Bannon stars at Invicta 52 with dominating win
RISING mixed martial artist Shauna Bannon maintained her unbeaten professional record with a dominating win over Minna Grusander at Invicta FC 52 in Denver, Colorado.
The Tallaght native continues to put a full range of disciplines on display every time she steps into the octagon and when facing her Finnish rival, she outclassed her across the board.
Following her excellent victory at strawweight in the early hours of Thursday morning, winning 30-27 on the judges scorecards, Bannon issued a call out saying she is “next for that title”.
The Holohan MA fighter is to get her hands on the 115-pound strap, she will need to do battle with fellow Irish competitor Danni McCormack.
McCormack, who was headlining the Invicta 52 card, beat strawweight champ Valesca Machado to get her hands on the belt.
Over the course of Bannon’s fight with Grusander, it was the left kick which provided much of Mama B’s success on the feet.
The 29-year-old mostly throws her hands from orthodox, but switches stances constantly, particularly when teeing up the devastating left kick from southpaw.
Bringing all of her mixed martial arts knowledge together, Bannon uses her left leg to deliver sidekicks, pushing teep kicks and damaging swinging liver kicks to damage her opponent and set traps.
After landing a few kicks to the body in the opening exchanges, Grusander started to drop her hands to block the oncoming attacks – which left the shot upstairs wide open.
Capitalising, Bannon landed a nice head kick and ended the round with some clean ground and pound.
The Finland native did create some opportunities in grappling, but Bannon’s defence was superior, even reversing one attack against the cage to get into full mount on the ground.
On the ground, Bannon meticulously worked her way into positions to inflict some damage but the referee eventually stood them up for an illegal blow to the back of the head when Grusander was covering up.
In the third and final round, the former St Mark’s Community School student displayed her full arsenal of weaponry at her disposal to close out the fight.
However, it was not without being tested.
Grusander landed a clean left hook and Bannon responded with a push kick, taking it to the ground but it ultimately left her left leg open.
After scrambling, Grusander locked in a knee bar. However, Bannon remained calm, striking the body and patiently working for her opportunity to break free, which eventually came.
With 10 seconds remaining, Bannon unloaded a barrage of kicks to finish the contest strong and ultimately take her record to 5-0 by way of unanimous decision.
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