Miranda Maverick wins Invicta Phoenix Rising 2 tournament

Invicta FC Phoenix Rising 2 results and video: Maverick gets revenge over Bennett, wins flyweight tourney https://t.co/CBHNEnBBC6

— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 7, 2019

Last night's Invicta Phoenix Rising 2 tournament for Flyweights aired on UFC Fight Pass. There were eight fighters in the tournament and the first round and semi finals were one round. The final was three rounds. This is the second time Invicta has done one of these tournaments and the first round fights have been tough to sit through. To try and create some urgency, the winner with the quickest finish gets to choose her semi final opponent. It didn't work. There was very little action in three of the four first round fights. No one came close to a finish. One suggestion might be to stick to younger fighters as they seem to give the best results. The one fight that had decent action was Miranda Maverick winning by unanimous decision over Victoria Leonardo. The other three first round fights had fighters who are older and known to not take risks. Daiana Torquato beat Milana Dudieva by split decision. I thought Daiana landed better strikes. DeAnna Bennett beat Liz Tracy by unanimous decision. Liz probably won but neither did much. DeAnna looked surprised when the decision was announced. Shanna Young beat Maiju Suotama by unanimous decision. Again nothing much happened. Then there were a couple of one round reserve bouts. Chantel Coates beat Flore Hani by split decision. Flore should move back to Strawweight. And Kay Hansen beat Carolina Jiminez by unanimous decision. The accumulation of these low action contests was a tough slog to sit through. The second round fights were better as Miranda beat Shanna and DeAnna beat Daiana with rear naked chokes. Then there were a couple of buffer bouts so the fighters could rest. Both fights were at Flyweight. Josee Storts beat Helen Lucero by first round rear naked choke. Josee is a young fighter with potential. Helen was making her pro MMA debut at age 41. I would describe her booking as promotional malpractice. And then Mariya Agapova beat Alexa Connors by first round rear naked choke. I saw Mariya on Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series. She looked better here but of course Alexa is awful. And then in the tournament final, Miranda won the first two rounds over Deanna and then finished her in the third round with what looked like a neck crank. DeAnna was outclassed anyway. The only thing she is good at is grinding on the fence and that doesn't win fights. The problems Invicta has had with the two tournaments is lack of action in the opening round and it shows that the concept is flawed. But I expect them to keep doing them because no one has the guts to tell them the truth.