Brazilian standout Vanessa Porto will compete on U.S. soil for the first time since 2008 when she battles Kelly “Blood Red” Kobold at Invicta Fighting Championships 2 on July 28th in Kansas City, Kansas. The bantamweight matchup was officially announced for the event’s main card today.
Porto has won seven of her past eight fights, with the lone blemish coming against Strikeforce veteran Amanda “Lioness of the Ring” Nunes. All but one of her career wins have come inside the distance. Kobold returned from a three-year hiatus and scored a quick submission victory in April 2011.
Porto (14-4-0) has long been regarded as one of Brazil’s premier female fighters. The seven-year veteran has faced many of the sport’s best at 135 pounds and holds notable wins over Tonya Evinger, Hitomi Akano and Germaine de Randamie. After her December 2009 loss to Nunes, Porto took a year off from competition. She began training at her own gym in 2011 and picked up victories over Kalindra Carvalho Faria and the previously unbeaten Jennifer Maia before the end of the year. In March, Porto captured the inaugural Pink Fight women’s title at 132 pounds with a 41-second knockout victory.
Kobold (18-3-1) has been competing for ten years and, like Porto, has battled many of the sport’s best. She maintained an unbeaten record through 18 fights and totalled key wins over Shayna Baszler and Adrienna Jenkins along the way. Kobold encountered a rough patch from 2007 to 2008 and suffered consecutive defeats to BodogFight champ Tara LaRosa, current Strikeforce competitor Julie Kedzie and former EliteXC superstar Gina Carano. It would be two and a half years before Kobold stepped back into the cage after the loss to Carano, but she got back on the winning track with a first-round armbar.
Porto and Kobold are two of the most experienced female fighters in the bantamweight division and join an already impressive stable of talent in the Invicta FC 135-pound weight class. The Porto-Kobold showdown will be a part of the Invicta FC 2 main card.
Invicta Fighting Championships 2 takes place on July 28th at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.
(Photo Credit: Alessandro Gelke)