Jessica
Correa Delboni has earned a shot at the
Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight champion Alesha
Zappitella after winning the one-night Phoenix
Series 4 tournament.
The main event, which was the only three-round professional mixed
martial arts bout on the card, saw Delboni go three rounds against
Lindsey
VanZandt. “LVZ” came out looking to strike from range, but
Delboni was able to back her into the cage several times and won
the round due to her aggressiveness. The second frame was largely
more of the same, but VanZandt took the round on two of the judge’s
scorecards. Round 3 stayed on the feet with both women landing
solid punches. Ultimately, the judges favored the work of Delboni
and awarded her a unanimous decision victory with scores of 30-27,
29-28 and 29-28.
In the first one-round semifinal bout, VanZandt cruised to a
unanimous decision against Linda
Mihalec. “Damsel” picked the match after she was the only
fighter to score a finish in the quarterfinals. The other semifinal
saw Delboni outstrike Marisa
Messer-Belenchia over five minutes to pick up a unanimous
decision win.
One-round quarterfinal bouts saw Delboni take a unanimous decision
over Tabatha
Ann Watkins; VanZandt submit Katie Perez
with an armbar in 3:10; Mihalec pick up a split decision over
Jillian
DeCoursey; and Messer-Belenchia was able to control Paulina
Granados to a split decision
Additionally, Samantha
Seff defeated Kara
Marie Vislosky in a one-round alternate bout via split decision
to become a reserve fighter.