Invicta Fighting and JEWELS Form Strategic Partnership for Women’s MMA

Invicta Fighting Championships and Japan-based JEWELS this week announced that the two women’s mixed martial arts promotions have formed a strategic partnership to cross-promote the world’s top female fighters on their respective fight cards in the United States and Japan.
As part of the new alliance, JEWELS champion Akaya Hamasaki (7-0) of Yamaguchi, Japan, will head to Kansas City, Kan., to square off with fellow undefeated star Jasminka “Impressive” Cive (5-0) of Graz, Styria, Austria, in a flyweight (115 pounds) match-up at Invicta FC 2: McMann vs. Baszler at Memorial Hall on July 28.
Hamasaki is one of two fighters from the JEWELS roster who will do battle on the Invicta card. The other, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano (18-9) of Tokyo, will square off with Japanese Jiu-Jitsu black belt and Cesar Gracie-protégé Alexis Davis (11-5) of Colborne, Ontario, Canada, at bantamweight (135 pounds) in the co-main event.
“We are excited to enter this partnership with JEWELS, which was essentially founded with the same goal of placing professional women’s MMA competition at its highest level on a major stage,” said Invicta president Shannon Knapp. “This relationship with an overseas promotion will effectively make it more turnkey for us to bring in some of the best women fighters in the world to compete in the Invicta cage and to send our top athletes to Japan to compete at JEWELS events.”
“We are very honored and extremely excited about this partnership with Invicta Fighting Championships,” added JEWELS president Yuichi Ozono. “We appreciate the opportunity that Invicta Fighting Championships is extending to our fighters, including the current JEWELS champion Ayaka Hamasaki and Pro Elite and Strikeforce veteran Hitomi Akano. We are excited to be able to collaborate and cooperate with Invicta Fighting Championships to achieve our common goal, which is to promote the appeal of women’s Mixed Martial Arts.”