Women’s mixed martial arts pioneer and former UFC bantamweight Julie Kedzie announced today that she has accepted a position as the new matchmaker for all-women’s fighting promotion Invicta Fighting Championship.
Kedzie made the announcement on The MMA Hour Monday afternoon.
Kedzie assumes the role that was filled by Janet Martin until the end of October, when Invicta owner Shannon Knapp and Martin parted ways.
Kedzie began her professional mixed martial arts career at a HooknShoot event on March 27, 2004, where she defeated Terry Blair by armbar in the first round. Over the course of a near 10-year career, Kedzie would run up a professional record of 16-13, with her most high-profile fight coming against Gina Carano in 2007. Many observers of the sport point to the Carano vs. Kedzie fight as one of the watershed moments that led women’s mixed martial arts to the point it is at today.
Kedzie announced her retirement following her loss to Bethe Correia at UFC Fight Night 33: Hunt vs. Bigfoot earlier this month. Kedzie lost by split decision and announced her retirement immediately following the fight. She later revealed that she’d planned on announcing her retirement whether she won or lost the fight.
Kedzie inherits something of a difficult situation at Invicta, which last week assigned 11 of its top strawweight fighters—the division many consider the most exciting one in female mixed martial arts—to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Those 11 fighters will join six others and move into the Ultimate Fighter house in May, where they’ll film a season of the reality show that begins airing next September.
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