Invicta FC officials held the weigh-ins for Invicta FC 15 on Friday and you can watch them here: Invicta FC 15 takes place from The Hangar at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa on Saturday, Jan. 16. The event will stream live and exclusively on UFC Fight Pass beginning at 9 p.m.
Invicta FC officials held the weigh-ins for Invicta FC 15 on Friday and you can watch them here:
Invicta FC 15 takes place from The Hangar at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa on Saturday, Jan. 16. The event will stream live and exclusively on UFC Fight Pass beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
Invicta FC 15 will be headlined by featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (14-1, 1 NC), who will put her belt on the line against Russian newcomer Daria Ibragimova (9-1). In the co-main event, the strawweight title will be up for grabs between champion Livia Renata Souza (8-0) and fellow unbeaten DeAnna Bennett (8-0).
Here are the weigh-in results:
Cris Cyborg (144.6) vs. Daria Ibragimova (143.7)
Livia Renata Souza (113.9) vs. DeAnna Bennett (114.6)
Amber Brown (105.7) vs. Shino VanHoose (105.3)
Colleen Schneider (136.4*) vs. Raquel Pa’aluhi (135.5)
Angela Hill (115.1) vs. Alida Gray (115.9)
Lacey Schuckman (114.9) vs. Mizuki Inoue (114.3)
Megan Anderson (145.3) vs. Amber Leibrock (145.7)
Are you sitting down, Potato Nation? We hope so, because we just got word of a story so shocking, so unexpected, that it will rock you to your very core. We’re talking something bigger than the Reebok deal, the fighter lawsuit, and most certainly bigger than the “The Time Is Now” press conference. Are you ready?
I can’t. From now on, I will only fight at my weight or in a catchweight. I haven’t fought in a long time and that’s why I want to go back to my division.
We know, we know, nobody could have possibly seen this coming.
Are you sitting down, Potato Nation? We hope so, because we just got word of a story so shocking, so unexpected, that it will rock you to your very core. We’re talking something bigger than the Reebok deal, the fighter lawsuit, and most certainly bigger than the “The Time Is Now” press conference. Are you ready?
I can’t. From now on, I will only fight at my weight or in a catchweight. I haven’t fought in a long time and that’s why I want to go back to my division.
The news comes just weeks after Cyborg was forced to pull out of her expected bantamweight debut at Invicta 10 due to injury. Shortly thereafter, the former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion declared that she would be “postponing” her drop to 135 in order to defend her Invicta featherweight title. In addition to her reasons listed above, Justino also stated a lack of effort on Ronda Rousey‘s part in making their superfight happen led to her decision to abandon the weight cut.
To call Cyborg’s long teased-at drop to bantamweight “ambitious” would be giving it a little too much credit. Justino has been declared physically unable to make the cut to 135 in the recent past, walks around at about two Frankie Edgars, and possesses the kind of muscle mass that makes her able to body slam 205 pound former UFC champions. The thought of Cyborg facing Rousey was an intriguing one for a small window of time, but between the former’s inactivity and the latter’s rapidly evolving skillset that time has all but passed. The matchup has lost all its heat, and it appears that even Cyborg has finally realized it.
The upside: Cyborg can continue smashing each and every challenger Invicta is able to find her, and now won’t have to feel guilty about eating that second sleeve of Oreos. Sounds like a win-win to me.
In any case, it has now been a year and a half since we last saw Cyborg compete — save a Muay Thai match here and there — and her Invicta featherweight title has presumably been collecting dust in the same dark corner where her stripped Strikeforce featherweight title sits. So with time working against her, Cyborg has decided to postpone her bantamweight debut in order to simply compete again. She spoke with MMAFighting earlier this morning:
I haven’t fought in a long time. With this injury, I believe the best option now will be fight in my division. I can’t wait anymore, I need to fight. I’m the featherweight champion and Invicta FC needs me to defend my belt.
In any case, it has now been a year and a half since we last saw Cyborg compete — save a Muay Thai match here and there — and her Invicta featherweight title has presumably been collecting dust in the same dark corner where her stripped Strikeforce featherweight title sits. So with time working against her, Cyborg has decided to postpone her bantamweight debut in order to simply compete again. She spoke with MMAFighting earlier this morning:
I haven’t fought in a long time. With this injury, I believe the best option now will be fight in my division. I can’t wait anymore, I need to fight. I’m the featherweight champion and Invicta FC needs me to defend my belt.
I believe I will be ready to fight in February. I’m slowly returning to training, so I won’t get injured again. I’m swimming and doing physical therapy since I got back from Thailand. My physical therapist Ivan Carmosino will clear me to train soon.
At this point, Cyborg’s drop to bantamweight has been teased and hinted at more than a new Tool album, and this latest hitch seems like the final straw to me. While Cyborg has been toiling away in obscurity these past couple years, her entire reason for cutting to bantamweight — Ronda Rousey — has risen to become one of the most complete athletes on the planet. Do I still think Cyborg poses some legitimate threats to the women’s bantamweight champ? Undoubtedly, but not nearly as many as she did when she opted out of her UFC contract last year. It almost makes one question her decision to hire Tito Ortiz as her manager.
We’ll keep you updated on Cyborg’s return as information is made available.
We’re going to have to wait a little longer to see if Cristiane Justino can make 135 pounds.
Justino was scheduled to fight at bantamweight for the very first time at Invicta FC 10. Alas, the MMA gods are cruel and spiteful creatures. “Cyborg” recently sustained an ankle injury (a tear of her anterior talofibular ligament, according to Sherdog) and won’t be able to fight.
BUMMER.
(Photo via Getty)
We’re going to have to wait a little longer to see if Cristiane Justino can make 135 pounds.
Justino was scheduled to fight at bantamweight for the very first time at Invicta FC 10. Alas, the MMA gods are cruel and spiteful creatures. “Cyborg” recently sustained an ankle injury (a tear of her anterior talofibular ligament, according to Sherdog) and won’t be able to fight.
BUMMER.
The biggest hurdle to Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino vs. Ronda Rousey has always been the weight issue. Rousey fights at bantamweight and Cyborg always claimed she couldn’t make that weight — this was until July when she announced she was going to finally fight at 135 pounds.
If she made bantamweight in Invicta (a quasi-appendage of the UFC) and won, it’s not presumptuous to think Cyborg might wind up in the UFC fighting Ronda Rousey at some point in the near future.
But no such luck, at least for now.
By the way, speaking of Invicta, there was an Invicta event on last night: Invicta FC 9. The full results are below if you’re interested:
Barb Honchak def. Takayo Hashi via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)
Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Mizuki Inoue via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Raquel Pa’aluhi def. Kaitlin Young via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jodie Esquibel def. Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Amber Brown def. Liz McCarthy via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Amanda Bell def. Maria Hougaard Djursaa via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:56
Andrea K. Lee def. Shannon Sinn via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jamie Moyle def. Jenny Liou via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Kelly McGill def. Maegan Goodwin via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
A Fight Pass deal was a welcomed development. Invicta finally had a stable medium to broadcast their shows on…or so we thought.
After a pretty entertaining card, the stream froze shortly into the main event, which pitted Michelle Waterson against Yasuko Tamada.
People were understandably upset, though some tried to justify the stream going down by saying the phone stream was intact. The stream bounced back for about 10 seconds in the third round and then froze again. It didn’t come back (at least not for us) until Mike Schiavello was saying goodbye to everyone. From what we did see of the main event, Waterson looked incredible. She was agile, her strikes were lightning quick and she was unloading fierce combinations on Tamada. Tamada, on the other hand, looked like she was about 60 years old. We’re not kidding either. Her age is unknown. She had to be close to 40 at least. Outside of the fact that she was slow, her skill set was anemic. Waterson destroyed her.
Overall, the event was pretty good if you ignore the stream collapsing at the end (bad streams must be some kind of Invicta curse).
(If GIFs had sound you’d be hearing “THISFIGHTTHISFIGHTTHISFIGHTTHISFIGHT.” / GIF via r/MMA)
A Fight Pass deal was a welcomed development. Invicta finally had a stable medium on which to broadcast their shows…or so we thought.
After a pretty entertaining card, the stream froze shortly into the main event, which pitted Michelle Waterson against Yasuko Tamada.
People were understandably upset, though some tried to justify the stream going down by saying the phone stream was intact. The stream bounced back for about 10 seconds in the third round and then froze again. It didn’t come back (at least not for us) until Mike Schiavello was saying goodbye to everyone. From what we did see of the main event, Waterson looked incredible. She was agile, her strikes were lightning quick and she was unloading fierce combinations on Tamada. Tamada, on the other hand, looked like she was about 60 years old. We’d love to know how old she actually is but her age is unknown. No joke. She had to be close to 40 at least. Outside of the fact that she was slow, her skill set was anemic. Waterson destroyed her.
Overall, the event was pretty good if you ignore the stream collapsing at the end (bad streams must be some kind of Invicta curse).
We got to see Katja Kankaanpaa capture the Invicta FC strawweight title with a plucky submission win over Stephanie Eggink. Eggink controlled the first four rounds of the fight and nearly finished Kankaanpaa on multiple occasions. In the fifth round, Kankaanpaa caught Eggink, who seemed to disregard Kankaanpaa’s chances so late in the fight, in a d’arce choke. For some reason, the announcer called it a “dragon sleeper choke.” Cool, sure.
Other fights:
Tonya Evinger absolutely wrecked Ediane Gomes, dominating her in the grappling department and ultimately submitting her with an armbar. In her post-fight interview, Evinger said her game plan was simply to “kick someone’s ass.”
Women’s MMA pioneers Roxanne Modafferi and Tara LaRosa met on this card. Modafferi looked like a different fighter. Her striking and footwork improved about a thousand times over since we saw her in the UFC. She picked LaRosa apart en route to a unanimous decision.
DeAnna Bennett scored an incredible liver kick KO over Michelle Ould. The kick was brutal enough to have Ould reeling for several minutes after the fight was over.
Veronica Rothenhausler couldn’t continue her streak of knocking out her opponents in the first round. She managed to clip Charmaine Tweet in the first few seconds of the fight, but Tweet recovered quickly and proved to be far too much for Rothenhausler to handle. Tweet took control of the fight, dragged Rothenhausler to the mat, and finished her with ground and pound.
There were two fights of note on the prelims:
Irene Aldana defeated UFC-vet Peggy Morgan in a totally one-sided match-up. Aldana submitted Morgan with a rear-naked choke after flooring her multiple times with powerful strikes.
Alexa Grasso became 5-0 after defeating Ashley Cummins via unanimous decision. Grasso could potentially be a big name in the future. She’s conventionally attractive, talented, and Mexican–which will likely cause the UFC to call her up as they seek to expand in Mexico and Latin America.
The complete results of Invicta FC 8 are below:
Main Card
Michelle Waterson def. Yasuko Tamada via TKO (knee and punches), 4:58 of round 3.
Katja Kankaanpaa def. Stephanie Eggink via submission (d’arce choke), 2:03 of round 5.
Tonya Evinger def. Ediane Gomes via submission (armbar), 3:31 of round 1.
Roxanne Modafferi def. Tara La Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
DeAnna Bennett def. Michelle Ould via TKO (liver kick), 1:34 of round 2.
Charmaine Tweet def. Veronica Rothenhausler via TKO (punches), 4:05 of round 1.
Preliminary Card
Irene Aldana def. Peggy Morgan via submission (rear naked choke), 2:51 of round 1.
Alexa Grasso def. Ashley Cummins via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
Jodie Esquibel def. Jinh Yu Frey via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-27).
JJ Aldrich def. Delaney Owen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
Well I’ll be damned if my fictionalized, rhetorical version of you CP readers isn’t actually right for once. Earlier today, the two promotions announced “an historic multi-year, multi-event deal” (via MMAJunkie) that grants the UFC exclusive broadcast rights to all future Invicta events via their Fight Pass network in addition to the promotion’s entire library being made available in the FP archives.
Said Invicta FC president and co-founder Shannon Knapp about the deal:
This is a great day for my company. Since the start of Invicta, I’ve been committed to providing the biggest and best possible platform for women athletes, and with this distribution deal with UFC Fight Pass, Invicta will reach the most passionate MMA fans, wherever they are in the world.
(“Cris Cyborg is a roided-out, Wanderlei Silva in a dress-looking freak…who you can now watch compete for just $9.99 a month!”)
Well I’ll be damned if my fictionalized, rhetorical version of you CP readers isn’t actually right for once. Earlier today, the two promotions announced “an historic multi-year, multi-event deal” (via MMAJunkie) that grants the UFC exclusive broadcast rights to all future Invicta events via their Fight Pass network in addition to the promotion’s entire library being made available in the FP archives.
Said Invicta FC president and co-founder Shannon Knapp about the deal:
This is a great day for my company. Since the start of Invicta, I’ve been committed to providing the biggest and best possible platform for women athletes, and with this distribution deal with UFC Fight Pass, Invicta will reach the most passionate MMA fans, wherever they are in the world.
I may knock Fight Pass for being a frustrating, malfunctioning, transparent money grab piece of sh*t waste of time as much as the next guy, but even in my bitter cynicism, I simply cannot claim that this is anything but a brilliant move on the UFC’s part. It not only raises the value of a Fight Pass subscription tenfold, but will help expose entirely new legions of MMA fans to the idea that, yes, there *are* other women’s divisions out there than Rouseyweight. Who knew, amiright?
The only complaint that could really be made about Invicta — a promotion that, with just 7 events under their belt, is still largely in its infancy — was its faulty methods of content delivery, but even that could often be attributed to their unexpected popularity/growth in such a short timespan. A mutual relationship with Fight Pass is a win-win for both parties involved but especially Invicta, who is currently “targeting a late-summer event, headlined by a world title fight” for their first Fight Pass card.
“This is an historic event for myself, the company and my athletes,” said Knapp, “and every one of them is going to want to be on this first card.”
The UFC’s chief content officer for Fight Pass, Marshall Zelaznik (who I’m going to assume is literally the man pictured here), was equally elated about the deal, stating:
When we launched UFC Fight Pass last Christmas, we said that we would never rest in bringing the best value to our subscribers. The addition of live and archived Invicta programming is going to be of enormous interest to our existing subscribers and bring in new subscribers, too.
Plus, the Invicta/Fight Pass merger will provide us media types umpteen more opportunities to discuss the possibility of Cris Cyborg vs. Ronda Rousey down to the very last detail, and that’s always fun. Yeah, fun…
