For months, there was truthful purpose to be involved about Invicta FC’s future. The ladies’s MMA promotion, which had lengthy been recognized for giving main stars within the sport a platform on their means as much as the UFC, went greater than half a yr with out asserting an occasion.
Many began to fret if the decade-long fixture on the U.S. regional scene had met its demise. Nevertheless, the general public not too long ago realized 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 an alternative their quiet behind-the-scenes pursuit of constructing a powerful return. Work from current weeks by the promotion will all come to a end result 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 is able to happen within the second half of 2024. The collection of occasions comes together with a brand new distribution deal, airing occasions reside on American TV channel CBS Sports activities Community.
“It’s all the time exhausting when you’re engaged on one thing however you possibly can’t say something,” mentioned Shannon Knapp, the President of Invicta FC. “You see the hypothesis, . Everyone desires to know what’s happening. So when you may 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 yr, with Knapp mentioning the opportunity of additional exhibits on the channel in 2025. After years on UFC’s on-line subscription service Struggle Move, the promotion briefly was hosted on Anthem-owned channel AXS TV. Knapp mentioned that they had been all the time 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 mentioned. “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 an enormous second for girls’s sports activities. The rise of recognition for school and pro-level ladies’s basketball—coined by some as “The Caitlin Clark Impact” attributable to a extremely profitable well-liked Iowa-born participant main the cost—has put ladies’s athletics below an enormous 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 constructing positive each sport is concerned within the present rise of ladies’s sports activities, together with MMA.
“I feel it’s very thrilling to see the evolution that’s taking place proper now for girls’s sports activities,” she mentioned. “However I feel that everyone’s a part of that motion. In case you’re an all-female [league] you’re a part of that motion. I feel it’s actually vital that we embrace that, and we assist raise 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 embody 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 way 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 outdated, Hansen will likely be seeking to reboot her profession by performing within the promotion that beforehand obtained her to an enormous stage within the sport.
“Having Kay [Hansen] again is superb,” Knapp defined. “You understand, 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) battle will see Japanese prospect Saori Oshima tackle Andressa Romero. Oshima has put collectively a stellar file in Japan’s regional scene and has received 4 fights in notable promotion RIZIN.
Among the many high MMA promotions (UFC, PFL & Bellator), none at the moment 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 larger promotions.
“It’s vital that we embrace all of the divisions,” she mentioned. “At the moment. we’ve got 5 divisions. May we broaden on that sooner or later in time? There’s a good potential. However yeah, I feel it’s vastly vital. I particularly the decrease weights for girls. You discover quite a lot of ladies that compete in these weight lessons.”
Again up and operating, Invicta FC is optimistic about what lies forward. After months the place followers might need felt apprehensive in regards to the promotion’s future, Knapp desires the general public to know that they’re working exhausting to supply the perfect product attainable.
“We’re transferring, and we’re tremendous excited in regards to the alternative that’s in entrance of us,” she mentioned. “I feel that what followers can anticipate proper now could be I’m gonna do my finest. My group’s gonna do their finest to placed on world-class matchups, entertaining matchups and to essentially fine-tune the whole lot and provides them the perfect that we may give them.”
Are you excited to see the return of Invicta FC?
