Former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen headlines the first Invicta FC event opposite Romy Ruyssen on Saturday night. [photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce/Showtime]
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Let’s be honest with each other for a minute: Strikeforce is having a hard time putting entertaining cards together featuring the select few male fighters that haven’t been plucked from their roster by the UFC, so expecting them to be the organization to help build women’s MMA is silly.
Yes, Ronda Rousey has become a star in recent months, and her fight with Miesha Tate was both entertaining and well received. That still doesn’t mean there is enough talent out there to merit a women’s division in the UFC. If we’re being truthful with each other, Dana White is right: there are a couple interesting fights that can be made each year, but that’s about it.
I’ve said from Jump Street that I thought the best thing that could happen for women’s MMA was if one organization came along, gathered up as much of the top talent as humanly possible, and had females fighting regularly.
Enter Invicta FC.
Saturday night, the all-female start-up will hold their first show at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen looking to move to 2-0 in her career against French fighter Romy Ruyssen. The event also features former Strikeforce title contender Liz Carmouche, and veterans Lisa Ellis-Ward, Kaitlin Young, and Sarah Schneider.
The brainchild of MMA industry veteran Shannon Knapp (Twitter: @shanknapp), the aim of the organization is to provide the organization and stability that is currently lacking on the female side of mixed martial arts. Rather than having female fighters scattered throughout the regional circuit and popping up for individual fights here and there, Invicta FC is committed to building a strong organization that gives female fighters an opportunity to compete on a regular basis, ultimately helping to develop and showcase the talent that exists in Women’s MMA.
Invicta FC’s potential can be seen in the quality of their first event.
In addition to delivering recognizable stars like Coenen, Saturday’s event will also mark the professional debut of 2008 Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Randi Miller. Much like the male side of the sport, the female side will benefit greatly from the continued arrival of world-class athletes like Miller, who has the natural ability to make an immediate impact the same way fellow wrestling standout Sara McMann has thus far.
The formation of an organization like Invicta FC has the potential to do wonders for women’s MMA.
While the elite names on the female side of the sport will continue to fight sporadically in Strikeforce, the organization has a talent-sharing agreement with the promotion, allowing fighters like Carmouche to appear on this card. The Team Hurricane Awesome standout hasn’t fought since losing to Sarah Kaufman in July 2011, and would have likely remained sidelined into the summer if not for the opportunity to compete on this event, as Strikeforce is running far fewer events in 2012 than previous years, and the opportunities for female fighters remain extremely limited.
The organization intends to hold three events in 2012 according to Knapp.
I’m genuinely excited for Saturday’s show. While most casual fans will be unfamiliar with many of the athletes competing, I can tell you that this is a pretty solid card of female competitors, and the prospects of continuing to build along these lines in the future should give hope to those who want to see women’s MMA flourish.
Optimistically speaking, I could see Invicta developing into a WEC-type organization under the Zuffa umbrella in the future. Lorenzo Fertitta has gone on record saying he believes women’s MMA can succeed if an individual league is created and given a legitimate opportunity to succeed.
Invicta FC has all the potential to be the organization that helps make that happen.
* * * * * * * *
Keep up with the latest from Keyboard Kimura by joining the Facebook page.
If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow me (@spencerkyte) for even more MMA talk… and all kinds of randomness too.
Yes, Ronda Rousey has become a star in recent months, and her fight with Miesha Tate was both entertaining and well received. That still doesn’t mean there is enough talent out there to merit a women’s division in the UFC. If we’re being truthful with each other, Dana White is right: there are a couple interesting fights that can be made each year, but that’s about it.
I’ve said from Jump Street that I thought the best thing that could happen for women’s MMA was if one organization came along, gathered up as much of the top talent as humanly possible, and had females fighting regularly.
Enter Invicta FC.
Saturday night, the all-female start-up will hold their first show at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen looking to move to 2-0 in her career against French fighter Romy Ruyssen. The event also features former Strikeforce title contender Liz Carmouche, and veterans Lisa Ellis-Ward, Kaitlin Young, and Sarah Schneider.
The brainchild of MMA industry veteran Shannon Knapp (Twitter: @shanknapp), the aim of the organization is to provide the organization and stability that is currently lacking on the female side of mixed martial arts. Rather than having female fighters scattered throughout the regional circuit and popping up for individual fights here and there, Invicta FC is committed to building a strong organization that gives female fighters an opportunity to compete on a regular basis, ultimately helping to develop and showcase the talent that exists in Women’s MMA.
Invicta FC’s potential can be seen in the quality of their first event.
In addition to delivering recognizable stars like Coenen, Saturday’s event will also mark the professional debut of 2008 Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Randi Miller. Much like the male side of the sport, the female side will benefit greatly from the continued arrival of world-class athletes like Miller, who has the natural ability to make an immediate impact the same way fellow wrestling standout Sara McMann has thus far.
The formation of an organization like Invicta FC has the potential to do wonders for women’s MMA.
While the elite names on the female side of the sport will continue to fight sporadically in Strikeforce, the organization has a talent-sharing agreement with the promotion, allowing fighters like Carmouche to appear on this card. The Team Hurricane Awesome standout hasn’t fought since losing to Sarah Kaufman in July 2011, and would have likely remained sidelined into the summer if not for the opportunity to compete on this event, as Strikeforce is running far fewer events in 2012 than previous years, and the opportunities for female fighters remain extremely limited.
The organization intends to hold three events in 2012 according to Knapp.
I’m genuinely excited for Saturday’s show. While most casual fans will be unfamiliar with many of the athletes competing, I can tell you that this is a pretty solid card of female competitors, and the prospects of continuing to build along these lines in the future should give hope to those who want to see women’s MMA flourish.
Optimistically speaking, I could see Invicta developing into a WEC-type organization under the Zuffa umbrella in the future. Lorenzo Fertitta has gone on record saying he believes women’s MMA can succeed if an individual league is created and given a legitimate opportunity to succeed.
Invicta FC has all the potential to be the organization that helps make that happen.
* * * * * * * *
Keep up with the latest from Keyboard Kimura by joining the Facebook page.
If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow me (@spencerkyte) for even more MMA talk… and all kinds of randomness too.
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