For months, there was honest cause to be involved about Invicta FC’s future. The ladies’s MMA promotion, which had lengthy been identified for giving main stars within the sport a platform on their approach as much as the UFC, went greater than half a 12 months with out asserting an occasion.
Many began to fret if the decade-long fixture on the U.S. regional scene had met its demise. Nonetheless, the general public not too long ago discovered that the thought of the promotion folding was removed from the reality. The months of radio silence wasn’t Invicta FC slowly fading away, however as a substitute their quiet behind-the-scenes pursuit of creating a powerful return. Work from current weeks by the promotion will all come to a fruits very quickly once they host an occasion in Kansas Metropolis.
The absence of Invicta FC will come to an finish this Friday when the promotion kicks off a five-event tour which can happen within the second half of 2024. The collection of occasions comes together with a brand new distribution deal, airing occasions stay on American TV channel CBS Sports activities Community.
“It’s at all times arduous when you realize you’re engaged on one thing however you may’t say something,” stated Shannon Knapp, the President of Invicta FC. “You see the hypothesis, you realize. Everyone desires to know what’s occurring. So when you can also make that announcement and let the world know what you’ve been engaged on, it’s a really thrilling second.”
Invicta FC Returning Amid A Girls’s Sports activities ‘Evolution’
The deal is Invicta FC’s first main partnership since being acquired by Anthem Sports activities & Leisure in 2021. It ensures 5 occasions this 12 months, with Knapp mentioning the opportunity of additional exhibits on the channel in 2025. After years on UFC’s on-line subscription service Struggle Go, the promotion briefly was hosted on Anthem-owned channel AXS TV. Knapp stated that they have been at all times in pursuit of a brand new media deal and that they’re happy with the one which kicks off this week.
“I feel it’s nice for CBS Sports activities,” Knapp stated. “They embrace extra ladies’s sports activities, and I feel it’s nice for Invicta. We now have the chance to presumably join with perhaps a possible fan base that didn’t have that chance earlier than.”
Invicta FC’s return comes amid a giant second for ladies’s sports activities. The rise of recognition for faculty and pro-level ladies’s basketball—coined by some as “The Caitlin Clark Impact” on account of a extremely profitable well-liked Iowa-born participant main the cost—has put ladies’s athletics beneath a giant highlight. Different rising leagues, just like the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the Skilled Girls’s Hockey League (PWHL), have additionally obtained an increase in reputation as of late. Knapp sees the significance of creating positive each sport is concerned within the present rise of girls’s sports activities, together with MMA.
“I feel it’s very thrilling to see the evolution that’s occurring proper now for ladies’s sports activities,” she stated. “However I feel that everyone’s a part of that motion. For those who’re an all-female [league] you’re a part of that motion. I feel it’s actually necessary that we embrace that, and we assist elevate it up, not just for Invicta or for fight sports activities, however for all sports activities.”
Talita Bernardo, Kay Hansen Amongst Spotlighted Abilities
Friday’s card will embrace a mixture of returning Invicta FC names, plus a wave of latest expertise who debut with a good quantity of buzz. The principle occasion will see bantamweight champ Talita Bernardo hunt for her fourth consecutive win within the promotion, taking up rising ex-Bellator fighter Olga Rubin.
After having an unsuccessful UFC run that got here to an finish in 2022, Bernardo has discovered a second wind in her profession by means of Invicta FC. After scoring back-to-back submission wins in 2022, she went 5 rounds in opposition to Taneisha Tennant to take a choice victory and seize the division’s 135-pound belt.
Earlier within the evening, Kay Hansen will come again to Invicta for the primary time since her two-year UFC run. At simply 24 years previous, Hansen will likely be seeking to reboot her profession by performing within the promotion that beforehand acquired her to a giant stage within the sport.
“Having Kay [Hansen] again is superb,” Knapp defined. “You recognize, that is the place all of it started for her, she was very younger. If reminiscence serves me proper, I feel she was like 18 when she got here in, or someplace in that neighborhood. She was very younger.”
Atomweight Division Continues To Obtain Consideration
Earlier within the evening, an atomweight (105-pound) combat will see Japanese prospect Saori Oshima tackle Andressa Romero. Oshima has put collectively a stellar document in Japan’s regional scene and has gained 4 fights in notable promotion RIZIN.
Among the many prime MMA promotions (UFC, PFL & Bellator), none presently host fights on the atomweight restrict. Knapp defined the significance of placing a highlight on these divisions at Invicta, even when they aren’t precisely stepping-stone bouts to get into greater promotions.
“It’s necessary that we embrace all of the divisions,” she stated. “Presently. now we have 5 divisions. May we increase on that in some unspecified time in the future in time? There’s a good potential. However yeah, I feel it’s vastly necessary. I particularly the decrease weights for ladies. You discover a number of ladies that compete in these weight courses.”
Again up and operating, Invicta FC is optimistic about what lies forward. After months the place followers might need felt fearful concerning the promotion’s future, Knapp desires the general public to know that they’re working arduous to supply one of the best product potential.
“We’re transferring, and we’re tremendous excited concerning the alternative that’s in entrance of us,” she stated. “I feel that what followers can count on proper now’s I’m gonna do my finest. My staff’s gonna do their finest to placed on world-class matchups, entertaining matchups and to actually fine-tune all the pieces and provides them one of the best that we can provide them.”
Are you excited to see the return of Invicta FC?
