The opening bout on the all-female Invicta Fighting Championships 1 card has undergone a late change. The April 28th event, which takes place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, will now begin with a 105-pound matchup between Meghan “The Babe” Wright and Iowa’s Cassie Rodish.

Wright’s original opponent, Jessica Philippus, withdrew from the bout earlier today. Philippus, who gave birth to daughter Kamilla in late January, felt that she would be unable to make the contracted weight limit. Invicta President Shannon Knapp discussed the situation with MMARising.com this evening.

Wright and Philippus were initially slated to face off in one of three 105-pound matchups on the card and Philippus committed herself to a difficult and stressful weight cut in order to get back down to the atomweight limit in time. When her body began to strain from the weight cut this week, she informed Invicta management that making 105 pounds may not be an option with less than two weeks to go. Rather than scrapping the bout outright, a plan was put in place to move the fight up to 115 pounds.

In comments earlier today, Wright claimed that she had accepted the offer to face Philippus at 115 pounds and that she, too, had endured a tough weight cut down from 118 in order to get back to 105. According to Knapp, this is not true and Wright’s management had in fact declined the 115-pound offer due to the struggle that their fighter was enduring in having to put on weight to stay above 105 pounds. Knapp maintains that the bout was ultimately scrapped because Wright would have been far too light to compete at 115, and she was unaware of any attempts that Wright might have made to cut any weight. Wright later removed all traces of her statements, as well as a comment directed at Philippus.

Knapp went on to discuss the official Invicta FC weigh-in policy, but first stressed that she had nothing but positive things to say about Philippus and appreciated that Philippus had provided as much advance notice as possible. Knowing that Philippus was attempting to cut nearly 40 pounds in order to compete just outside of her home state of Missouri just 12 weeks after giving birth, Knapp was sympathetic to the challenge and felt that Philippus would remain a welcome part of the organisation’s future.

While Philippus’s professionalism was applauded, any fighter who misses weight on April 27th will not be so lucky. Knapp believes that one of the primary keys to establishing credible divisions and weight classes is to ensure that fighters make weight every time. When fighters arrive in Kansas City on the 26th, they will be brought to the scales for a test weigh-in. Any competitors who are significantly above their targeted fight weight will be advised to begin cutting weight immediately.

Should a fighter miss weight the following day at the official weigh-ins, she will forfeit 10% of her purse to her opponent. If she is unable to make weight on a second attempt, the penalty will increase to 25%. A fight-day weigh-in, which is often utilised in Kansas but not mandatory, will not be in effect for Invicta FC events. As well, catchweight bouts remain a no-go in Invicta and the promotion will promote fights in each of the five major women’s weight classes only.

Despite the late change, the inaugural Invicta FC event will proceed with 11 fights. Wright (1-3-0) and Rodish (1-3-0) will compete in the first bout on the all-female card.

Wright has never been outside of the first round in her pro career, but she makes her Invicta debut after a pair of quick losses and now looks for what would be her biggest win to date. Rodish also struggled early in her pro career, but she is coming off of a first-round TKO victory in September and has racked up much more cage time than her opponent through four pro bouts. However, she was unable to make the 110-pound limit for her most recent fight, and will need to cut even more weight next Friday.

Invicta Fighting Championships 1 takes place on April 28th at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

Invicta Fighting Championships 1 Fight Card (subject to change):

– Marloes “Rumina” Coenen vs Romy Ruyssen
– Jessica Penne vs Lisa Ellis-Ward
– Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche vs Ashleigh Curry
– Kaitlin Young vs Leslie Smith
– Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio vs Vanessa Mariscal
– “Slick” Sally Krumdiack vs Sarah “White Tiger” Schneider
– Nicdali “The Night Queen” Rivera-Calanoc vs Amy “Lil’ Dynamite” Davis
– Michele “Diablita” Gutierrez vs Sarah Maloy
– Randi Miller vs “Miss” Mollie Ahlers-Estes
– Ashley “Smashley” Cummins vs Sofia Bagherdai
– Cassie Rodish vs Meghan “The Babe” Wright