It’s not often that you get great MMA news on a Tuesday. This Tuesday after an extended weekend due to the Memorial Day holiday inside the United States brought with it a piece of news that MMA fans and fighters were most pleased to hear.
Over the weekend, women’s MMA promotion Invicta Fighting Championships (Invicta FC) took to social media to post a picture with the caption “Invicta Fighting Championships: She rises”. The caption is a reference to the biblical story of the phoenix rising ahead of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.
🤫🤫🤫 pic.twitter.com/XfnL7EFj8B
— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) May 26, 2024
On Tuesday, Invicta FC took to X (Twitter) to announce that Shannon Knapp, Invicta FC President, would be making an appearance on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation channel during MMA Today for an interview with hosts Din Thomas and RJ Clifford. At the top of the 2 pm ET/ 11 am PT hour, Knapp broke the news fans have been waiting for since late October.
Invicta FC Back in Kansas City on June 28
One month from today, the women’s MMA promotion will be making its return to live action in Kansas City, KS live from Memorial Hall for Invicta FC 55 on June 28. The selection of Kansas City for the card is in homage to Memorial Hall holding Invicta FC 1 through Invicta FC 4 between April of 2012 and January of 2013. Knapp announced that there will be a battle for the Invicta FC Bantamweight Championship in the main event of the evening.
Current Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion and UFC alumnae Talita Bernardo (10-4 MMA, 3-0 Invicta) will be making her first walk to the cage since January of 2023 next month against challenger and Bellator alum Olga Rubin (9-3 MMA, 2-1 Invicta) in the headliner. As with all Invicta FC championship fights, this one will be an advertised maximum of five rounds at five minutes per round.
🚨BREAKING NOW 🚨 on @MMAonSiriusXM's MMA Today w/ @RJcliffordMMA & Din Thomas#InvictaFC55 will be on JUNE 28th when @InvictaFights returns HOME to Kansas City
Headline by Olga Rubin vs Talita Bernardo for the bantamweight title. pic.twitter.com/AYEC36LxLA
— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) May 28, 2024
This brings an end to what will be an eight-month layoff for the promotion. Prior to the June 28 event, the last time Invicta put on a show, Boston was the host city for Invicta FC 54 on Oct. 27, 2023, the Friday before Halloween. That autumn night, against the backdrop of the first game of the World Series, Danni McCormack (8-2 MMA, 3-0 Invicta) defended her strawweight title with a fourth-round technical submission (rear-naked choke) against Karolina Wojcik (11-5 MMA, 2-2 Invicta) in the main event.
Subsequent to this news, Knapp mentioned that a full card will be revealed Friday, the same day that passes for the event will be for sale.
New Media Deal for Invicta
While Shannon Knapp could not go into specifics about it, she did mention that Invicta’s landed a new media rights deal. Formerly, Invicta cards were available on linear TV inside the United States on AXS TV and digitally on the promotion’s official YouTube channel worldwide.
“We were fine-tuning the machine to be organized the way we wanted to move forward and that distribution deal,” Knapp said on Sirius XM. “And now we are ready to roll.”
With the return to live action set for June 28, Invicta is targeting holding live events every six weeks. The promotion only held four shows in the entirety of 2023.
“When Invicta is not going, there is a big hole in the industry,” Knapp mentioned. “There is always something going on even when it’s not public knowledge. We’ve been hunkered down finding a great distribution deal that will be a gamechanger for us.”
The Summer of Competitive Violence is Looking Good
Summertime is always a busy three months of action for any combat sports promotion, not just those in MMA. Invicta’s return is the latest piece of good news that fans of competitive violence have received ahead of the summer solstice.
Invicta FC 55 is scheduled to take place on the night of June 28. One night later, the focus of the MMA world shifts to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 303. In a nontitle main event on the month of June’s final Saturday, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) collides with former Bellator MMA Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at welterweight.
In late July, Netflix will be the streaming home of Mike Tyson‘s return to boxing against Jake Paul, before being followed up a week later by the UFC’s return to the United Kingdom for UFC 304 in Manchester. The July 27 card is co-headlined by a rematch between defending interim champion Tom Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Curtis Blaydes (18-4, 1 NC MMA, 13-4, 1 NC UFC) for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship and headlined by the contest for the UFC Welterweight Championship matching current titleholder Leon Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC) and Belal Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC MMA, 14-3, 1 NC UFC).
Add to it the continuing Bellator Champions Series and the summer of 2024 in MMA looks to be a fun one.
Final Thoughts
Tuesday’s announcement that Invicta FC will return in a month’s time is an awesome one. As someone who’s been following Invicta for years, the promotion has always put on great cards.
Here’s to a bright future for Invicta. May the promotion thrive for years to come.
