Kayla Harrison Shreds Courtney King in Invicta Fighting Championships 43 Headliner

Kayla Harrison just beat Courtney King into a bloody mess. Opened up a nasty cut on the bridge of her nose midway through the first and the mauling just continued. pic.twitter.com/3J7Cmhui7o

— Will (@ChillemDafoe) November 21, 2020

It was a mismatch on paper, and it was a mismatch in practice.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison put forth a near-flawless performance in her Invicta Fighting Championships debut, as she dismissed Courtney King with punches in the second round of their gory Invicta 43 headliner on Friday in Kansas City, Kansas. King (4-2, 1-2 Invicta) packed her bags 4:48 into Round 2, closing the book on her three-fight winning streak.

Harrison (8-0, 1-0 Invicta) brutalized the Fury Fighting Championship titleholder throughout the first round, turning their showcase into a bloodbath. The American Top Team export executed a takedown, settled in full guard and slashed open long vertical gash between King’s eyes with an elbow strike. Blood poured from the wound, covering much of the canvas and both women in a slippery plasma. Harrison ultimately shifted to mount and made a pass at an armbar before the horn sounded.

King fared no better in the middle stanza. There, Harrison delivered two more takedowns, achieved full mount and progressed to a mounted crucifix, at which point she forced referee Marcio Laselva to intervene with a quick volley of unanswered punches.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Geltmacher rebounded from her first professional defeat, as she put away the previously unbeaten Caitlin Sammons with punches in the first round of their flyweight co-main event. Sammons (3-1, 3-1 Invicta) succumbed to blows 4:28 into Round 1.

A four-time All-American wrestler in college, Geltmacher (5-1, 3-1 Invicta) executed an early takedown, applied maximum pressure in the clinch along the fence and generally made life miserable for her opponent. Sammons managed to gain separation, but her situation only deteriorated from there—and rapidly so. Geltmacher feigned a takedown, floored the Floridian with a devastating overhand right and drew the curtain with follow-up punches.

The finish was Geltmacher’s first in more than two years.

In other action, Hope Chase (3-1, 2-0 Invicta) dispatched Brittney Cloudy (2-3, 0-2 Invicta) with a rear-naked choke 4:37 into the second round of their bantamweight affair; Meaghan Penning (1-0, 1-0 Invicta) laid claim to a unanimous decision over Alexa Culp (1-1, 1-1 Invicta) in a three-round strawweight tilt, drawing 29-28 marks from all three judges; and Juliana Miller (2-0, 1-0 Invicta) submitted Kendal Holowell (0-1, 0-1 Invicta) with an armbar 2:49 into the first round of their flyweight pairing.