Barb Honchak vs Takayo Hashi set for Nov. 1 Invicta show

Barb Honchak

Today Invicta announced their next two shows. The first one will be Nov. 1 at the RiverCenter in Davenport, IA and the second show will be Dec. 5 at a location TBA. Both shows will air on UFC Fight Pass. Invicta announced this second show mainly so they could breathlessly announce that Cris Cyborg will fight at 135lb on that show. Of course that's a big deal but it could have been saved for later. They should have known that it would overshadow the announcement of the main event of the Nov. 1 show. So I will wait until Cyborg's opponent is announced to comment about it and give the main event of the Nov. 1 show the attention it deserves. Barb Honchak will defend the Invicta Flyweight Championship against Japanese veteran Takayo Hashi. Barb's record is 9-2 and her last win was over Leslie Smith on the Dec. 7 Invicta show. She's a pretty good fighter. My only problem with her is she doesn't finish. Six of her nine wins have gone the distance. But I don't expect her to have much trouble with Hashi. Hashi is currently the DEEP JEWELS Bantamweight Champion which is why she is getting a title shot. The problem is she beat Shizuka Sugiyama who is a terrible fighter and is pushed by DEEP JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki because of her looks. Hashi had knee surgery in 2012 and she had a draw with Korean kickboxer Kim Jeon Yi in her other fight. So she hasn't faced top competition for a while. Of course we also remember her three losses when she came to the US a few years ago. It wasn't so much that she lost but she employed this terrible keep away strategy in her 2010 Strikeforce title match against Sarah Kaufman. So I am concerned Hashi will deliver another snoozer in this Invicta main event. I think she needed to prove herself worthy of a title shot before risking stinking out the joint with a boring main event. I will have more on this show when the rest of the card is announced.