If recent history is any judge, Kanako Murata is soon to get a call from the UFC.
Murata (12-1) won a grueling, back-and-forth fight with Emily Ducote on Friday night to claim the vacant strawweight championship in the main event of Invicta FC 38 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. The judges’ scores in a split decision were 48-47, 47-48, and 49-46.
Each of the past three Invicta strawweight champions — Angela Hill, Virna Jandiroba and Briana Van Buren — vacated the belt to go to the UFC.
But after a 25-minute battle in which Murata’s superior wrestling skills held the day over Ducote’s more polished standup — and a late scare in the fifth in which Murata survived a nice armbar by Ducote — she doesn’t sound like she’s in a rush to go anywhere, anytime soon.
“All I can think of is that my opponent was very, very tough, and it was a very tough fight,” Murata said.
With her sixth career decision victory, Murata, a native of Japan, has won seven straight fights. Ducote (8-6), a former Bellator standout, had a two-fight win streak snapped.
The evening’s co-feature bout was originally slated to be the the main event, as Vanessa Porto was slated to take on Karina Rodriguez for the former’s Invicta FC flyweight title. Rodriguez, however, missed weight by just over a pound on Thursday, meaning both that she forfeited 25 percent of her purse and that the bout was changed to a three-round, non-title fight.
But that didn’t detract much from what turned out to be an entertaining, back-and-forth scrap. Porto (22-8) overwhelmed Rodriguez (8-4) in the opening round with tenacious grappling and scored several takedowns. Rodriguez got back into the fight in a slugfest of a second round, as she landed a wicked knee to the jaw.
In the third, Porto had more gas left in the tank, as she went back to her grappling to secure a unanimous decision on scores of 29-28 across the board.
“Even with (Rodriguez) missing weight, it still was a great fight,” Porto said. “My goal tonight was to win, and I am very happy.”
With her seventh career decision win, Porto has now won four in a row. Rodriguez had a two-fight win streak snapped.
Full Invicta FC 38 results:
- Kanako Murata def. Emily Ducote via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46) – to claim vacant strawweight title
- Vanessa Porto def. Karina Rodriguez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Mallory Martin def. Cynthia Arceo via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
- Shanna Young def. Maiju Suotama via unanimous decision (29-27, 28-27, 28-26)
- Lisa Verzosa def. Kerri Kenneson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Auttumn Norton def. Shaianna Rincon via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Taneisha Tennant def. Serena DeJesus via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
