Kanako Murata is the new Invicta Strawweight Champion

キリアンコーチ、山崎さん本当にありがとうございます！
これからもご指導よろしくお願いします！
みんなの応援のおかげでインヴィクタのチャンピオンなることができました！
これからはもっともっと強くなってモンスターなるんでこれからも応援よろしくお願いします！ pic.twitter.com/nXfIYd8yNs

— 村田夏南子 KanakoMurata (@m_r_t_k_n_k) November 2, 2019

Last night Invicta FC 38 aired on UFC Fight Pass. There were supposed to be two championship matches. But Karina Rodriguez missed weight. That match was a three round non title match. So instead the main event was Kanako Murata vs Emily Ducote for the vacant Invicta Strawweight Championship. Kanako normally fights for RIZIN. They have loaned her to Invicta because RIZIN would have to bring in foreigners to fight her anyway. Kanako has been training with Kiaran Fitzgibbons at Combat Sports Academy in Dublin, CA. Most fans will remember Emily as a Bellator Flyweight. In her one Invicta fight, her opponent was so bad, it was hard to tell if Emily is any good. Obviously Kanako is an elite wrestler. To combat that, Emily either needed to have great takedown defense or grappling defense from bottom position. Kanako was able to get several takedowns but she wasn't able to advance her position. And Emily attempted several armbars from the bottom. I scored the first two rounds for Kanako and the other three rounds for Emily so 48-47 for Emily. And it wasn't so much that Emily came on strong in those rounds but Kanako faded badly. She hadn't fought five rounds before. One judge scored it 48-47 for Emily. The second judge scored it 48-47 for Kanako. But the third judge scored it 49-46 for Kanako. He only gave round five to Emily. I suppose we could see a rematch. All the other fights on the show were unanimous decisions. The fights were OK but nothing was great. Vanessa Porto won her three round match over Karina Rodriguez. Vanessa seemed to fade in round three. So maybe Karina could have won if she had made weight. She should kick herself for that. In a Strawweight bout, Mallory Martin beat Cynthia Arceo by unanimous decision. In a Flyweight bout, Shanna Young beat Maiju Suotama by unanimous decision. Neither of these fights was very interesting. In a Bantamweight bout, Lisa Verszosa beat Kerri Kenneson by unanimous decision. Kerri won the first round and then faded. I wouldn't be surprised to see Lisa in the UFC very soon. In a Featherweight bout, Autumn Norton beat Yaya Rincon by unanimous decision. This was Yaya's return after two years off to have a baby. She now trains at Combat Sports Academy in Dublin, CA. She didn't look as good as I remember from a couple of years ago. And in the Bantamweight opener, Taneisha Tennant beat Serena DeJesus by unanimous decision. Taneisha looked good but it was mentioned on the broadcast that she has enlisted in the US Navy. So she might have limited availability. As I said, the show as a whole was lackluster. It just seems like a lot of these fighters aren't very aggressive.