The 9th InvictaFC strawweight champion was crowned in Denver Wednesday night.
InvictaFC held its 50th numbered event with a history making strawweight tournament that found the two finalists fighting for 30 minutes in one night. It was Valesca Machado whose hand was raised in the main event as she got the nod from the judges 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 over Poland’s Karolina Wojcik. Machedo becomes the third Brazilian to hold the strawweight title and 31st champion in the promotion. The main event was the 100th official strawweight bout in the company’s history.
It was April 28th, 2012 when Cassie Roddish and Meghan Wright stepped into the cage to kick off InvictaFC’s first event. More than 50 events later, the promotion can lay claim to developing the women’s divisions of MMA to the point of being a worldwide phenomena. Many athletes from across the globe have come to InvictaFC to prove their skills.
The promotion has nurtured many stars that went on to be world champions. Many girls have seen competing in InvictaFC as a goal, with several who watched from the beginning making that a reality.
As we head into InvictaFC’s 50th numbered event, let’s look back at the historic milestones the all women’s promotion accomplished.
Once again the promotion looks for it’s next champion in the division as it will hold a four woman tournament November 16 at Reelworks in Denver, Colorado, as previous champion Emily Ducote has vacated the title to fight for the UFC.
If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
Abigail Alvarez took home gold at the IMMAF Youth World Championships in Bulgaria representing One Legacy Training Center and Barreto BJJ lin San Diego, California. A second generation fighter, she is coached by her father Christian along side Victor Barreto and Victor Cubillas. She fell in love with Muay Thai at a young age, but took a while until she could train striking martial arts. Since then she is finding success in all aspects of the sport.
If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
Lariah Gill won the gold at atomweight at the 2021 IMMAF Youth Championships in Bulgaria and is already looking like a prodigy in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Starting only four years ago in BJJ under Ricardo Guimaraes at Gracie Humaita Temecula, she started to win local titles in her weight class. This soon picked up to training other arts, including Muay Thai at Hernandez Kickboxing with Richard Hernandez, Judo at Socal Judo with Israel Hernandez, and Wrestling at Lions Den with Brandon Williamson.
If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
Andrea Frisque got the silver at the 2021 IMMAF Youth Championship in Bulgaria, which solidified Kihon MMA even more as a hotbed for young talent. Having trained in taekwondo at a young age, Frisque soon met Coach Eddie Bates and transitioned into MMA and has been training in it for five years.
If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
Alexis Hazelton is coming off a bronze medal at the 2021 IMMAF Youth Championship and is proving to be the future of the MMA Gold gym in El Dorado Hills, California. Under her coach Jim West, she is also a teammate of current UFC star Aspen Ladd. Hazelton isn’t one not to learn from one coach, as she also trains boxing at Mike Guy Boxing, Muay Thai with with Jake Douangdara, and strength and conditioning with Coach Doug Casebier at Our House Fitness. Not to mention is a part of the Folsom High School and Mad Dawg Wrestling Club.
If we are talking about the future of the women’s divisions of MMA, look no further than the IMMAF.
Their youth divisions for athletes under 18 have provided a secure environment to grow and learn. It also gives them an opportunity to prove their skills against others and win championships.
In the coming weeks we are highlighting some of these athletes.
A Gold medalist at the 2021 IMMAF Youth Championship in Bulgaria, Hannah Wagstaff is a second generation martial artist trained by her father Christopher at Kihon MMA in Desert Hot Springs, California. Along with coach Eddie Bates, Hannah made a quick impression on the world stage at flyweight.
The Kansas State Athletic Commission has made available open scoring to all combat sports in 2020 and so far the results have been nothing but great according for all involved.
InvictaFC was the first promotion to request judges give score information to fight teams and the audience on a round by round basis. LFA soon followed suit. The KSAC has given the media results of the initial year of using the system and though there was a small sample size due to limited events in 2020, things are pointing positive.
It was 2007 when an 1-0 Kaitlin Young stepped into her first mma tournament and became the Hook’n’Shoot champion, fighting three women in one night.
Over 13 years later, she hopes to repeat that success in the Professional Fighters League. They announced she will fight fellow InvictaFC vet Cindy Dandois in the regular season opening round May 6th in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which will air live on ESPN.
“I feel I am in the right place in my career for a tournament right now,” Young expressed.
Young is no stranger to tournaments. Besides her Hoon’n’Shoot win, she has competed in two other MMA tournaments in her career. Young told us this one is unique in many ways, especially the round robin opening round matches.
“You got this set of fights and it’s not all just riding on one fight. It takes the pressure off a bit. You can go out have have good performances heading into the playoffs. It’s a cool structure.”
The move to lightweight was strategic for her. While having fought at bantamweight most of her career, she moved to featherweight in her return to MMA in 2018 after a four year hiatus from MMA. It took her a few years to get her body ready for lightweight.
“The PFL had asked me a couple of years ago to be a part of their tournament and at the time I felt 155 was too heavy for me. I had just gone up to 145. I think its important when you go up weight classes you do it slowly.”
Young feels comfortable at the weight and feels it an advantage in terms of her training for the tournament.
“I have always been slightly envious of the guys where there is one ‘eat and train hard division’ at heavyweights and there is not one for the ladies. At 155 I don’t think I will be ridiculously over sized…This is an awesome opportunity to let your body develop the way it wants to and hard training instead of worrying about being lighter.”
“One of the benefits of the weight being higher when you can’t be out (when in a bubble). I like to run outside and I obviously can’t do that.”
The PFL announced they would be putting Covid protocols in place for the opening events, with a bubble similar to other promotions. Young fought for InvictaFC last year, joining Kayla Harrison and Taylor Guardado as the only ones in the PFL women’s tournament to go through the experience.
“The cool thing is while I am handicapped, we are all similarly handicapped,” Young observed. “I think it is harder on extroverted fighters to be honest. I am pretty introverted and I like to isolate before a fight, so I actually kind of love it. I know it is hard for some people being locked away with their thoughts before they fight. For me it is something I really enjoy; being locked up before a fight.”
Currently one of the favorites to win the tournament, Young is excited about testing her skills once again against veteran and rookie talent alike.
“They way I like to say it, fighters bring different puzzles to the table. There is some really fun fights to be had in this tournament. In a tournament type situation the experience in a helpful thing – not just technically but mentally and emotionally.”
It was four years ago we released “Female Fighting: The Time is Now”.
The past few days we have went back to clean up some editing problems we initally had with the project and now have it remastered.
The documentary talks with fighters and experts about the growth of fight, its future, and the mindset of a fighter. Interviews include Julie Kedzie, Amanda Lucas, Jillian Lybarger, Taylor Guardado, among others.
Wombat Sports 