Watch the prelims and keep up with the full event results of Invicta FC 44 from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan.
Invicta FC 44 takes place Friday, and you can check out the prelims live video stream and official results right here on MMA Junkie.
The event takes place at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. The main card airs on Fite TV pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET following prelims at 8 p.m. ET on MMA Junkie.
Two vacant titles are up for grabs on the main card. In the main event, [autotag]Emily Ducote[/autotag] (9-6 MMA, 2-1 INVICTA) will take on [autotag]Danielle Taylor[/autotag] (11-5 MMA, 1-1 INVICTA) for the vacant strawweight title.
The co-main event will crown a new bantamweight champion as [autotag]Lisa Verzosa[/autotag] (6-1 MMA, 5-1 INVICTA) takes on [autotag]Taneisha Tennant[/autotag] (3-1 MMA, 2-1 INVICTA) for the vacant title.
The complete results of Invicta FC 44 are below:
MAIN CARD (Fite TV, 10 p.m. ET)
Emily Ducote vs. Danielle Taylor – for vacant strawweight title
Lisa Verzosa vs. Taneisha Tennant – for vacant bantamweight title
A women’s strawweight fight has been added to the lineup for Bellator’s return to its regular Northern California home base.
A women’s strawweight fight has been added to the lineup for Bellator’s return to its regular Northern California home base.
Longtime Bay Area resident [autotag]Keri Melendez[/autotag] (4-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) is set to take on [autotag]Emilee King[/autotag] (4-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) at Bellator 242. MMA Junkie confirmed the booking with a Bellator official following an initial report from Sherdog.com.
Bellator 242 takes place May 9 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
The 35-year-old Melendez, wife of former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez, lives in nearby San Francisco. She fought just once in 2019 – a unanimous decision win over Mandy Polk at Bellator 229 to stay unbeaten in her brief pro career. It was her second straight decision win after first-round stoppage victories in her first two pro fights.
Emilee King
King has made a big career turnaround after starting 0-3 as a pro, including a loss under the Invicta FC banner. Since that rough start out of the gate, the 27-year-old Tennessee-based fighter is a perfect 4-0, including three submission wins. In her promotional debut at Bellator 238 in January, she submitted Ava Knight with a first-round rear-naked choke.
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With the addition, the Bellator 242 lineup now includes:
Champ Ryan Bader vs. Vadim Nemkov – for light heavyweight title
Gegard Mousasi vs. Douglas Lima – for vacant middleweight title
Emilee King explains how teammate Taylor Turner’s past experience facing a boxer helped her in win over Ava Knight.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – [autotag]Emilee King[/autotag] took out a boxing champion and had an example to look back at in preparation.
King (4-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) upset WBC boxing champ Ava Knight (1-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in her promotional debut. King submitted Knight in a little more than two minutes at Bellator 238 this past Saturday.
It wasn’t the first time a former boxing champion crossed over to the Bellator cage. Former WBO featherweight champ Heather Hardy had a rude awakening in her second MMA bout when she was battered and stopped by Kristina Williams at Bellator 185.
Hardy also took on King’s teammate, [autotag]Taylor Turner[/autotag], this past June and suffered a second-round TKO loss at Bellator 222.
With Taylor in King’s corner, King had the kind of pointers she needed against a boxing champion, herself.
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“We absolutely did read into (Turner’s win over Hardy),” King said after her win. “I relied heavily on coach Taylor, not only for my strength and conditioning, and as like a mentor, but she relived some of her experiences with that Heather Hardy fight with me and that was a huge asset to me during this fight camp – so very thankful.”
Once the fight hit the canvas, it was right in King’s world. After a couple submission attempts, she was able to transition to a rear-naked choke and made quick work of Knight.
“My whole goal was just to get to the ground, and I knew once I hit the ground, I was fine,” King said. “I’m not sure exactly what takedown I hit. We’ve worked several throughout the game plan. It might have been a guard pull, to be honest. But I knew I threw one side kick, and that was kind of the game plan – of setting up the takedowns with the kicks. And after that, it was just hunt for the submissions, so one after the other.”
Check out all the facts and figures from Bellator 238, which took place Saturday and saw Cris Cyborg beat Julia Budd in the main event.
The first Bellator event of the year unfolded Saturday with Bellator 238, which went down at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., with a main card that streamed on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
In the main event, [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] (22-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) enhanced her legacy with another championship belt when she scored a fourth-round TKO of [autotag]Julia Budd[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) to claim the women’s featherweight belt.
The card also featured a quarterfinal bout in the ongoing Bellator featherweight grand prix, as well as some other notable results. For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for 30 post-event facts about Bellator 238.
General
Betting favorites went 4-2 on the main card (5-2 overall in fights where odds were available).
Total fight time for the six-bout main card was 41:59.
Main card
Cris Cyborg
Cyborg became the first in history to win titles in Bellator, UFC, Invicta FC and Strikeforce.
Cyborg became the second in history to win titles in Bellator and UFC. Eddie Alvarez also accomplished the feat.
Cyborg has earned 18 of her 22 career victories by knockout.
Budd had her 11-fight winning streak snapped for her first defeat since November 2011.
Budd has suffered all three of her career losses by stoppage.
Budd suffered her first knockout loss since Jan. 7, 2011 – a span of 3,306 days (more than nine years) and 14 fights.
Darrion Caldwell
[autotag]Darrion Caldwell[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) improved to 6-0 in Bellator featherweight competition. He’s 8-0 in the weight class during his career.
Caldwell’s six-fight Bellator winning streak in featherweight competition is the second longest active streak in the division behind A.J. McKee (16).
Caldwell’s six submission victories in Bellator competition are tied for second most in company history behind Goiti Yamauchi (seven).
[autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag] (14-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) had his 14-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
[autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] (24-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) has earned four of his six Bellator victories by decision.
Sergio Pettis
[autotag]Sergio Pettis[/autotag] (19-5 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) earned his first submission victory since Sept. 28, 2013 – a span of 2,311 days (more than six years) and 15 fights.
[autotag]Alfred Khashakyan[/autotag] (11-5 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) earned the first submission victory of his career.
[autotag]Raymond Daniels[/autotag] (2-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) improved to 2-0 since he returned to MMA competition from a nearly 11-year layoff in May.
Daniels has earned both of his career victories by knockout.
[autotag]Jason King[/autotag] (8-6 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) has suffered five of his six career losses by stoppage. He’s suffered all those defeats by knockout.
[autotag]Emilee King[/autotag] (4-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) is on a four-fight winning streak after starting her career 0-4.
[autotag]Ava Knight[/autotag] (1-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) suffered the first loss of her career.
Preliminary card
Aaron Pico
[autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] (5-3 MMA, 5-3 BMMA) improved to 5-2 since he dropped to the featherweight division in September 2017.
Pico has earned all of his career victories by knockout.
Pico’s five knockout victories in Bellator featherweight competition are third most in divisional history behind A.J. McKee (six) and Patricio Freire (six).
[autotag]Adel Altamimi[/autotag] (8-7 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) has suffered six of his seven career losses by stoppage.
Altamimi suffered the first submission loss of his career.
In the main event, women’s featherweight champion [autotag]Julia Budd[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) defends her belt against [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] (21-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), a former UFC and Strikeforce champ who is making her Bellator debut. Cyborg, regarded by many as the greatest women’s fighter in history, is a 4-1 favorite from the oddsmakers, and she’s nearly a unanimous pick from our 14 MMA Junkie editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers. Only one picker is taking Budd to retain her title in an upset.
In the co-main event, [autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag] (14-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) meets [autotag]Darrion Caldwell[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 10-2 BMMA) in a quarterfinal fight in Bellator’s ongoing featherweight tournament. The fight nearly is a pick’em from the oddsmakers, and it’s close with our pickers, as well. Borics has just an 8-6 lead.
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In another featherweight fight, [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] (23-2 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) is more than a 2-1 favorite against [autotag]Henry Corrales[/autotag] (17-4 MMA, 5-4 BMMA). Both fighters are looking to rebound from losses in the tournament’s opening round. Archuleta has a big 12-2 advantage from our staff members.
Former UFC fighter [autotag]Sergio Pettis[/autotag] (18-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) makes his Bellator debut at bantamweight against [autotag]Alfred Khashakyan[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA). He’s nearly a 3-1 favorite, and all but one of our pickers is taking him to get off on the right foot in the promotion.
We have two unanimous picks on the main card. [autotag]Raymond Daniels[/autotag] (1-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) has the support of all 14 of our pickers in his welterweight bout against [autotag]Jason King[/autotag] (8-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA).
And to open the main card, boxing standout [autotag]Ava Knight[/autotag] (1-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) is a unanimous pick against [autotag]Emilee King[/autotag] (3-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in their women’s strawweight fight, which is Knight’s second pro MMA bout.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Cyborg (57 percent), Borics (55 percent), Archuleta (79 percent), Pettis (82 percent), Daniels (62 percent) and Knight (71 percent) are the choices.
Boxer-turned-MMA prospect Ava Knight prefers to stay in her comfort zone.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]Ava Knight[/autotag] freely admits she’s more comfortable inside the boxing ring than the Bellator cage, but she says the skills she brings from boxing will stand her in good stead in her MMA adventure.
Knight (1-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), a former IBF flyweight boxing champion, will make the second appearance of her professional MMA career at Bellator 238 from The Forum against [autotag]Emilee King[/autotag], and “The Lady of Boxing” says she plans on making sure she isn’t dragged too far out of her comfort zone on Saturday night.
“The biggest lesson is I don’t ever want to be on the ground again,” Knight told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Not that I ever felt like I was in a place where I want to tap out or anything. But at the same time, I just want to be where I’m comfortable.”
To some, Knight’s admission that she doesn’t want to be on the mat could be taken as weakness, but she doesn’t see it that way. Instead, she used her desire to keep the fight standing to underpin her work in the gym as she prepared for her latest test.
“I practice not being somewhere I would hope that everything that I trained for is going to work, just like everyone else does,” she explained. “That worst-case scenario … my camp is based around what happens if that does happen. But at the same time, where I am comfortable is where I should be fighting my fight.
“All of my camps here on out are all going to be grappling. It’s the only thing I don’t know how to do, and it’s the only thing I should learn. But at the end of the day, it’s always (a good idea to) keep your strengths strong. At the end of the day, that’s what I want. That’s what I want to do, but we’re always going to be ready for whatever someone has to throw at me.”
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Knight, who has a 19-2-5 record as a pro boxer, won her professional MMA debut at Bellator 228 via third-round TKO, and has stayed busy since. She returned to her original sport of boxing and picked up a unanimous decision victory to extend her current unbeaten streak to nine in a row inside the squared circle. Now she’s set to return to the cage in a bid to kick off another undefeated streak with victory against King (3-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA).
“I looked her up, and she just looks like a really happy girl that’s an athlete and really wants a fight,” Knight said. “I think she’s coming off three wins – I didn’t watch the videos. Whatever she has coming, my coaches have prepared me for it. I don’t like to psych myself out. I’m doing me, and I’m going to do that the best that I can, and she’s going to the best that she’s got to take me out, and I’m just going to be there.”
Unsurprisingly, Knight’s preferred route to victory involves her hands: “Of course! I punch hard, that’s what I want to do. I want to stick to that.” But she’s working hard on building up the newer aspects of the game, and said that she has a love-hate relationship with grappling that she hopes will help her progress in her second sport.
“I’m really happy with MMA, and I actually really like it,” she said. “And I really like what comes with it, and that’s just the respect in the sport, respect for women in the sport. Boxing is still a little behind. We’re doing a whole lot better, but we’re still way behind. So I’m really happy to keep progressing in this sport.
“I’m having fun grappling. I hate doing it, but I’m actually having fun learning something new. So it’s a good thing for me, and I’m happy to do MMA, at least for the next year, and just focus on that.”
As for the fight itself, Knight admits she’ll step into the cage with an experience disadvantage, but said she’s ready to do what she does best and find a home for her educated hands as she bids to capture her second straight victory as a mixed martial artist.
“Obviously she’ll be better at MMA than I am, but at the same time I’m here to win,” Knight said. “I don’t care how it happens. I could submit her – people don’t know what I’ve been doing – but at the same time I’m thinking I want to knock her out, I want to get a name for myself, I want to be a girl in this sport with heavy hands. And I’m proud to hold that title if I can get it.”
We want your predictions for Saturday’s Bellator 238 event in Inglewood, Calif.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s Bellator 238 event in Inglewood, Calif.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the Bellator 238 event staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. Bellator 238 takes place Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
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Make your picks for all five main card fights inside.
