Michelle Waterson – photo by Esther Lin for Invicta FC
The all-female mixed martial arts promotion, Invicta Fighting Championships, is headed West for it’s next event according to the company’s head Shannon Knapp.
Invicta FC 5 will leave Kansas for the sunny West Coast of California with a date set sometime in April. Headlining the event will be the first title defense of atomweight champ Jessica Penne (10-1) who takes on ‘The Karate Hottie’ Michelle Waterson (10-3).
Knapp announced the news on Thursday afternoon while being interviewed on MMAjunkie.com Radio.
Another title bout was announced for the California event pitting Vanessa Porto (15-5) and Barb ‘Little Warrior’ Honchak (7-2) against one another for the inaugural Invicta FC flyweight belt.
Also competing on the card is former Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman (15-2), who does not have an opponent yet, as well as recent strawweight title challenger Bec Hyatt (4-2).
The promotion had previously announced a target date of April 13 for the event but with the UFC announcing their own event for that Saturday night, Knapp is looking for a new date (@Shanknapp).
– For those asking yes, the UFC just announced an April 13th date, so we will adjust that date we were looking at in April Details coming! đŸ™‚
Penne won the 105-lbs strap this past October by submitting Naho Sugiyama at the Invicta FC 3 event. It was Penne’s third straight victory following her only loss, a decision defeat at the hands of Zoila Gurgel at Bellator 25.
Waterson is currently riding a four fight win streak and debuted with Invicta at the same October show in Kansas. ‘The Karate Hottie’ earned a split decision win, as well as the “Fight of the Night” honor, for defeating opponent Lacey Schuckman.
Porto is 5-1 in her last six matches but is 1-1 in her last two. The Brazilian fighter earned a unanimous decision over Tara LaRosa at the Invicta FC 3 show last Fall while suffering a first round submission loss to Sarah D’Alelio in July at the second Invicta event.
Honchack hails from St. Louis and has won six straight matches including two bouts with the Invicta FC promotion. She fought last October against Aisling Daly, earning a unanimous decision while finishing Bethany Marshall via second round TKO at the Invicta FC 2 show in July.