Just ahead of the Invicta FC 4 card on Saturday, the company hosted a special guest for its last preview show, with UFC 157 headliner Liz Carmouche joining the crew.
Carmouche herself is a former Invicta FC fighter, earning a call to the UFC on the back of a stellar 2-0 stretch in the all-women’s promotion.
Alongside fellow Strikeforce veterans Muhammed Lawal and Julie Kedzie, Carmouche talked at length about the fight card from top to bottom, giving especially some high praise to strawweight headliner Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza:
I think it’s definitely going to have to go to Carla. I’ve trained with her personally and she’s a tough little person… Her wrestling is just unstoppable. I really think that cancels out Bec [Hyatt], unfortunately. So I’m definitely going to have to give this to Carla. But I think it’ll be a good fight.
Australian prospect Bec Hyatt stepped into the match as a late replacement after two opponents fell out of the event, making her a clear underdog.
However, “King Mo” Lawal anticipates that viewers might be in for a surprise, noting that the unpredictable nature of the matchup might swing in Hyatt’s favor:
[With] Bec stepping in to take this fight on short notice, obviously, she’s very confident. There’s probably something she knows that we don’t know. She comes from Australia, [has a] good kickboxing background, good jiu-jitsu. Maybe she can pull it off, land a knee, land a submission. We won’t know until Saturday.
Esparza and Hyatt will headline Saturday night’s card ahead of 12 other fights, including a noteworthy rematch between bantamweights Shayna “Queen of Spades” Baszler and Alexis Davis. You can catch Bleacher Report MMA‘s live blog right over here, with recaps to follow this weekend.
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