EXCLUSIVE | Kay Hansen recaps Comeback of the Year win at Invicta 33

Kay Hansen did what many believed was impossible.

At Invicta 33, Hansen, who is just 19-years-old, took a short-notice fight against Sharon Jacobson, a very tough opponent. When Hansen took the fight on short notice, she believed Jacobson would fight aggressively. However, that is not what happened. Jacobson switched her gameplan which threw Hansen for a loop.

“I watched her last fight when I took the fight on nine days notice, and she didn’t come out the way she did with me. She didn’t come out very aggressive,” Hansen said to BJPENN.com. “In all honesty, I was just kind of overwhelmed. She came out and was a stud, she wrestled me, slammed me. I knew going into the third that I would need a finish. I knew Sharon was good, she is tough, she just came out with a different purpose.”

Hansen did indeed get a finish in the third. After Jacobson clearly won the first two rounds and won the first four minutes of the third round, it looked like she would coast to a decision win. However, when Jacobson was trying to suplex Hansen, the 19-year-old got ahold of an arm and got a tight armbar and made Jacobson tap with just 17 seconds left. It was an incredible performance and arguably the Comeback of the Year.

WOW!!! Kay Hansen gets the armbar out of nowhere to get the W at the end of the 3rd round! #InvictaFC33 pic.twitter.com/bHw0OFQkLS

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) December 16, 2018

“I can’t even put it into words, honestly,” Hansen said of the fight. “I knew I was down two rounds going into the third, obviously. Everyone knew that. It was getting to a point where I’m like, ‘you just gotta get up’ so I got up and she tried to suplex me and I let my auto-pilot take-over from there.”

While Hansen’s win was incredible, some fans are calling it a fluke. That is something that bothers Hansen, as she has trained that move for years, and got to finally pull it off in a fight.

“I have had a lot of hecklers saying ‘oh you got your ass kicked.’ You know what, I rewatched the ending so many times, that is a legitimate armbar,” Hansen said. “I’m catching her arm while she is throwing me. I am immediately thinking armbar. That is not luck, everyone wants to say it is luck. People say I got lucky. If you want to say that, then the entire fight game is luck. Maybe she is even lucky I took the fight. If people sit here and say the only reason I won is luck I think it is kind of bulls**t. I work my ass off in the gym every day. I have repped millions of armbars, I was thinking armbar in that situation. To call it luck is insulting.”

No matter what, Hansen got yet another win in Invicta. At just 19-years-old she fought five professional MMA fights along with three professional boxing fights in 2018. She is currently 3-2 in Invicta and knows she is close to becoming a UFC fighter but isn’t in a rush to get there. Rather, she wants to be a UFC fighter when she is ready and can win against the top strawweights in the world.

“When I first started my first pro career I put a lot on that. That is one of the main reasons why I wanted to go to Invicta because you are always one or two fights away from the UFC. My last couple of fights it has taught me to not just focus on that,” she said. “I don’t question the fact that I will be in the UFC. When that is all I’m thinking about it’s easy to lose track of what the real goal is. I just want to be the best fighter I can be. When I made my pro debut I was like, I am going to win three fights in Invicta and then get the call. I was just focused on that too much.

“Right now, I am just trying to go with the journey and wherever it leads me it leads me. There is no question I will be in the UFC,” Hansen continued. “I think it is important to get my craft together first. That way I don’t get to the UFC and then get sent back. I would rather be ready when I get there so that is what I am going to focus on now.”

For now, it is back to training for Hansen to be the best fighter she can be. At just 19-years-old she has a promising career ahead of her.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/26/2018.