This is another piece by Underground Blogger DeLeon DeMicoli, whose regular column “This Fighting Life” is insipred by NPR’s “This American Life.”
DeLeon DeMicoli writes and trains in San Francisco, CA. He is currently writing a novel on Mixed Martial Arts.
You should be excited for Invicta FC 3 this Saturday. Why? A card chock full of smaller weight fights means quick-paced action like the late, and greatly missed, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC).
Invicta FC, an all women’s MMA promotion, was conceived once Zuffa purchased Strikeforce back in 2011. Shannon Knapp, a former Strikeforce executive, began receiving calls from Strikeforce female fighters wondering if their jobs were on the line since Zuffa didn’t have a track record of promoting female fights.
Shannon along with her business partner, Janet Martin, pooled their resources together and created Invicta FC (Invicta is Latin for invincible), the first all women’s MMA promotion in America.
Their first event was held on April 2012 and was available to stream for free on their website. Their second event was held in July and featured standouts like Olympic medalist Sara McMann, Strikeforce alum Liz Carmouche and Jewels (a Japanese female MMA promotion) Lightweight Queen champion Ayaka Hamasaki.
Their next event, scheduled for this Saturday, October 6 at 7 pm EST / 4 pm PST, includes fourteen fights (six prelim fights, eight main card fights) to be streamed live via InvictaFC.com (during their last event the promotion had to secure extra servers due to high traffic that caused their website to crash. Hopefully they’ll be better prepared this time around). Calling the action will be Mauro Ranallo alongside Muhammed King Mo Lawal and Julie Kedzie.
The main event will feature the first ever Invicta FC title fight. Jessica Penne (9-1) versus undefeated Japanese fighter Naho Sugi Rock Sugiyama in the atomweight division (105 lbs.)
The co-main event will feature BJJ brown belt Shayna The Queen of Spades Baszler (14-7) versus Invicta FC 2 winner Sarah The Monster D’Alelio (6-2) in the bantamweight division (135 lbs.).
The rest of the Main card includes:
• Leslie Smith vs. Kaitlin Young
• Barb Honchak vs. Aisling Daly
• Tara LaRosa vs. Vanessa Porto
• Raquel Pennington vs. Cat Zingano
• Michelle Waterson vs. Lacey Schuckman
• Julia Budd vs. Danielle West
Full fight card link: invictafc.com/upcoming-events/
Invicta FC three will stream live.
