Friday night’s Invicta 12 all-women’s MMA card saw Brazil’s undefeated Livia Renata Souza defeat stawweight champion Katja Kankaanpaa of Finland to stake her claim as Invicta’s top 115-lber. The two women fought an entertaining, back-and-forth fight for three rounds as Souza came out strong but Kankaanpaa held her ground and got her offense off in rounds two and three. Heading into Round 4, Kankaanpaa rushed Souza to the ground, where both had had their moments earlier in the fight. Once on the ground this time, Souza was able to secure a triangle choke that the Finnish fighter could not hold off for long.
In the 125 lb division, veterans Roxanne Modaferri and Vanessa Porto engaged in a rematch, as they had met way back in 2008 when Modaferri won, scoring the TKO using knees in the third round. However, in this one, Modaferri could not hold off Porto’s takedown attempts, as the Brazilian scored takedowns in every round. Modaferri showed her awkward striking, having success with jabs and front kicks to keep distance, but in the end it was not enough as all three judges gave the fight to Porto, who is now 18-6 overall.
Faith Van Duin of New Zealand got her second shot at her Invicta debut, as her November bout with Charmaine Tweet was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute by the Texas Boxing Commission. She faced Amanda Bell, who was riding a three fight winning streak coming in. Bell likely took the opening round, which featured a lot of fighting on the ground, but it would be the Kiwi who finished the fight less than a minute into the second round as she controlled Bell, took the back and finished with a rear naked choke.
Raquel Pa’aluhi extended her winning streak to three with a hard fought three round unanimous decision over Ediane Gomes. Pa’aluhi moves her record to 5-4 now, three of her four losses came to fighters that are in the UFC. Gomes, a veteran who is now at 10-4 overall, has dropped her last two fights. She has also battled inactivity, as this was just her second bout since January of 2013.
