Invicta Fighting Championships

Invicta Fighting Championships, also known as Invicta FC, is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion for female fighters based in the United States.[1] It was founded in 2012 by Janet Martin[2] a former VP with MMA organization Blackeye Promotions[3] and Shannon Knapp, who held positions at various levels, including executive positions with World Fighting Alliance, International Fight League, Affliction Entertainment, UFC, and Strikeforce.[4] It has a strategic partnership with fellow Japanese MMA promotion Jewels.[5]

Invicta Fighting Championships

Type	Private
Industry	Mixed martial arts promotion
Founded	2012
Founder	Shannon Knapp Janet Martin
Headquarters	United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Shannon Knapp (President) Julie Kedzie (Matchmaker) Amanda Nunes (matchmaker and athlete development team)
Website	http://www.invictafc.com/

History

When Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, purchased rival promotion Strikeforce in March 2011, Shannon Knapp received several calls from female fighters who were afraid of what the future might hold for them in Strikeforce since the UFC had never promoted a women's fight.[2][6] As the women were calling Knapp for representation, she started looking at the issue and met Janet Martin, and between the two acquired the financial resources needed.[7]

The term Invicta, a Latin word for "invincible and incomparable", was chosen by founders Knapp and Martin since the terms invincible and incomparable are very masculine, but the term appears in the feminine form in Latin, and they thought it was a good description for women's MMA.[8]

Free online streamed events

After more than a year in the making,[7] the promotion held its first event, Invicta FC 1 on April 28, 2012.[9] It was headlined by a rematch between former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen and French fighter Romy Ruyssen.[9] The event also marked the MMA debut of 2008 Summer Olympics women's freestyle wrestling medalist Randi Miller.[10] The event was available as a free video stream at the Invicta Fighting Championships webpage.[11] After the event, fight of the night went to Kaitlin Young and Leslie Smith who fought to a draw whilst submission of the night was awarded to Sarah Schneider. Liz Carmouche and Jessica Penne both received social media bonuses.[12]

On June 9, it was announced that Invicta has formed a strategic partnership with Japanese promotion JEWELS to cross-promote the world's top female fighters on their respective fight cards in the United States and Japan.[13]

Invicta then held its second event (Invicta FC 2: Baszler vs. McMann) on July 28, 2012. Like the first event, it was made available as a free stream on the promotion's official website. The event was headlined by 2004 Summer Olympics women's freestyle wrestling silver medalist Sara McMann and Shayna Baszler.[14] Carla Esparza and Barb Honchak made their promotional debuts on this card. As part of the alliance with Japanese promotion Jewels, Jewels lightweight champion Ayaka Hamasaki was set to face undefeated Austrian fighter Jasminka Cive as part of the main event but Cive was unable to secure her visa in time and was replaced by Lacey Shuckman.[5][15]

On September 24, 2012, Invicta announced a strategic alliance with the Super Fight League, which aims to bring the best Indian female fighters to Invicta, whilst Invicta will aim to send world class female mixed martial artists to the Super Fight League.[16]

Sara McMann was originally scheduled to fight for the Invicta FC Bantamweight Championship at Invicta FC 3 but this did not occur due to an injury to McMann.

Invicta FC 3: Penne vs. Sugiyama took place on October 6, 2012. Invicta continued their partnership with Jewels as Jessica Penne faced and beat the previously undefeated Jewels 105 lb champion Naho Sugiyama for the inaugural Invicta FC Atomweight Championship.

Also at Invicta FC 3, Leslie Smith fought Kaitlin Young in a rematch from their exciting "fight of the night" Invicta FC 1 bout where they fought to a draw. This time, Smith was able to get the better of Young and defeated her by TKO in the second round.[17] Invicta FC3 also saw the promotional debut of long time Women's Bantamweight and Flyweight standout Tara LaRosa, as well as the debuts of Michelle Waterson and Cat Zingano. Fight of the night bonuses went to Michelle Waterson and Lacey Schuckman. The submission of the night bonus was split between Jessamyn Duke and Stephanie Frausto while knockout of the night went to promotional newcomer Joanne Calderwood.

Move to online pay-per-view events

On December 19, 2012, Shannon Knapp announced Invicta FC 4 would air as an online pay-per-view.

Invicta Fighting Championships held their fourth event (Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt) on January 5, 2013. The event was headlined by the inaugural Invicta FC Strawweight Championship bout between Carla Esparza and Bec Hyatt (in Hyatt's promotional debut). Esparza was originally scheduled to fight Ayaka Hamasaki for the title but Hamasaki pulled out of the fight due to commitments to defending her JEWELS lightweight title. Hamasaki was originally replaced by undefeated Brazilian fighter Claudia Gadelha but on December 28, Gadelha was also forced to withdraw after suffering a broken nose in training. Esparza defeated Hyatt to become the first Invicta FC Strawweight Champion. Also Alexis Davis defeated Shayna Baszler in the card's fight of the night and Rose Namajunas won knock-out of the night in her professional MMA debut.

Due to purchasing issues on the night of the event, the event was streamed for free rather than pay per view and it was announced that all buyers would be refunded.

Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson took place on April 5, 2013. The card was headlined by Jessica Penne who lost her Invicta FC Atomweight Championship to "The Karate Hottie" Michelle Waterson. The event featured a co-main event of Vanessa Porto vs. Barb Honchak with the latter being crowned as the first Invicta FC Flyweight Champion. In addition, Sarah Kaufman and "Cyborg" Cristiane Justino both won in their Invicta FC debuts. On this occasion, the online pay per view went smoothly, avoiding any issues experiences at Invicta FC 4.

During Invicta FC 5, there were no issues with the Ustream pay-per-view system as there had been in January.

Televised pay-per-view

Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg took place on 13 July 2013, featuring the crowning of Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino as the inaugural Featherweight champion and a Strawweight title eliminator match won by Claudia Gadelha over Ayaka Hamasaki (previously unbeaten JEWELS lightweight champion). The winner will face champion Carla Esparza. The card also featured wins by Jessica Penne, Lauren Taylor, Tecia Torres, Leslie Smith and Joanne Calderwood.

This event was aired on cable and satellite pay-per-view in the United States and Canada in addition to their online PPV stream, as the promotion had come to a deal with Integrated Sports Media for live viewing.[18]

UFC Fight Pass

In 2014, Invicta partnered with the UFC to air all future events exclusively on UFC Fight Pass, with the entire Invicta library also made available on the service. Invicta FC 8 would be the first event to stream live on Fight Pass.[19]

Combate

On February 24 2015, it was announced the partnership between Invicta and Combate. The deal allows the Brazilian channel the broadcast of Invicta live events as well the event library of Invicta in the South American country. The first Invicta event broadcast on Combate was Invicta FC 11: Cyborg vs. Tweet showing the Brazilian Invicta's featherweight champion Cris Cyborg versus the Canadian challenger Charmaine Tweet.[20]

Rules

Invicta's current rules follows the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts that were originally established by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and modified by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.[21]

Events

[22]

Scheduled events

Past events

Current champions

Division	Upper weight limit	Champion	Since	Title Defenses	Top Contender
Featherweight	145 lb (66 kg; 10.4 st)	Pam Sorenson	August 9, 2019 (Invicta FC 36)	0
Bantamweight	135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st)	Vacant	March 6, 2020
Flyweight	125 lb (57 kg; 8.9 st)	Vacant	September 2, 2020
Strawweight	115 lb (52 kg; 8.2 st)	Vacant	September 2, 2020
Atomweight	105 lb (48 kg; 7.5 st)	Alesha Zappitella	September 17, 2020 (Invicta FC 42)	0

Title history

Featherweight Championship

136 to 145 lbs (62 to 66 kg)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Cristiane Justino def. Marloes Coenen	Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg Kansas City, MO, USA	July 13, 2013	1351 days	1. def. Charmaine Tweet at Invicta FC 11 on Feb 27, 2015 2. def. Faith Van Duin at Invicta FC 13 on July 9, 2015 3. def. Daria Ibragimova at Invicta FC 15 on Jan 16, 2016.
-	Megan Anderson def. Charmaine Tweet for interim title	Invicta FC 21: Anderson vs. Tweet Kansas City, MO, USA	January 14, 2017	-
Justino vacated the title on March 24, 2017 to compete full time with the UFC.
2	Megan Anderson promoted to undisputed champion	Invicta FC 22: Evinger vs. Kunitskaya II Kansas City, MO, USA	March 24, 2017	88 days
Anderson vacated the title on June 20, 2017 to sign with the UFC
3	Felicia Spencer def. Pam Sorenson	Invicta FC 32: Spencer vs. Sorenson Shawnee, OK, USA	November 16, 2018	129 days
Spencer vacated the title on March 26, 2019 to sign with the UFC
4	Pam Sorenson def. Kaitlin Young	Invicta FC 36: Sorenson vs. Young Kansas City, KS, USA	August 9, 2019	539 days (incumbent)

Bantamweight Championship

126 to 135 lbs (57 to 61 kg)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Lauren Murphy def. Miriam Nakamoto	Invicta FC 7: Honchak vs. Smith Kansas City, MO, USA	December 7, 2013	208 days
Murphy vacated title on July 3, 2014 to sign with the UFC.
2	Tonya Evinger def. Irene Aldana	Invicta FC 13: Cyborg vs. Van Duin Las Vegas, NV, USA	July 9, 2015	724 days	1. def. Colleen Schneider at Invicta FC 17 on May 7, 2016. –. No contest vs. Yana Kunitskaya at Invicta FC 20 on Nov 18, 2016. 2. def. Yana Kunitskaya at Invicta FC 22 on Mar 25, 2017
Evinger vacated title on July 3, 2017 to sign with the UFC.
3	Yana Kunitskaya def. Raquel Pa'aluhi	Invicta FC 25: Kunitskaya vs. Pa'aluhi Lemoore, CA, USA	August 31, 2017	160 days
Kunitskaya vacated title on February 7, 2018 to sign with the UFC.
4	Sarah Kaufman def. Katharina Lehner	Invicta FC 29: Kaufman vs. Lehner Kansas City, MO, USA	May 4, 2018	368 days
Kaufman vacated title on May 9, 2019 to sign with the PFL.
5	Julija Stoliarenko def. Lisa Verzosa	Invicta FC Phoenix Series 3 Kansas City, KS, USA	March 6, 2020	147 days
Stoliarenko vacated title on July 31, 2020 to sign with the UFC.

Flyweight Championship

116 to 125 lbs (53 to 56 kg)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Barb Honchak def. Vanessa Porto	Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson Kansas City, MO, USA	April 5, 2013	1266 days	1. def. Leslie Smith at Invicta FC 7 on Dec 7, 2013 2. def. Takayo Hashi at Invicta FC 9 on Nov 1, 2014
-	Jennifer Maia def. Vanessa Porto for interim title	Invicta FC 16: Hamasaki vs. Brown Las Vegas, NV, USA	March 11, 2016	-
Honchak was stripped of the title due to inactivity on September 22, 2016
2	Jennifer Maia promoted to undisputed champion	Invicta FC 19: Maia vs. Modafferi Kansas City, MO, USA	September 22, 2016	652 days	1. def. Roxanne Modafferi at Invicta FC 19 on Sept 23, 2016 2. def. Agnieszka Niedźwiedź at Invicta FC 26 on Dec 8, 2017
Maia vacated title on July 7, 2018 to sign with the UFC.
3	Vanessa Porto def. Pearl Gonzalez	Invicta FC 34: Porto vs. Gonzalez Kansas City, MO, USA	February 15, 2019	564 days
Porto vacated title on September 2, 2020 to sign with Bellator MMA.

Strawweight Championship

106 to 115 lbs (49 to 52 kg)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Carla Esparza def. Bec Hyatt	Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt Kansas City, KS, USA	January 5, 2013	341 days
Esparza vacated title on December 11, 2013 to participate in The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned.[23][24]
2	Katja Kankaanpää def. Stephanie Eggink	Invicta FC 8: Waterson vs. Tamada Kansas City, MO, USA	September 6, 2014	230 days
3	Livia Renata Souza	Invicta FC 12: Kankaanpää vs. Souza Kansas City, MO, USA	April 24, 2015	380 days	1. def. DeAnna Bennett at Invicta FC 15 on Jan 16, 2016
4	Angela Hill	Invicta FC 17: Evinger vs. Schneider Costa Mesa, CA, USA	May 7, 2016	274 days	1. def. Kaline Medeiros at Invicta FC 20 on Nov 18, 2016
Hill vacated title on February 4, 2017 to return to the UFC.
5	Virna Jandiroba def. Mizuki Inoue	Invicta FC 28: Mizuki vs. Jandiroba Salt Lake City, UT, USA	March 24, 2018	379 days	1. def. Janaisa Morandin at Invicta FC 31 on Sep 1, 2018
Jandiroba vacated title on April 7, 2019 to sign with the UFC.
6	Brianna Van Buren def. Kailin Curran	Phoenix Series 1 Kansas City, KS, USA	May 3, 2019	39 days
Van Buren vacated title on June 11, 2019 to sign with the UFC.
7	Kanako Murata def. Emily Ducote	Invicta FC 38: Murata vs. Ducote Kansas City, KS, USA	November 1, 2019	305 days
Murata vacated title on September 2, 2020 to sign with the UFC.

Atomweight Championship

96 to 105 lbs (44 to 48 kg)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign	Defenses
1	Jessica Penne def. Naho Sugiyama	Invicta FC 3: Penne vs. Sugiyama Kansas City, KS, USA	October 6, 2012	181 days
2	Michelle Waterson	Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson Kansas City, MO, USA	April 5, 2013	609 days	1. def. Yasuko Tamada at Invicta FC 8 on Sept 6, 2014
3	Hérica Tibúrcio	Invicta FC 10: Waterson vs. Tiburcio Houston, Texas, USA	December 5, 2014	216 days
4	Ayaka Hamasaki	Invicta FC 13: Cyborg vs. Van Duin Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	July 9, 2015	737 days	1. def. Amber Brown at Invicta FC 16 on Mar 11, 2016 2. def. Jinh Yu Frey at Invicta FC 19 on Sept 23, 2016
Hamasaki vacated title on July 15, 2017 to focus on moving up to the strawweight division and signed with Rizin.
5	Jinh Yu Frey def. Minna Grusander	Invicta FC 30: Frey vs. Grusander Kansas City, MO, USA	July 21, 2018	564 days	1. def. Minna Grusander at Invicta FC 33 on Dec 16, 2018
Frey vacated title on February 6, 2020 after failing to make weight for a scheduled title defense.
6	Alesha Zappitella def. Ashley Cummins	Invicta FC 42: Cummins vs. Zappitella Kansas City, MO, USA	September 17, 2020	134 days (incumbent)

Longest title reigns

	Fighter	Title	Days
1.	Cristiane Justino	Featherweight	1351 days
2.	Barb Honchak	Flyweight	1266 days

Most title defenses

	Fighter	Title	Defenses
1.	Cristiane Justino	Featherweight	3
2.	Tonya Evinger	Bantamweight	2
	Barb Honchak	Flyweight
	Ayaka Hamasaki	Atomweight
	Jennifer Maia	Flyweight

See also

• List of current Invicta FC fighters
• Women's mixed martial arts
• List of current PFL fighters
• List of current WSOF-Global fighters
• List of current Bellator fighters
• List of current UFC fighters

References

1. "Invicta Fighting Championships, about". 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
2. Paligaru, Matt (2012-03-24). "Shannon Knapp reveals how Invicta FC came together and what it means for women's MMA". United Kingdom: Fighters.com. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
3. Ragsdale, Cheryl (August 29, 2011). "Marloes Coenen signs with Blackeye Promotions, the home for women's MMA: Fan reaction". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
4. Sargent, Robert (2012-02-17). "All-Female Invicta Fighting Championships Debuts On April 28". Articles. Canada: MMARising.com. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
5. "Invicta Fighting and JEWELS Form Strategic Partnership for Women's MMA". United States: MMA Weekly. 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
6. Saccaro, Matt (2012-04-26). "Invicta FC's Shannon Knapp Talks Providing 'Better Life for the Athletes'". MMA. United States: Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
7. Hunt, Loretta (2012-04-27). "Invicta, new women's-only MMA series, was long time coming". Inside MMA. United States: SI.com. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
8. Adams, Jason (2012-03-21). "Janet Martin Interview". United States: Promoting Real Women blog. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
9. "Marloes Coenen, Romy Ruyssen Headline Invicta Fighting Championships' All-Female Card". News. United States: Sherdog.com. 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
10. "As debut nears, Invicta's Randi Miller not interested in Ronda Rousey's 'easy road'". News. United States: MMAjunkie.com. 2012-04-09. Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
11. Ragsdale, Cheryl (2012-04-27). "Two Firsts: Ronda Rousey Joins TUF Live, Esther Lin Photographs Invicta Female Fighters". News. United States: Yahoo!. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
12. Sargent, Robert (2012-04-29). "Invicta FC 1 Bonuses: Young, Smith Win Fight Of The Night". Articles. Canada: MMARising.com. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
13. "Invicta Fighting and JEWELS Form Strategic Partnership for Women's MMA". Articles. MMAWeekly.com. 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
14. "Sara McMann Faces Shayna Baszler In Invicta FC 2 Headliner". Canada: MMARising.com. 2012-04-28. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
15. "Invicta FC Partners with Jewels to Create Top Female Fights". United States: The Fight Network. 2012-06-07. Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
16. "Super Fight League to Develop Women's MMA Talent". mmapundit.co.uk. September 24, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
17. "Invicta FC 3 Results: Penne vs. Sugiyama".
18. "Invicta FC 6 to air on cable and satellite pay-per-view in U.S. and Canada". MMAjunkie.
19. Shaun Al-Shatti (10 July 2014). "Invicta FC 8: Waterson vs. Tamada set for UFC Fight Pass debut". MMA Fighting.
20. "Combate transmite ao vivo defesa de título de Cris Cyborg no Invicta FC 11". sportv.globo.com/site/combate.
21. "NSAC Regulations: CHAPTER 467 - UNARMED COMBAT". Nevada State Athletic Commission. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
22. "INVICTA FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
23. Simon, Zane (2013-12-11). "UFC announces signing of 11 women strawweights for TUF season, winner becomes first UFC 115lb champ". United States: Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
24. "Invicta FC Strawweight title vacated". United States: Twitter. Retrieved 2013-12-13.

External links

• Official website