By TXMMA Staff | Photo via Esther Lin, Invicta FC
Strengthened partnership between the UFC and Invicta FC means added exposure for Women’s MMA
Invicta FC has always had a friendly relationship with the UFC. After coming around to women’s MMA, the UFC and president Dana White has been public about his support for Invicta FC. Led by Shannon Knapp, Invicta FC has in turn allowed the UFC to buy the contracts of some of their top fighters to bolster their own ranks. Now in the next step of their working relationship, the UFC will help distribute Invicta FC events.
Up to now, the Invicta Fighting Championships has aired its events via internet stream. They’ve discussed television deals with various potential partners but nothing came to pass. Running production on their own, they’ve come up with some challenges. They’ve even had to give away some shows mid-steam due to technical issues. Now with this deal, it seems like all those production worries will be a thing of the past. All the organization’s events will air on UFC Fight Pass. It’s multi-year, multi-event deal so women’s MMA via Invicta will have a chance to grow. With worldwide access to the product, MMA fans will now get a chance to watch Invicta FC events so long as they subscribe to the UFC channel.
UFC Fight Pass has experienced some success so far. The org has transitioned its event prelims and aired some events exclusively on the channel. Likewise UFC Fight Pass already houses a large part of MMA history, including the libraries of former promotions like Pride FC, WEC, and Strikeforce. Now the channel will be home to all 7 previous Invicta FC events along with all future ones.
Accordingly to (Invicta promoter) Shannon Knapp, this will do nothing but strengthen the momentum of her organization along with women’s MMA as a whole.
“Now that we have a stable foundation, we’re going to increase the number of events,” she said about that deal. “We want to see how things go, and look at the frequency (of live shows). Those are things we’re still ironing out. We’re capable of doing more events and we’re looking to ramp things up. We can put on cards as often as they want. I think it’s going to be a great thing.”
As fit their next show and first live one on UFC Fight Pass, they’re looking at later this summer. That should be exciting to the more notable fighters on their roster, including Texas-based fighter Lauren Murphy, the org’s bantamweight champion. She’s been quoted as eager to fight and with the show only having run 2 shows in the last 12 months her options were limited. This deal in addition to more UFC promotional support for Invicta should see things on the upswing for her and the rest of the org’s fighters. And the ramifications for up-and-coming females in MMA are also positive. They now know they have a promotion that won’t go away in the near-term. It’s a great goal to work towards.
“I think it’s an amazing opportunity for the athletes and for Invicta, teaming up with the UFC and having their marketing power behind us, giving us exposure to UFC fans,” said Knapp.
Exciting times for women’s MMA indeed. Good times ahead.