The title vacated by Megan Anderson will now be up for grabs in an excellent match between two über-tough competitors.
After a brief hiatus, Invicta FC is set for another well-scouted and well-matched card from top to bottom.
Main event honors go to two of the most rugged athletes on the roster, possibly two of the toughest women in the game today. Kaitlin Young (10-9, 1 draw) will be up against Pam “Bam“ Sorenson (7-3) for the vacant featherweight title. Young resigned from her position as Invicta matchmaker to return from competition and came back from retirement without missing a beat. Wins against Reina Miura, Sarah Patterson and a brutal finish against Faith McMah made it three straight since coming back to active competition. Young still uses range and hard strikes to pick her opponent apart and has a reliable clinch game to really punish opponents inside.
Sorenson’s been quietly putting together an impressive resumé with a grapple-heavy approach, earning wins over Brenda Gonzalez, Jessica-Rose Clark, Helena Kolesnyk and former UFC champion Nicco Montaño. Her last outing was a submission loss to current UFC fighter Felicia Spencer, but she won’t let that be a deterrent. After all, Sorenson’s coming back after having an ovarian cyst removed, one that weighed over three pounds. While also a hard striker, her distance management may put her at a disadvantage and Young is not inexperienced as a grappler. But the tenacity and grit in both competitors should be the biggest thing to keep an eye on.
Former Bellator title challenger Emily Ducote (7-5) has very slick submission skills, and came up short against the seemingly-unstoppable Ilima-Lei MacFarlane. Now in the Invicta ranks she’ll take on fireplug Janaisa Morandin (10-2), who unfortunately missed weight for this bout. Morandin’s been a ball of energy with lots of volume strike and a tendency to get in her opponent’s face. She’s coming off a tough submission loss to current UFC fighter Virna Jandiroba in a title fight. Former Bellator fighter Lindsey Van Zandt (6-1) is coming off a win over Japanese Shootbox ace Rena Kubota at Bellator 222 via rear naked choke. Now she welcomes Brazil’s Jessica Delboni (8-1).
Submission threat and Dragon Ball Z enthusiast Victoria Leonardo (5-1) squares off against tough grappler Stephanie Geltmacher (4-0) in what could very well turn out to be the fight of the night. Both love to come forward and both are really good at working their submission chains on the ground while mixing it up with ground strikes.
Michigander own Alyse Anderson (4-1) has her sights set on victory against Canada’s Katie Saull (3-3). Saull will be replacing Anastasia Nikolakakos, who withdrew due to injury. Chantel Coates (2-1 amateur, 1-0 pro) absolutely nuked Ashlynn Kleinbeck in her pro debut at Invicta 33, and should have another wild fight against Caitlin Sammons (1-0 amateur, 1-0 pro). Sammons also impressed in her pro debut at Invicta 34. BJJ specialist Erin Harpe (2-0 amateur, 1-0 pro) used superior ground control to nail her pro debut, and should have her hands full against Auttumn Norton. Norton makes her pro debut, but comes to the table with a 6-0 amateur record that includes wins over Bryanna Fissori, Amber Leibrock and Brieta Carpenter, and losses to Amberlynn Orr and former UFC fighter Kelly Faszholz. This will also be her first fight since May of 2017.
Julia Ottolino (2-0 amateur) will be facing UFC fighter Felicia Spencer’s training partner Megan Cawley (2-1 amateur), whom you may remember from a recent Embedded video. Yeah, that one. They will both be making their professional debuts.
The weigh-in video can be seen here (link if unavailable on page).
Full card and weigh in results are as follows:
Pam Sorenson (144.8) vs. Kaitlin Young (145) – Featherweight title fight
Janaisa Morandin (119.6)* vs. Emily Ducote (115.8) – Strawweight
Jessica Delboni (105.4) vs. Lindsey VanZandt (105.7) – Atomweight
Stephanie Geltmacher (125.5) vs. Victoria Leonardo (125.7) – Flyweight
Alyse Anderson (105.8) vs. Katie Saull (105.9) – Atomweight
Chantel Coates (126.5)* vs. Caitlin Sammons (125.2) – Flyweight
Erin Harpe (134.5) vs. Auttumn Norton (136) – Bantamweight
Megan Cawley (135.5) vs. Julia Ottolino (135.1) – Bantamweight
*Coates and Morandin both missed weight
Invicta 36: Sorenson vs Young starts at 8:00pm and takes place live from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS. This event will be streaming live exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.