Dave Mandel / Invicta FC
Invicta FC flyweight champion Vanessa Porto is heading to Bellator MMA.
According to MMA Fighting Vanessa Porto (22-8) is heading to Bellator MMA. In doing so she vacates the Invicta FC flyweight championship, a title she has held since February 2019.
Porto joins a growing women’s roster at Bellator MMA, which has added notable names such as former UFC champion Cris Cyborg and former UFC title challengers Liz Carmouche and Cat Zingano. The current Bellator flyweight champion is the undefeated Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.
Porto had been with Invicta since 2012, when she made her debut versus Sarah D’Alelio. She fought 11 times for the promotion going 7-4 and taking wins over Tara LaRosa, Roxanne Modafferi and Milana Dudieva.
She won the vacant Invicta flyweight title with a technical decision victory over Pearl Gonzalez at Invicta FC 34 last year. She successfully defended the title last November versus Karina Rodriguez.
Invicta FC have announced via press release that Pearl Gonzalez and Erin Blanchfield will compete for the now vacant flyweight title at Invicta FC 43 on November 20.
Gonzalez (10-5) joined Invicta from the UFC in 2018 and won her first three fights in the promotion, before losing to Porto for the title. Since then she has beaten Brogan Walker-Sancez and dropped a decision to recent UFC signing Miranda Maverick.
Blanchfield is 5-1 in Invicta (6-1 overall). Her only loss was to current UFC fighter Tracy Cortez. She has wins over Kay Hansen, Victoria Leonardo and Brogan Walker-Sanvez.
Invicta FC 43 will also feature a fight for the strawweight title, which was vacated when Kanako Murata signed with the UFC earlier this year. Fighting for that 115 lb title will be Emily Ducote and Montserrat Ruiz.
Ducote (9-6) beat UFC vet Juliana Lima at Invicta FC 40 in July. Prior to that she lost a split decision to Murata for the vacant strawweight title. Ducote also has Invicta wins over Janaisa Morandin and eight Bellator appearances under her belt.
Ruiz (9-1) scored a brutal submission win over Morandin at Invicta FC 41 in July. That came after her first professional loss—to Danielle Taylor—at Invicta FC 33.