Invicta FC – Where Women Are The Stars!
By Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester
Finally women will get the spotlight, thanks to Invicta FC and it will all be free this Saturday – April 28th. A Woman’s place in mixed martial arts has gotten a diverse reaction from many in the community. Some believe that it will never catch on. While some fight fans have latched onto the idea and are curious to see if women’s MMA can become just as or at least equally as popular as men’s MMA. Needless to say, Invicta FC could pioneer women’s MMA into the mainstream. History will be made this weekend, and all you have to do is tune in to InvictaFC.com.
Invicta FC’s inaugural event will be hosted at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Ran by Shannon Knapp – a former Strikeforce matchmaker and talent relations manager – she acts as co-owner and vice president of this new organization. Her goal is to give women a place to showcase their talent and their prowess under one organization in order to battle the often spoken about lack of depth in women’s mixed martial arts.
“Since we announced the formation of Invicta, we’ve received tremendous support and interest from fight fans around the world who are eager to watch some of the best fighters in the women’s field of MMA compete in our first event.” said Shannon Sharp, in a press release.
The 11 all-women fight card will begin streaming at 8 pm on InvictaFC.com. This event will feature former Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen (19-5) in a rematch against Romy Ruyssen (5-1) who Coenen defeated back in 2008 under the promotion United Glory. Marloes Coenen is looking to get back on track since losing her title to Miesha Tate under the Strikeforce banner. Ruyssen, whose only loss is to Marloes Coenen, is on a four fight winning streak and holds an impressive record of five victories with all by submission in the first round.
“I am honored to headline Invicta’s first fight card, and I am looking forward to earning another win over Romy.” stated Marloes Coenen.
In the co-main event, Jessica Penne (8-1) will take on Lisa Ellis-Ward (14-7). The two women are both talented submission specialists as they share a total of 15 submissions between them. Despite being inactive in MMA since November 2010, the 105-pound Jessica Penne comes into the fight with a submission victory over Amy Davis and all her victories have come by tap out. Ellis-Ward on the other hand has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in her career. However, she brings experience into the fight and has only gone to decision 4 times with all of her other 10 victories having come by submission.
With the sudden rise of interest in women’s MMA since the Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate fight, this may be the best time to get into women’s field of mixed martial arts. Shannon Knapp surely thinks so, and has gathered an impressive amount of women fighters for her all-women promotion.
There is more than one reason to tune into Invicta FC this weekend. But one that really has people interested is the debut of Randi Miller, a bronze-medalist winner in the 2008 Olympic Games. With the success of another Olympic winner in Ronda Rousey, surely fans will have their eyes out on Miller to see how well her Olympic medal winning talents can translate into the sport of MMA.
The rest of the fight card is stacked with gifted and popular fighters such as Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche (5-2), Kaitlin Young (7-5), and Sarah “The Monster” D’Alello (4-2). Fight fans should not sleep on the opportunity to see an all-pro, all-women fight organization debut. There are great fights and great match-ups on Invicta FC’s inaugural event, and it should not be missed. Tune in to InvictaFC.com at 8pm on Saturday April 28th to witness history in the making!
Invicta FC 1 Fight Card:
Marloes Coenen (19-5) vs. Romy Ruyssen (5-1)
Jessica Penne (8-1) vs. Lisa Ellis-Ward (14-7)
Liz Carmouche (5-2) vs. Ashleigh Curry (1-0)
Kaitlin Young (6-5) vs. Leslie Smith (3-2)
Sarah D’Alelio (4-2) vs. Vanessa Mariscal (2-0)
Sally Krumdiack (9-4) vs. Sarah Schneider (5-5)
Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc (7-5) vs. Amy Davis (2-2)
Michele Gutierrez (3-2) vs. Sarah Maloy (2-2)
Randi Miller (0-0) vs. Mollie Ahlers-Estes (1-0)
Ashley Cummins (2-0) vs. Sofia Bagherdai (4-1)
Cassie Rodish (1-3) vs. Meghan Wright (1-3)
Follow Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester on Twitter @sLapDatSuCka
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