The Morning After Drill: Invicta 6

Contributor: Nolan Howell

• The eater of worlds known as “Cyborg” belongs in the UFC as soon as possible. After her performance tonight against a slick grappler like Marloes Coenen, something tells me that Ronda Rousey wouldn’t have a lot of success in throwing her to the mat because of the sheer strength “Cyborg” possesses. The battle on the feet would be extremely one-sided. This is the female MMA version of Georges St. Pierre/Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva. It needs to happen before too much damage occurs.
• Regardless, “Cyborg” looked like she trimmed down on muscle and still looked like an animal in there with Coenen, who looked substantially bulkier than usual in preparation for this bout. The size, the top game, and the striking of “Cyborg” is just insanely immense for any woman to overcome. This was a masterpiece of dominant violence that shows how many steps above Big Momma Pump is.
• As an aside, so many kudos to Marloes Coenen for putting in a good effort and giving it her all. One of the toughest ladies in the game, perhaps too tough for her own good.
• Claudia Gadelha showed off that vaunted Nova Uniao top game against Ayaka Hamasaki. The strawweight division looks to be stacked for Invicta and this will be furthered later on in the reactions.
• Lauren Taylor and Sarah D’Alelio put on a fun scrap on the feet that saw both ladies being pretty much equivalent on with their striking and grappling. In the end, Taylor took home the victory in a close fight that I had for D’Alelio.
• Leslie Smith vs. Jennifer Maia was my personal fight of the night. Maia seemed to work well on the mat, but Smith was able to keep it away from there enough to turn it into an exchange of bombs on the feet. Smith is proving to be a fighter that will be able to draw folks in with her intensity and grit.
• Jessica Penne made short work of Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc in a pretty unsurprising result. Penne just looked a step above and she wants to climb back to the throne at atomweight.
• Joanne Calderwood showed off her crafty striking and competent grappling in a win over Norma Rueda Center. Calderwood is another lady who brings a unique style to the cage and she is tons of fun to watch, not to mention being at a high-level.
• Mizuki Inoue and Bec Hyatt had an interesting fight. A lot of it was contested in the clinch, with Hyatt working punches to the head and Inoue using short leg-kicks in the Thai plum. Inoue took the fight in a close decision, though (bias aside) I gave Hyatt the first and third round for being more effective on the feet with her picking Inoue apart at boxing range.
• Miriam Nakamoto is a bad, bad woman. Her Thai boxing is something out of this world and it showed against Duda Yankovich. Her knees and elbows are game changers and, despite her seemingly limited shelf life, she will be fun to watch if you find her on the card.
• Opening up the show, Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres put on a great fight that went back and forth. Namajunas showed effective unorthodox striking, focusing with the lead leg and side kicks. She also had more effective grappling when it hit the floor. However, Torres kept to her game in the boxing department and cracked Namajunas more effectively to take home the win.
• Women’s MMA isn’t something that I go out of my way to watch, but invicta shows are always of great fight quality. Given the right opportunities, this company could carve a decent little niche for women’s fighting, considering the quality and talent this organization carries. Essentially, even for a WMMA novice like me, I think it will be worth my time to catch Invicta more regularly and I recommend the same to any reader.

-Nolan can be reached @nolanhowell.