Many MMA fans were left speechless Friday night (November 18th,2016) as a relatively unknown Yana Kunitskaya submitted Tonya Evinger in the first round of the main event of InvictaFC20
Prior to this bout Evinger had been on a 10 fight winning streak, she hadn’t lost in five years and was invicta’s longest reigning Batemweight champion.
So to say Kunitskaya win was an upset would be the understatement of the century.
Kuntitskaya stopped the former champion via standing armbar in the very first round. The win though is laced with controversy and here’s why.
While in the submission Evinger proceeded to step on Kuitskaya’s face in attempt to break free from the submission. Although not an illegal move referee Mike England made Evinger switch positions despite the fact that she was actively defending.
The feeling is that once Evinger was forced to switch positions this gave Kunitskaya the leverage she needed to cinch in the submission leaving Evinger no choice but to tap.
Evinger’s manager Jerod David Phillips and head coach Aaron Pena both stated that they will be challenging the referee’s call in hopes that Evinger will get an immediate rematch. It should be noted that Evinger used the very same technique in 2013 against Sarah D’alelio and it was never stopped.
Earlier in the night Mike England was criticized of making a bad call by stopping the fury in the Alexa Conners vs Stephanie Eggers fight to reset the mouthpiece of Eggers. Typically things like that should be done when action is at a stand still. Although Conners walked away with the split decision win, it’s believed she would’ve got the TKO victory had it not been for the mishap.
Regardless of what you feel about the main event though one thing is for sure. We have a new Batemweight champion in invicta and her name is Yana Kunitskaya.
Let us here your thoughts. Was Kunitskaya’s win a fluke? Should Evinger get an immediate rematch? Was it just a bad call by the referee or was everything justified. Weigh in on the comment section below.
Wrestling News Blog 
Side note…Mike England was the same referee for the D’ALELIO fight on 12/7/13 so he knows that posting the foot on face during an armbar is absolutely legal. This is one of our selling points on the no contest filing.
It appears to be a Technical win by opportunity, courtesy of Referee interference and negligence. Negligence on the side of, He did not know the foot plant to Yana’s face was legal.
Which Yana took the distraction to her favor, (the fight was still ON, and Yana adjusted her grip and hold, thus securing the Armbar and forcing Tonya to Tap).
This could be a Referee’s disadvantage, as where is this Ref’s main sport of experience coming from? His brain may have cross referenced a Rule from either Boxing, wrestling, or Kick Boxing. He could very well say that.
On the professional side of Sports, the referee is Paid and authorized to officiate the Fight to best of his credentials.
Yes, I agree that in this particular fight, he made a big mistake on this one, costing Tonya’s championship title defense.
In this MMA Sport, Every “Second” counts.
I am confused as to why Englund (Referee in question) as Tonya is walking away. He reiterates to her, “Tapped…You Tapped…”
In the replay and having watched it more than ten times; Tonya did tap. Why did he have to tell her what she did, for the reason the fight ended?
What makes more sense, Not saying anything, or Be concerned how she was doing, checking on her Arm.
No, he’s telling her like she asked why the fight was stopped. Yes we know that, yet he tells her anyway. You can’t hear or see if Tonya asked the Ref a question. In the first 3 seconds after the tap, she appears to walk away in disbelief.
We have the questionable bad call, obviously, and that mystery to that exchange right after the fight is over.
It makes Yana’s win look like an accident, she did have the armbar adjusted so Tonya was forced to Tap.
I’d be totally fine with this result, if the Ref did Not interfere by Not knowing the Foot on Face was LEGAL!!!