Ok, this is the third time I’ve started this Invicta preview. Now while I love writing about the awesome women of Invicta I would really appreciate it if no one in these last few days before the show get ill, miss weight, have visa issues, jump over to UFC, share a car with Jon Jones or do anything that could result in losing their spot in this card again. I thank you.
Who’d be a fight promoter?
Take Invicta President Shannon Knapp. She put’s her Featherweight Champion Megan Anderson in the main event of Invicta 24 against Helena Kolesnyk, because the Australian is one of the most devastating fighters in the company and her foul mouthed give no fucks attitude has really struck a cord with Invicta fans. Then UFC’s own Featherweight title fight falls apart so Megan Anderson skips over there to fill in against Cyborg. So Shannon loses her main event fighter and her Featherweight champion to boot.
No problem, Tonya Evinger is always up for a tussle at short notice and she’s also one of the most popular fighters in Invicta due to her foul mouthed gives no fucks attitude so Shannon throws her in against Helena Kolesnyk and it should be a great fight for Invicta fans. But then Megan Anderson has to pull out of the Cyborg fight (and leave the lass alone she you ghouls she doesn’t owe any of us an explanation) and need a replacement. So with Stone Cold Steve Austin’s theme music screaming out of nowhere Tonya Evinger drives her truck through the wall of UFC headquarters, and into Dana White’s office, gets out with a beer in her hand and yells at Dana “Well Goddamn son, I’ll fight that sumbitch Cyborg for ya!” And that’s exactly how it happened.
So while anyone who truly loves women’s MMA were losing their shit and a screaming “OH MY FUCKING GOD!” that Tonya was finally getting the big fight on the big stage, Shannon was left without her main event and her Bantamweight Champion.
This may be the last time I get to include this pic in an Invicta preview. If so I just want to wish Tonya well in kicking Cyborg’s arse and doing something Rousey, Tate or Holm ever did.
Add in all the title turmoil as the Straw weight title is in flux since Angela Hill returned to UFC. Meanwhile Atomweight champion Ayaka Hamaski was wiped out in her last fight when she stepped up to straw weight and still appears undecided which weight her future is in. And God knows who will be left when the flyweight season of Ultimate fighter kicks in later this month.
No wonder Dana White has no hair left.
The again, Dana White made $360 million last year, lives in a bloody big house in Vegas and gets to hang out with Ronda Rousey. On second thoughts I’d be a fight promoter.
A lot of the title picture will be cleared up on August 31st at Invicta 25, but for now all this chaos means for the fighters on Invicta 24 it’s a great time to make a good impression and ensure their place in the mix. Not to mention the rumours that Dana White’s Tuesday fights series may see some Invicta fighters getting a shot on the show.
Flyweight: Milana Dudieva (11-5) vs. Mara Romero Borella (10-4, 1 NC)
This fight has been elevated from the co-main event spot and it has to be said in terms of interest to Invicta fans falls behind most of the promotions main events. No title is on the line and with both making Invicta debuts there is probably little fan attachment to either fighter right now. However these are two experienced fighters with good records and this could be a technically impressive match.
Milana Dudieva has been fighting since 2009 and despite losing her first pro fight made an impressive run in the Russian ProFC promotion, although most of her wins came against fighters with very few wins. She did gain a victory against future UFC fighter Sheila Gaff before a step up in competition against Jessica Andrade and Pannine Kianzad saw her with back to back losses although she was competitive in both.
UFC came calling in 2014 and she scored a win over Elizabeth Phillips before losing to nobody’s favourite fighter Juiliana Pena she took time out to have a baby and then returned to UFC losing to Marion Reneau by TKO. The Reneau fight was typical of Dudieva performances, brave and tough in keeping the fight going while taking punishment, but her offence limited to flurries.
This is one of the ways that Invicta plays a vital role on the MMA scene, giving a fighter like Reneau a chance to regroup and rebuild, in the same way Angela Hill and Roxanne Modafferi have for return shots with UFC. Reneau believes that her performances in UFC were effected by being in the wrong weightclass and now in her natural Flyweight will hope to be able to fight more comfortably.
Mara Romero Borella 8-4 record has been achieved mainly by fighting in her own country of Italy and other countries on the European mainland, most of her success being against fellow Europeans. She’s currently on a four fight win streak and while there are no major scalps on her win column the fighters she’s faced have at least credible records as opposed to the one fight wonder tomato cans that boost up a lot of the records of Brazilians and Russians coming onto the American scene recently.
From what I’ve seen Mara Romero Borella has some solid all round MMA skills, with a patient approach with clinical striking that she put to good use against Suvi Salmimies, leaving her opponents face a bloated mess in securing a points victory. Before that she scored a brutal armbar victory over Lucrezia Ria in an entertaining scrap where she once again showed a powerful standup.
Since she first started fighting professionally in 2014 she has rarely been more than four months between fights, showing her dedication to MMA and this will be interesting how she reacts to the step up in competition fighting on American soil.
Atomweight: Jinh Yu Frey (5-2) vs. Ashley Cummins (5-3)
Although Frey and Cummins may not have the pro fight experience of the fighters above them on this card, to many Invicta fans this will be the real main event. They are both well known to the Invicta faithful each having made five appearances each in the cage and with news that this is officially being recognised as a number one contenders fight the stakes are something very tangible.
If you want to see just why Jinh Yu Frey has built up a reputation for crisp, frighteningly accurate striking check out her knockout of Darla Harris back in her second fight in 2013. Frey says she never intended to fight professionally for long, intending to do so only until she started graduate school. She continued fighting beyond her studies and built up an impressive name for herself including a three fight win streak and after beating her toughest opponent Hericia Tiburcio earned herself an atomweight title shot.
Frey was putting on a marvellous performance against Hamasaki in a cracking back and forth fight and at one point unleashed a vicious ground and pound that looked close to stopping th champion in the very first round. However in the second round a blistering exchange saw Hamasaki land a tough shot just above Frey’s left eye, busting her open. It was a nasty cut, but despite the positioning being clear of her eye and the flowing blood not effecting Frey’s vision the doctor stepped in and called an end to the contest in a frustrating moment for the challenger.
Frey’s first return since this loss in September was delayed as she was meant to have fought Janaisa Morandin in March on Invicta 22, however Morandin came in a whopping 5.2 pounds over the limit and the fight was scratched. With a more professionally minded opponent Frey will get the chance to earn another shot at Mizuki to settle some unfinished business.
Ashley Cummins first stint in Invicta was a mixed affair, The police officer scored a win on the very first Invicta card, but her subsequent fight saw her suffer her first loss to Joanne Calderwood in a moment that had life altering implications. A shot during the fight took away Cummins eyesight and after the fight her vision failed to return.
The despondent fighter had to undergo surgery and feared an end to both her MMA and police careers as her eyesight was slow to return. Despite this horror she managed to fight again only nine months later. She suffered loses to Emily Kagan and Alexa Grasso and also put up a spirited attempt to get into the Ultimate Fighter house for the Gadehla vs Jędrzejczyk season.
Her record turned around when she took a prelim fight for Bellator last June and won with what was described as a spectacular knee on neck choke. Sadly it seems those monkeys at Bellator didn’t have the cameras running as no footage seem to exist for the fight.
She returned to Invicta in March against the tough Amber Brown. The move to atomweight seemed to suit her as she went after Brown with an arsenal of submission moves in what was an insanely entertaining and high tempered contest. Cummins won an emotional decision (dedicating the fight to a fallen police comrade) and has found herself one step away from the title. Cummins is a warrior in life in and out of the cage and having had so much to overcome this could be an amazing story.
I’m running out of superlatives of what incredible action the atomweights bring to Invicta. Fast paced and relentless in terms of lightening striking and breathtaking grappling exchanges, it’s a real jewel in Invicta’s crown and whoever has their hand raised this weekend will provide an exciting challenge to Hamasaki (if she indeed decides to remain in that division).
Featherweight: Pam Sorenson (5-2) vs. Helena Kolesnyk (5-0, 1 NC)
Originally Helena Kolesnyk was being brought in to headline this show, first with Megan Anderson and then Tonya Evinger. Fortunately her preparation has not been in vain as Invicta has managed to find her a last minute replacement.
The Ukraine comes to make her American debut with a 5-0 record, all in the distance and her last two fights lasting 50 seconds combined. However of her six opponents (she had a sixth fight that was ruled a no contest) only one of them had actually won a professional fight (Yulia Drukteynite who lost her other six fights).
Her most sigificant fight to see what she is all about was with Xiaomin Wang (in her only pro fight) last year. Kolesnyx was taken down easily several times but would always respond by trapping her opponent in armbars or triangles but was taking a beating. In the second she managed to break two rules at the same time, grabbing the cage while kneeing her grounded opponent in the head, before winning abruptly with a headlock.
Kolesnyx has competed in Muay Thai and Kickboxing and seems to have developed a degree of celebrity in her home country as she’s garnered enough interest to appear in interviews across news media, no doubt being pushed as a Ukraine Ronda Rousey.
Stepping in to give her a fight is Pam Sorenson just over six weeks after her last Invicta fight, a losing effort to Ediane Gomes. In actually winning five fights Sorenson is the most seasoned fighter Kolesnyx has faced and Sorenson will looking to turn her Invicta career around as aside from her loss her other fight though a victory had a hint of taint over it since she was well over the weight limit in beating Jessica Roe -Clarke.
Flyweight: Karina Rodríguez (4-2) vs. Bárbara Acioly (4-0)
Two more Invicta newcomers clash here.
Karina Rodriguez has been fighting since 2012 in Brazil and Mexico but in the last three years has only fought once, a win in June 2016 against a one time only fighter. Her most memorable fights were a loss to Alexa Grasso early in her career and a loss to impressive looking Poliana Botelho who has signed with UFC but is yet to make her debut.
If you like fighters who love punching the shit out of stuff you’ll love Bárbara Acioly. The Brazillain made her debut in 2016 and fought three times in that year, each fight against women in their debuts who have never fought since.
In these fights she showed herself a heavy hitter never letting up her assaults and following her downed opponents to the floor to ground and pound and eventually trap in a submission (She showed lightning fast skills in switching from a ground and pound to an armbar against Victoria Sakai).
Her last victory was in March of this year against Jamie Thorton (incidentally a fighter who has never heard the end of round bell in any of her seven fights). Thorton was 4-1 at the time and gave Acioly her toughest fight and forced her on the backfoot early, easily taken her down and seeming to beat her to the punch. Eventually she managed to stand her ground after taking a spinning backfist and turned the fight into a wild brawl that ended with Barbara getting a triangle choke to win a great come from behind fight.
The bottom half of this card features fighters at the start of their MMA pro careers. But don’t let those low records full you, these are all experienced fighters with amateur backgrounds and some have shown great potential on their previous Invicta appearances. Fans of the unbelievably awesome Invicta 22 card may remember some of these fighters taking part in some insanely thrilling fight action.
There’s also some great match making here of pitting these fighters against each other so early in their careers. I’m actually more hyped for seeing these four fights more than any other fights for other promotions that doesn’t feature Tonya Evinger or Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe.
Flyweight: Miranda Maverick (2-0) vs. Gabby Romero (2-1)
Miranda Maverick is so awesome a name for a fighter that Miranda decided to use her real surname Maverick as her nickname.
Also if you fancy a drinking game for this show, take a shot every time Julie Kedzie refers to Miranda Maverick as having “farm strength”. The only thing that may prevent you getting shitfaced is if Miranda finishes her fight as early as in her victories at Invicta’s 20 and 22.
At only 20 “The Maverick” has shown an incredible amount of potential with natural physical gifts and a rough house style she had instilled in her by her father keen for her to know how to defend herself. She’s incredibly strong (no doubt built up by throwing pigs around in her farming duties. That’s if throwing pigs around is something that is done on a farm. I don’t know I’ve never been on a working farm in my life it just seemed a cool visusl) but just as impressive is her sound technique which she displayed by beating Samantha Diaz by rear naked choke and Kalyn Schwatz by armbar. In the latter fight she showed some great tenacity having survived a tough slam and calmly hung onto a armbar despite being slammed hard again.
Miranda has a down to earth, endearing charisma and apparently doesn’t like to cuss (damn she won’t like my articles then). She’s currently splitting her time with her studies so wisely keeping her future options open but fans will be hoping with another win she’ll be inspired to make the most of her potential. What’s more you can tell after her fights she really wants and enjoys winning.
In terms of making an intriguing fight Gabby Romero is a great opponent for Miranda Maverick. Romero is a black belt in BJJ, and is a seasoned grappler as evident by her victory in LFA against Linsey Williams where she was like a bulldog on her opponents back and working hard to get the rear naked choke in the first round. She followed this up with a trip to China for the Glory of Heroes and despite the possible unnerving aspect of being in a strange land was able to beat the experienced native fighter Meng Bo with an armbar again in the first round.
Romero also tried out for the Flyweight season of Ultimate Fighter and rumour has it did very well for herself, with stories abounding she was the only fighter to get an actual submission during the grappling portion.
Strawweight: Sunna Rannveig Davíðsdóttir (2-0) vs. Kelly D’Angelo (2-0)
These two fighter are almost mirror images of each other in where they are in their careers. Both have a strong amateur streak where they both won four fights in 2015. Both turned pro in September in 2016 and come into this fight with a 2-0 record. And they’ve never been photographed together….maybe.
Kelly D’angelo is another warrior of life, sharing her blossoming MMA career with her duty as a firefighter. It was through her firefighting that she got the competitive combat bug when she would compete in boxing charity events which would pit police officers against firefighters in shows known as “Guns and hoses.” Seriously going to one of theses shows is now on my bucket list (proceeds from these shows go to supporting the families of those fallen in duty from both services.)
D’anegelo took up boxing and transitioned into MMA, showing crisp and aggressive boxing skills, not surprisingly winning her first two amateur fights via knockout and attaining a 5-0 record before stepping up to the pros. Despite her standup skills she’s proven keen to show diversity in her finishes and showed sound submission skills when winning her first pro fight against Emily Whitmore via choke. Her last fight was in February where she beat Samantha Diaz via knockout.
Sometimes a fighter comes along who just has that vibe that she’s the real deal. Even if they aren’t finishing people in a minute, they just have that natural poise and attitude and a desire to win that leads you to think that fighting is what they were born to do (Joanna Jedrzejczyk for example). Just like this Icelandic warrior here.
Sunna Rannveig has that aura about everything she does in the cage and in training. She turned heads with an impressive amateur career which was enough for Invicta to allow her start her pro career with them on Invicta 19. She beat Ashley Grennaway handily in her first trip to America and fell in love with the Cheesecake factory apparently. (yeah, America, Justice and liberty be damned it’s your food we really love about you……)
Then in March she followed up with an absolute war with Mallory Martin, that saw both fighter rocked as they beat the holy hell out of each other for three rounds. Sunna showed great heart in fighting through a few tough moments was emotional in her post fight victory declaring life had taught her to “break and get back up,” in an interview that suggested this fight meant the world to her and she came across as exceedingly likeable and humble.
Strawweight: Mallory Martin (1-1) vs. Tiffany Masters (2-0)
Mallory Martin may have been on the wrong end of that war with Sunna but she had nothing to be ashamed of that perormance and hopefully she’ll be bringing that intensity again. As she showed in the Sunna fight she has a strong standup and has entered Muay Thai competitons in Bangladseh, and there;s a reason it’s called BANGladesh, actually there probably is but it’s nothing to do with MMA, maybe…
Martin was rocked in the first round of her fight with Sunna but came back strong in the rest of the fight and made it a nightmare for the judges to have to reach a decision on.
Tiffany Masters before discovering MMA had first love in wrestling. Her first attempt to get into MMA started with an amateur fight that she lost in thirty seconds. Only inspired to do better “the Rainbow Warrior” continued on to attain a 4-1-1 record as an amateur (despite her wrestling background she won three by TKO) before making the leap to the pros in December 2016. She fought twice for King of the Cage, and like with most of her amateur fights won both in the first round.
Featherweight: Felicia Spencer (2-0) vs. Amy Coleman (2-1)
Felicia Spencer certainly brought the fun for Invicta 22 several months ago, kicking off the card with a punishing opening contest win against Madison McElhaney. The fight was a beauty, with Martin throwing heavy punches, knees, armbars, judo throws and just about anything that could cripple another human being.
Spencer has had to drop down to Featherweight from her natural lightweight division in order just to get fights and if her two heavy hitting performances are anything to go back could be making waves very quickly. Everything with her is high impact and looks like it hurts anyone who gets in the cage with her.
When last we saw Amy Coleman back at Invicta 19 she was kneed into oblivion by Amber Leibrock. She’ll be looking to prove she has a lot more to offer, like in her wild amateur fight she had with Shannon Young back or her pro debut against Jessica Zomcik, where she escpaped from an armbar and immediately pounded her opponent to defeat with thunderous hammerfists.
Invicta 24 comes to you this Friday on fightpass from once again Kansas city. Naturally we’ll be having the most informative and fun live play by play on Halfguarded from Mike Coughlin. (Eventually. I have a flight that night. -Mike)
Til next time
Dazza
and next time being…..
