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.