private industry mixed martial arts promotion founded 2012 2012 founder shannon knapp janet martin headquarters united states area served united states key people shannon knapp president julie kedzie matchmaker website http www.invictafc.com invicta fighting championships also known as invicta fc is an american professional mixed martial arts mma promotion for female fighters based in the united states . 1 it was founded in 2012 by janet martin 2 a former vp with mma organization blackeye promotions 3 and shannon knapp who held positions at various levels including executive positions with king of the cage world fighting alliance international fight league affliction entertainment ufc and strikeforce . 4 it has a strategic partnership with fellow japanese mma promotion jewels . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 free online streamed events 1.2 move to online pay per view events 1.3 televised pay per view 1.4 ufc fight pass 1.5 combate 2 rules 3 events 3.1 scheduled events 3.2 past events 4 current champions 5 title history 5.1 featherweight championship 5.2 bantamweight championship 5.3 flyweight championship 5.4 strawweight championship 5.5 atomweight championship 5.6 longest title reigns 5.7 most title defenses 6 honors and awards 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit when zuffa parent company of the ufc purchased rival promotion strikeforce in march 2011 2011 03 shannon knapp received several calls from female fighters who were afraid of what the future might hold for them in strikeforce since the ufc had never promoted a women s fight . 2 6 as the women were calling knapp for representation she started looking at the issue and met janet martin and between the two acquired the financial resources needed . 7 the term invicta a latin word for invincible and incomparable was chosen by founders knapp and martin since the terms invincible and incomparable are very masculine but the term appears in the feminine form in latin and they thought it was a good description for women s mma . 8 free online streamed events edit after more than a year in the making 7 the promotion held its first event invicta fc 1 on april 28 2012 2012 04 28 . 9 it was headlined by a rematch between former strikeforce women s bantamweight champion marloes coenen and french fighter romy ruyssen . 9 the event also marked the mma debut of 2008 summer olympics women s freestyle wrestling medalist randi miller . 10 the event was available as a free video stream at the invicta fighting championships webpage . 11 after the event fight of the night went to kaitlin young and leslie smith who fought to a draw whilst submission of the night was awarded to sarah schneider . liz carmouche and jessica penne both received social media bonuses . 12 on june 9 it was announced that invicta has formed a strategic partnership with japanese promotion jewels to cross promote the world s top female fighters on their respective fight cards in the united states and japan . 13 invicta then held its second event invicta fc 2 baszler vs. mcmann on july 28 2012 . like the first event it was made available as a free stream on the promotion s official website . the event was headlined by 2004 summer olympics women s freestyle wrestling silver medalist sara mcmann and shayna baszler . 14 carla esparza and barb honchak made their promotional debuts on this card . as part of the alliance with japanese promotion jewels jewels lightweight champion ayaka hamasaki was set to face undefeated austrian fighter jasminka cive as part of the main event but cive was unable to secure her visa in time and was replaced by lacey shuckman . 5 15 on september 24 2012 invicta announced a strategic alliance with the super fight league which aims to bring the best indian female fighters to invicta whilst invicta will aim to send world class female mixed martial artists to the super fight league . 16 sara mcmann was originally scheduled to fight for the invicta fc bantamweight championship at invicta fc 3 but this did not occur due to an injury to mcmann . invicta fc 3 penne vs. sugiyama took place on october 6 2012 . invicta continued their partnership with jewels as jessica penne faced and beat the previously undefeated jewels 105 lb champion naho sugiyama for the inaugural invicta fc atomweight championship . also at invicta fc 3 leslie smith fought kaitlin young in a rematch from their exciting fight of the night invicta fc 1 bout where they fought to a draw . this time smith was able to get the better of young and defeated her by tko in the second round . 17 invicta fc3 also saw the promotional debut of long time women s bantamweight and flyweight standout tara larosa as well as the debuts of michelle waterson and cat zingano . fight of the night bonuses went to michelle waterson and lacey schuckman . the submission of the night bonus was split between jessamyn duke and stephanie frausto while knockout of the night went to promotional newcomer joanne calderwood . move to online pay per view events edit on december 19 2012 shannon knapp announced invicta fc 4 would air as an online pay per view . invicta fighting championships held their fourth event invicta fc 4 esparza vs. hyatt on january 5 2013 . the event was headlined by the inaugural invicta fc strawweight championship bout between carla esparza and bec hyatt in hyatt s promotional debut . esparza was originally scheduled to fight ayaka hamasaki for the title but hamasaki pulled out of the fight due to commitments to defending her jewels lightweight title . hamasaki was originally replaced by undefeated brazilian fighter claudia gadelha but on december 28 gadelha was also forced to withdraw after suffering a broken nose in training . esparza defeated hyatt to become the first invicta fc strawweight champion . also alexis davis defeated shayna baszler in the card s fight of the night and rose namajunas won knock out of the night in her professional mma debut . due to purchasing issues on the night of the event the event was streamed for free rather than pay per view and it was announced that all buyers would be refunded . invicta fc 5 penne vs. waterson took place on april 5 2013 . the card was headlined by jessica penne who lost her invicta fc atomweight championship to the karate hottie michelle waterson . the event featured a co main event of vanessa porto vs. barb honchak with the latter being crowned as the first invicta fc flyweight champion . in addition sarah kaufman and cyborg cristiane justino both won in their invicta fc debuts . on this occasion the online pay per view went smoothly avoiding any issues experiences at invicta fc 4 . during invicta fc 5 there were no issues with the ustream pay per view system as there had been in january . televised pay per view edit invicta fc 6 coenen vs. cyborg took place on 13 july 2013 featuring the crowning of cristiane cyborg justino as the inaugural featherweight champion and a strawweight title eliminator match won by claudia gadelha over ayaka hamasaki previously unbeaten jewels lightweight champion . the winner will face champion carla esparza . the card also featured wins by jessica penne lauren taylor tecia torres leslie smith and joanne calderwood . this event was aired on cable and satellite pay per view in the united states and canada in addition to their online ppv stream as the promotion had come to a deal with integrated sports media for live viewing . 18 ufc fight pass edit in early 2014 an agreement with the ufc was announced to air all future invicta fc events exclusively on the ufc s subscription based digital streaming service fight pass and that the entire invicta fc fight library would be added to the on demand part of ufc fight pass . on july 10 invicta and the ufc held a joint conference call to announce that invicta fc 8 would be the first event to stream live on fight pass . the september 6th event was to be headlined by michelle waterson s first title defense of her atomweight belt vs. yasuko tamada . 19 combate edit on february 24 it was announced the partnership between invicta and combate . the deal allows the brazilian channel the broadcast of invicta live events as well the event library of invicta in the south american country . the first invicta event broadcast on combate was invicta fc 11 cyborg vs. tweet showing the brazilian invicta s featherweight champion cris cyborg versus the canadian challenger charmaine tweet . 20 rules edit invicta s current rules follows the unified rules of mixed martial arts that were originally established by the new jersey state athletic control board and modified by the nevada state athletic commission . 21 events edit main article invicta fc events 22 scheduled events edit event date venue location invicta fc 20 november 18 2016 tbd tbd past events edit event title date venue location 1 invicta fc 1 coenen vs. ruyssen 000000002012 04 28 0000april 28 2012 memorial hall kansas city kansas 2 invicta fc 2 baszler vs. mcmann 000000002012 07 28 0000july 28 2012 memorial hall kansas city kansas 3 invicta fc 3 penne vs. sugiyama 000000002012 10 06 0000october 6 2012 memorial hall kansas city kansas 4 invicta fc 4 esparza vs. hyatt 000000002013 01 05 0000january 5 2013 memorial hall kansas city kansas 5 invicta fc 5 penne vs. waterson 000000002013 04 05 0000april 5 2013 ameristar casino kansas city kansas city missouri 6 invicta fc 6 coenen vs. cyborg 000000002013 07 13 0000july 13 2013 ameristar casino kansas city kansas city missouri 7 invicta fc 7 honchak vs. smith 000000002013 12 07 0000december 7 2013 ameristar casino kansas city kansas city missouri 8 invicta fc 8 waterson vs. tamada 000000002014 09 06 0000september 6 2014 municipal auditorium kansas city missouri 9 invicta fc 9 honchak vs.hashi 000000002014 11 01 0000november 1 2014 rivercenter davenport iowa 10 invicta fc 10 waterson vs. tiburcio 000000002014 12 05 0000december 5 2014 arena theater houston texas 11 invicta fc 11 cyborg vs. tweet 000000002015 02 27 0000february 27 2015 shrine expo hall los angeles california 12 invicta fc 12 kankaanp vs. souza 000000002015 04 24 0000april 24 2015 municipal auditorium kansas city missouri 13 invicta fc 13 cyborg vs. van duin 000000002015 07 10 0000july 10 2015 the cosmopolitan resort & casino las vegas nevada 14 invicta fc 14 evinger vs. kianzad 000000002015 09 12 0000september 12 2015 municipal auditorium kansas city missouri 15 invicta fc 15 cyborg vs. ibragimova 000000002016 01 16 0000january 16 2016 oc fair & event center costa mesa california 16 invicta fc 16 hamasaki vs. brown 000000002016 03 11 0000march 11 2016 trinidad pavilion las vegas nevada 17 invicta fc 17 evinger vs. schneider 000000002016 05 07 0000may 7 2016 oc fair & event center costa mesa california 18 invicta fc 18 grasso vs. esquibel 000000002016 07 29 0000july 29 2016 scottish rite temple kansas city missouri 19 invicta fc 19 maia vs. modafferi september 23 2016 scottish rite temple kansas city missouri current champions edit division upper weight limit champion since title defenses top contender featherweight 145 lb 66 kg ; 10.4 st cristiane justino july 13 2013 invicta fc 6 3 bantamweight 135 lb 61 kg ; 9.6 st tonya evinger july 9 2015 invicta fc 13 1 flyweight 125 lb 57 kg ; 8.9 st jennifer maia september 22 2016 invicta fc 19 1 strawweight 115 lb 52 kg ; 8.2 st angela hill may 7 2016 invicta fc 17 0 atomweight 105 lb 48 kg ; 7.5 st ayaka hamasaki july 9 2015 invicta fc 13 2 title history edit featherweight championship edit 136 to 145 lbs 62 to 66 kg no .