Dave Mandel/Invicta FC
Invicta FC announces Ashley Cummins vs. Alesha Zappitella for the vacant atomweight belt, as well as the return of Raquel Canuto (née Pa’aluhi),
Invicta FC have announced their planned line-up for Invicta FC 42, scheduled to take place at the Police Athletic League in Kansas City, KS on September 17. Headlining the event is an Invicta FC atomweight title fight between Ashley Cummins and Alesha Zappitella.
Invicta’s 105 lb belt was vacated in February by Jinh Yu Frey when she failed to make weight at Invicta FC 39, where she was scheduled to defend the belt against Cummins. Cummins failed to beat Frey that night, thus missing out on the title, Frey has since joined the UFC.
After her loss to Frey, Cummins’ record dropped to 7-5. That was ‘Smashley’s second loss to Frey in the Invicta cage. Prior to her loss at Invicta FC 39 Cummins was on a two fight winning streak with unanimous decision victories over Stephanie Alba and Jéssica Delboni.
Zappitella, aka ‘Half Pint’, has a 7-2 record. Her last bout was a win over Lindsey VanZandt at Invicta FC 40 last month. Prior to that she beat Kelly D’Angelo by unanimous decision.
The co-main event for Invicta FC 42 sees bantamweights Lisa ‘Battle Angel’ Verzosa (5-1) and Raquel ‘Lionheart’ Canuto (6-6) duke it out. Verzosa was last seen competing for the vacant bantamweight title at Invicta FC: Phoenix Series 3 in March. There she dropped a split decision to Julija Stoliarenko in a fight of the year candidate.
Canuto, who previously fought under the name Pa’ahlui, hasn’t had an MMA fight 2017, when she challenged for the vacant Invicta bantamweight title. In her title fight Canuto lost to current UFCer Yana Kunitskaya. Since that fight Canuto has gone 3-1 in pro grappling contests.
The September 17 card also features an all-Brazilian strawweight clash between Jéssica Delboni (9-2) and Herica Tiburcio (11-4) and a flyweight bout between Invicta vets Victoria Leonardo (6-2) and Liz Tracy (5-3).
Rounding out the event is Auttumn Norton (1-1) versus Brittney Cloudy (2-2) at bantamweight and Jennifer Cheing (1-0) versus Flore Hani (2-1) at flyweight.
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic—which has killed over 149,000 Americans—Invicta FC 42 will be held without fans in attendance. The event will air exclusively on UFC Fight Pass at 8 p.m. ET.