Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion Tonya Evinger successfully defended her title against Yana Kunitskaya in the main event of Invicta FC 22.
Even though she kept her title, the champion almost wasn’t able to keep her pre-fight meal down during the bout.
“That Mexican food I ate right before I came here,” Evinger said after her fight. “Seriously, (I) threw up. I got conned in to going there. And I knew better, and I still did it. I knew first round, I was like, ‘Oh my god, am I going to lose this fight because I’m so sick?'”
This was a rematch for Evinger and Kunitskaya, as Kunitskaya originally defeated Evinger via arm bar in their first bout at Invicta FC 20. However, the fight was overturned to a no contest after it was ruled that a referee’s error played a part in the ending of the fight.
Evinger also admits that she and her team knew they were going to have to weather an early storm from the challenger.
“I think we worked on this, on going in and just stayed calm,” Evinger said. “I knew she was going to try to go for a ton of submissions and just to stay calm and eventually I’d get out of it, even if I was in deep. Obviously, jiu-jitsu is inches. Inches make submissions. I think she never had anything worth going for. Obviously that foot lock I did wasn’t worth (expletive) either, but whatever. I’ve got to look busy down on the other end.”
The champion hasn’t suffered a defeat in almost six years and her last loss came to UFC veteran Sara McMann.
