Invicta FC 19 Results: A lot of positives for Manjit Kolekar despite a decision loss

INVICTA 19 was a historic pay-per-view for Indian MMA. Manjit Kolekar became the first Indian to fight at Invicta Fighting Championships and she impressed everyone.

Manjit, who was fighting outside India for the first time in her career, faced off against Brazilian veteran Kaline Medeiros, who came into the fight with a four-fight win streak.

The Fight:

Medeiros had her moments in the first round. Manjit, to her credit, proved to be a tough nut to crack on the ground and scrambled her way out on various occasions. Towards the end of the first round, Kaline did land some good shots on the ground but Manjit held her defense firmly.

The second round saw both fighters trying to land low kicks with Manjit managing to land a huge body kick. Manjit showed impressive cage control to get out of precarious situations and was frustrating Kaline with her defense. The Indian fractured her knuckle in this round and this was a big setback altogether.

A cautious approach from both fighters followed in the third. Manjit, probably due to her fractured arm was evasive of Kaline for most parts of the round. She delivered a couple of body kicks towards the end of the final round but a solid performance in the first two rounds gave Kaline the win.

RESULT: Kaline Medeiros def. Manjit Kolekar by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Positives:

The undefeated run of Manjit might’ve come to an end, but there were plenty of positives from the fight for her. First of all, she looked comfortable inside the octagon against a veteran and that too, in her first ever fight outside India. The ground defense of Manjit was also top class as she kept Kaline away on almost all the occasions.

The cage work of Manjit was another notable thing. She used the cage to get out of situations that could have cost her and had excellent distance management to go with this. Though she only landed a few kicks and strikes, they came with good power.

The Future is Bright for Manjit

The Unanimous loss that Manjit suffered is in no grounds a negative for the fighter. She impressed everyone that tuned into the fight and earned respect in the process. With such a performance on her resume, it wouldn’t be too long before Manjit gets another major International fight.

Here are the complete results from Invicta 19

• Jennifer Maia def. Roxanne Modafferi by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46) – for flyweight title
• Ayaka Hamasaki def. Jinh Yu Frey by TKO (doctor's stoppage) in the second Round.
• Irene Aldana def. Faith Van Duin via TKO in the first round
• Kaline Medeiros def. Manjit Kolekar by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Kal Holliday def. Tiffany Van Soest by submission in the second round
• Julia Jones def. Stephanie Skinner via submission in the first round
• Amber Leibrock def. Amy Coleman via TKO in the first round
• Sunna Ranveig Davidsdottir def. Ashley Greenway via Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)