for that fight and Justino agrees.
“I would like to add how this is a huge thing for New Zealand”. Let’s go train hard.
“For me, if it was easy to make 135”, Cyborg said. White stated in an interview earlier this year stating that if Justino can get down to Bantamweight then she could fight Rousey. Cyborg was just one of a trio of title fights on the fight card. She said she wants to fight in September next.
Justino showed Van Duin no mercy in the Invicta main event. Van Duin is now undefeated in Invicta FC competition, having defeated Amanda Bell at Invicta FC 12. Costigan is a wizard on the ground and it will not take long for her to drag Brown to the ground and get a submission win here. Aldana was caught in a deep armbar in the first, but somehow escaped without tapping after a near 30 seconds of defense. Evinger was able to transition to mount and also utilized the knee-on-belly position while landing significant hammer fists. She demonstrated everything from an intense flurry of liver shots to an attempt at an arm-triangle. But she’s on a three-fight winning streak in Invicta, chalking up victories over Sarah D’Alelio, Ediane Gomes, and Cindy Dandois, and seems to have reignited the fire in her belly. From the onset, Evinger brought the fury to Aldana, beating down her foe to a point where most fights would have been stopped, but Aldana somehow managed to stick it out past the first round.
Ironically, despite Aldana’s illness it was women’s MMA mainstay Evinger who vomited in her corner after the third round.
Herica Tiburcio defended her atomweight title for the first time since upsetting Michelle Waterson in her Invicta FC debut, against Ayaka Hamasaki. Tiburcio hurt Hamasaki with a body strike that had Hamasaki crumble to her feet early on in the first-round. The 33-year-old Japanese fighter utilized an array of trips and takedowns to get Tiburcio to the mat and dominated the Brazilian in the grappling department. Though she does have some unfinished business left to settle in Invicta and that starts with defending her 145 title once again.
(Photos courtesy of Esther Lin, Invicta FC). Tiburcio drops to 9-3 overall (1-1 Invicta FC).
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Catherine Costigan is a Cage Warriors vet whose large following has spooked Amber Brown enough that she’s made comments about it during interviews. From there she absolutely smothered Costigan, and landed several elbows, forcing her to give up her back.
