Brianna Van Buren dominated all three of her opponents last night (Fri., May 3, 2019) during Invicta FC’s strawweight tournament from inside Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, en route to claiming the vacant 115-pound title.
Van Buren, 25, entered the eight-woman tournament with just two Invicta FC appearances under her belt, but that didn’t stop the American Kickboxing Academy standout from taking over. In total, Van Buren went 3-0 with two submission finishes and a one-round decision win.
In her opening quarterfinal bout, Van Buren was able to quickly secure a takedown on opponent Manjit Kolekar and smother her with heavy ground-and-pound. After a few minutes of control time Van Buren was able to transition over and lock in the decisive armbar finish.
Check out the stoppage below courtesy of UFC:
It’s done! @115_brianna takes an arm at 3:20 secs of round 1 and could potentially choose her semifinals opponent with the fastest quarterfinals finish thus far! #PhoenixRising pic.twitter.com/fwgM8CuPay
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) May 4, 2019
Van Buren’s semi-final win came over veteran fighter Juliana Lima, who had defeated fellow UFC veteran Danielle Taylor via split decision in the opening round. While Van Buren wasn’t able to finish the Brazilian strawweight she still dominated Lima from the opening bell and easily won the one-round affair.
Check out the highlights below courtesy of UFC:
Perfect timing by @115_brianna for the BIG takedown and that could seal the deal in this first semifinals match! #PhoenixRising pic.twitter.com/DQfm8lQttN
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) May 4, 2019
In the tournament final, Van Buren squared off with former UFC fighter Kailin Curran, who defeated Sunna Daviosdottir and Sharon Jacobson earlier in the night. After dominating Curran in the opening round, Van Buren turned the pressure up in the second. Following a takedown and ground-and-pound, Van Buren was able to transition to back mount and quickly sink in a rear-naked choke finish.
That stoppage can be seen above, courtesy of Invicta FC, along with some more tournament action.
It was quite the night for Van Buren, who pushed her overall professional MMA record to 8-2 after dominating Invicta FC’s strawweight tournament. The young champion should make another appearance later this year and try to lock down her first ever title defense.