Invicta FC 4 kicks off this Saturday night on Jan. 5 from Kansas City’s Memorial Hall, and we’re here to bring you live, round-by-round updates throughout the card.Saturday’s main event features a title bout for the Invicta Strawweight Championship bet…
Invicta FC 4 kicks off this Saturday night on Jan. 5 from Kansas City’s Memorial Hall, and we’re here to bring you live, round-by-round updates throughout the card.
Saturday’s main event features a title bout for the Invicta Strawweight Championship between top-ranked Carla Esparza and Australian prospect Bec “Rowdy” Hyatt. In the co-main event, pound-for-pound MMA veterans Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler and Alexis Davis will rematch from a previous March 2010 bout.
Our live coverage starts at 3:45 p.m. PT/6:45 p.m. ET on Bleacher Report MMA.
If you want to watch the event live, you can purchase a pay-per-view ticket via Ustream at Invicta FC’s main website. Here’s our current schedule for the main and preliminary cards.
All fighters made weight for Invicta Fighting Championship’s fourth event, airing on online pay-per-view via Usteam this Saturday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.(Click here for the full results and weigh-in recap.)This event will feature the company’s …
All fighters made weight for Invicta Fighting Championship’s fourth event, airing on online pay-per-view via Usteam this Saturday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
This event will feature the company’s second title fight as its main event, a strawweight bout between Bellator veteran Carla Esparza and late replacement opponent Bec “Rowdy” Hyatt.
Co-main event fighters Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler and Alexis Davis also made the cut for their bantamweight match, with Davis weighing in a full pound more than her opponent at 135.8 pounds.
Only featherweight Veronica Rothenhausler had trouble making her 146-pound weight limit, tipping the scales on her first attempt. Rothenhausler eventually lost the additional weight, but will be fined 10 percent of her fight purse for her professional MMA debut.
Thirteen bouts across four divisions are scheduled for the card, featuring several veterans as well as plenty of prospects making their professional MMA debuts.
In a first-time experiment for Invicta FC, this is the first event that won’t be free to watch online, with the promotion testing a $7.95 PPV fee on their main website.
Anyone in the Kansas City, Kansas area will be able to attend the event live at Memorial Hall. Floor and arena passes are purchasable via Ticketmaster, with some seats currently available.
Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones is expected to build up as one of the hottest grudge matches in the UFC, but fans won’t see much of the heat during The Ultimate Fighter.That’s the word coming out of the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer (vi…
Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones is expected to build up as one of the hottest grudge matches in the UFC, but fans won’t see much of the heat during The Ultimate Fighter.
That’s the word coming out of the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer (via MMA Underground), as industry insider Dave Meltzer reports that the two coaches spend far more camera time training with their respective teams than trash-talking each other:
This is what I’ve heard about the show from multiple sources. The Jones vs. Sonnen stuff never heats up to the level near what one would expect. Sonnen comes across as being there to help coach his charges as opposed to being there to play pro wrestler and hype up a fight and the belief is he comes across great. But those expecting a Jackson vs. Evans, GSP vs. Koscheck, Shamrock vs. Ortiz or even a Bisping vs. Miller like dynamic with the coaches will be disappointed.
However, the saving grace of TUF‘s 17th season seems to be the fights themselves, as rumors persist about a “terrifying” competitor whom Dana Whiteclaims sent all of his opponents to the hospital.
That kind of action would be a vast step up in quality from the previous season starring heavyweights Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin, as many of the fighters from Season 16 were not extended invitations to fight in the TUF 16 finale card last year. MMA Underground writes:
The fights are apparently great, and this comes from a number of people, and not just Dana White’s hyping of the show. White has talked about one guy on the show that everyone is afraid of. There is apparently one guy who will be the star of the season and one person told me that this person will come right out of the show and be an instant star. Others didn’t go quite that far in saying instant star, and the guy would still have to win the season since the finals won’t be until April.
If you’re a subscriber to the Wrestling Observer, you can see the entire report right over here, which also provides details about the still-growing UFC women’s division and an altercation between bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and three-division world champion boxer Vic Darchinyan.
Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off on Tuesday, Jan. 22, on FX Networks, with Jones and Sonnen expected to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title at a later date.
Jones vs. Sonnen will mark the champion’s fifth title defense since September 2011, as he attempts to match former UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz’s record of five successful defenses.
For Sonnen, it will be his third championship bout in five fights since August 2010, an achievement marred by two losses to pound-for-pound middleweight titan Anderson Silva. Sonnen has notably drawn some ire in the MMA community for getting a title fight with Jones due to his marketability, despite coming off a loss and not having any recent wins at light heavyweight.
Michael Bisping is sorely disappointed with several of the UFC’s middleweight contenders.However, Alan Belcher and Tim Boetsch drew the most fire from “The Count” during a guest blog on Yahoo Sports, where he heavily criticized the two for their perfor…
Michael Bisping is sorely disappointed with several of the UFC’s middleweight contenders.
However, Alan Belcher and Tim Boetsch drew the most fire from “The Count” during a guest blog on Yahoo Sports, where he heavily criticized the two for their performances at UFC 155.
But even though he had strong words for just about everyone within the 185-pound roster, the biggest heat was reserved for Belcher, whom Bisping took to task for boring the crowd in a heavily one-sided unanimous decision loss to YushinOkami:
Belcher lost every minute of every round in a fight so boring I was afraid my brain was going to melt and start to dribble out of my ears. It was like someone detonated a nuclear bomb of boredom in the arena—everyone in the seats around me was playing Angry Birds.
Moreover, Belcher seemed to have been working behind the scenes prior to UFC 155, allegedly going as far as telling UFC president Dana White that he would step in for VitorBelfort at UFC on FX 7 if the Brazilian happened to pull out of the fight due to any training injury:
What delusions of grandeur Belcher has. This is a guy who didn’t fight for a year after giving himself career-threatening eye-strain by watching too much internet porn, and he thinks he’s god’s gift to MMA.
He even told UFC president Dana White that after he beat Okami, he’d fight me on January 19 if something happens to Belfort. This is a guy who got his arse kicked by two guys I smashed (YoshihiroAkiyama and Jason Day) but he thinks he can not only beat me on a couple weeks’ training, but also assumed he was getting passed [sic] Okami, who is not to be underestimated.
Bisping did acknowledge Chris Weidman as the only other credible threat in the division, but nonetheless wrapped up his guest post by declaring himself the top contender at middleweight.
England’s most famous UFC fighter will have the chance to back up his words on Jan. 19 at the Ibirapuera Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he’s set to battle Belfort for the right to face middleweight champion Anderson Silva at a future date.
However, Belfort won’t be in line for a title shot if he defeats Bisping, as UFC president Dana White claims (via MMA Weekly) that there’s little interest seeing “The Phenom” and “The Spider” in a rematch. Silva previously knocked out Belfort with a highlight reel front kick at UFC 126 in February 2011, finishing their fight inside the first round.
Most charity organizations fighting against breast cancer usually sponsor events like marathons and local rallies. However, female MMA fighters have taken a more unique approach.MMA Underground reports that charity group “MZ & Emmers” has part…
Most charity organizations fighting against breast cancer usually sponsor events like marathons and local rallies. However, female MMA fighters have taken a more unique approach.
MMA Underground reports that charity group “MZ & Emmers” has partnered with The Keep A Breast Foundation to host an auction selling sports bras worn by women in the MMA community.
‘Not just any bras, mind you, but collector’s items worn and signed by the likes of UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste and several female mixed martial artists from various promotions.
As highlighted on the fundraiser’s eBay listing, each sports bra comes with an autograph (some with a photo as well). For added ease of use, there’s also a searchable index to help bidders seek out certain items.
As noted by MiddleEasy, Invicta FC 4 headliner Bec Hyatt is leading the fundraiser with a $325 bid on her custom sports bra, followed by UFC women’s champion Ronda Rousey at a $132 bid.
Here’s the five fighters whose sportswear have received the highest bidding prices (noted at 5:00 p.m. ET):
Browsing through the list, donations have also been made by UFC 157 co-headliner Liz Carmouche, as well as top-ranked Bellator flyweight Jessica Eye, who recently defeated strawweight champion Zoila Frausto Gurgel last December at Bellator 83. Bidding ends on Jan. 6 (three days), with no returns allowed on delivery.
Although UFC 157 will be a historic night for mixed martial arts, there’s no avoiding the fact that it could also be a death knell for the careers of many female fighters.Despite the best efforts of Ronda Rousey and the UFC, the women’s bantamweight ch…
Although UFC 157 will be a historic night for mixed martial arts, there’s no avoiding the fact that it could also be a death knell for the careers of many female fighters.
Despite the best efforts of Ronda Rousey and the UFC, the women’s bantamweight champion’s debut is being built on a house of cards.
So far, only a small handful of women have officially been signed to the UFC.
President Dana White, for his part, doesn’t seem too committed to women’s MMA one way or the other, constantly claiming that he’s testing the waters. So, what happens if everything goes south and the event is a total bust?
How could that even happen?
Well, there’s more than a few ways Rousey’s debut could flame out before it ever heats up. If any of these five circumstances comes to pass, UFC fans might be saying “so long” to Rousey and the women’s division before the year is even over.
