The main event of last night's Invicta show emphasized that bringing in an unknown for a title match can be a double edged sword. I still think it's poor matchmaking regardless of the results. In case you didn't notice, Herica wasn't on the fight poster. All of Invicta's promotion for this show was all about Michelle Waterson. Most fans interpreted this as if Invicta didn't believe Herica was a credible challenger so why should they buy tickets? Or maybe Michelle is overhyped. That's the more likely answer. That's the great thing about MMA. Grand plans can go up in smoke in a split second. The first two rounds of the fight were fairly even. I gave round one to Herica and round two to Michelle. I thought that they wouldn't be able to keep up the quick pace for five rounds. One of them was going to run out of gas. Instead Herica won with a guillotine choke in round three. Most fighters don't apply that hold properly which is why it doesn't finish most of the time. In trying to get out from bottom position, Michelle just fell into the guillotine. She still doesn't know what happened. So now Herica has to prove that it was no fluke. Because the win can be perceived as lucky. So I expect a rematch which is marketable and will sell tickets. And though Invicta will say they don't care, you can be sure this is not the result they wanted. The rest of the show was OK. Tonya Evinger earned a shot at the vacant Bantamweight Championship with a win by second round armbar over Cindy Dandois. Cindy was off for three years so we didn't know what she would be like. It's been a while since I have seen a fighter cower from punches. Roxanne Modafferi showed improved striking with a split decision win over Andrea Lee. Andrea was a late replacement for Vanessa Porto who couldn't get a visa. I scored it 29-28 for Roxanne. Andrea needs to work on her takedown defense because that's why she lost. DeAnna Bennett won by unanimous decision over Jennifer Maia. I thought it was a poor decision. I scored it 29-28 for Jennifer. Peggy Morgan won by unanimous decision over Andria Wawro. This fight was so bad, I didn't care who won. There was way too much jockeying for position on the fence. And the ref couldn't seem to prevent them from doing that. Mexican Alexa Grasso won over Alida Gray by first round TKO. Alida complained about the stoppage but a cut over her eye was bad enough that the fight would have been stopped anyway. I would like to see Alexa against a better fighter. Jinh Yu Frey won over Cassie Robb by first round rear naked choke. And in the opener, Rachael Ostovich won over Evva Johnson by split decision. I thought Rachael was quicker and more aggressive than Evva. I'm not sure how one of the judges could have scored it for Evva. Well, the show was in Texas and the judging can be weird there. Invicta says they will run six shows in 2015. The next one should be in February featuring Cris Cyborg.
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