Invicta Fighting Championships began their promotional life on the right note.
The promotion featured new talent, some of the top female fighters in the world, and most importantly, fun fights.
Leslie Smith and Kaitlin Young battled to an entertaining draw that earned Fight of the Night honors. Liz Carmouche returned to the cage and dominated Ashleigh Curry. Jessica Penne defeated Lisa Ellis-Ward in a great fight that was finished in the third frame.
While there were some disappointing performances, overall Invicta provided ample entertainment for the typically judgmental MMA crowd.
There were still naysayers saying that the talent level still was not up to snuff, but it is important to remember that the female side of the sport is in its infancy.
It is hard to have fully developed mixed martial artists when most of the women competing in the sport do not train full time. Of the fighters on the Invicta card, only Marloes Coenen is a full-time fighter.
On Sunday evening, Inside MMA reported that the live stream had over 250,000 viewers, a number that surpassed most speculated projections. Questions do have to be asked about that figure.
How many were unique hits? What was the average viewing time? What were the demographics of viewers? How many of the viewers can be retained? Will it draw the consideration from sponsors?
The much talked about Super Fight League had approximately 300,000 viewers for their first show and that dropped 99% to around 3,000 for their second show.
Although these two should only be compared slightly, the SFL had a mostly foreign audience that was disappointed in the product. It also failed to deliver as many exciting fights for those who were interested.
The most telling stat would be the average viewing time. MMARising.com tweeted on Saturday that the show peaked at over 100,000 viewers for the Smith vs. Young fight. Meaning that 150,000 viewers had already tuned out by that fight if those are all unique viewers and if all the numbers are accurate.
Invicta FC 2 is already set for July 28 with another main event featuring high-level opponents. Shayna Baszler will take on 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann. Yet no word on if it will be another live stream or if they will find another outlet for the promotion.
Unquestionably the audience numbers will help sell the show to sponsors, but how much will they be willing to shell out? Fortunately for Invicta, female mixed martial artists do not demand the same premium price that their male counterparts do, and that helps to keep the budget nice and trim.
If the first card can draw the interest of sponsors and allow promoter Shannon Knapp to stabilize and grow Invicta FC, then the future of women’s MMA is bright. It will supply the platform for women to compete at their proper weight classes and ultimately put more women in position to become full-time fighters, a goal we all hope is reached.
The second Invicta card will give us a better understanding of where the promotion is heading. If they can retain a substantial portion of the audience, it will show sponsors, and other promoters, that there is a market for women’s MMA.
Knapp and company have supplied the platform, the fighters have entertained and now we sit and wait to see just how bright, or dim, the future is.
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