Invicta FC 37: Pearl Gonzalez Defeats Brogan Sanchez

Pearl Gonzalez (10-4) defeated Brogan Sanchez (6-1) via unanimous decision, the main event at Invicta FC 37 on Friday night, as Gonzalez seeks another shot at the flyweight title.

She returned to the cage after suffering a technical decision loss to Vanessa Porto back in February. “The Chi-town Princess” made it known in her post-fight interview alongside her family, how significant this victory meant.

“This fight was so important for me for several reasons … I’ve been in this game for many years,” she said. “My team put so much work and effort into working with me and believing in me on the days I don’t – [it’s] for these babies right here.

It was so important for me to come back here and bring home a win for them. The last time they were here, I lost, and I want them to know that I’ll never give up on myself and I want them to never give up on themselves.”

Gonzalez kept the judo throws coming throughout all three rounds. Credit to Sanchez, she reversed a couple of those attempts, but Pearl eventually mounted her way on top of “Killer Bee” and landed clean shots from a full guard position – various times.

The Flyweight fighting out of San Diego transitioned well from an exploding judo throw, to having her arms wrapped around Sanchez’s neck. Though, the Muay Thai practitioner quickly got up and landed a knee – blood started to drip from Gonzalez’s nose.

The first round was as close as the fight would get. Gonzalez kept Sanchez from getting any momentum in the second round. Sanchez constantly overloaded on her haymakers, though “The Chi-Town Princess” kept the distance, as she worked on timing her head kicks.

Before the start of the third round, the cutman was ironing out the swelling under Sanchez’s left eye.

Gonzalez blazed out into the final third round, throwing a flurry of punches. Sanchez quickly clinched and pinned Gonzalez onto the cage.

Guam’s “Killer Bee” accumulated a lot of control time in the final round, but Gonzalez earned an explosive slamming two-legged takedown – perhaps won her the round.

The dominos effect of how Invicta FC’s flyweight division will shape out, starts with the title fight between Vanessa Porto versus the challenger Karina Rodriguez on November 1.