Invicta FC atomweight “Fancy” Laura Sanko is pregnant with her first child and has withdrawn from her planned fight at Invicta Fighting Championships 6 on July 13th in Kansas City, Missouri. In Sanko’s place, Cassie “The Hulk” Robb now faces Livia “T-Rex” von Plettenberg on the preliminary card.
Robb returns to the Invicta FC cage after engaging in an action-packed bout with Sanko on the promotion’s fourth card in January. Von Plettenberg drops down to the atomweight division and looks to rebound from a short-notice decision loss to Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood on the same Invicta FC 4 card.
Robb (0-1-0) capped off her amateur career by capturing the Kick Down MMA 110-pound women’s title with a first-round submission victory in October. She made her pro debut against Sanko in the opening fight on the Invicta FC 4 card in January. Robb got off to a strong start against Sanko and landed some solid ground and pound in the opening round. Sanko rallied in round two, however, and she eventually secured a rear-naked choke to take home the victory. Despite the setback, Robb’s game performance at Invicta FC 4 earned her another shot with the promotion and she looks for her first pro victory in July.
Von Plettenberg (1-1-0), a talented striker from Austria, picked up a first-round TKO victory in her pro MMA debut this past June. She later began training at Team Quest in Portland, Oregon in order to continue to develop her overall game and accepted a bout with Calderwood on just eight days’ notice at Invicta FC 4. Calderwood outstruck von Plettenberg en route to a clear-cut Unanimous Decision victory, but von Plettenberg’s willingness to take the challenging bout on short notice ensured that she would receive another fight for the promotion. She will now make her atomweight debut against Robb.
While Sanko will no longer be competing at Invicta FC 6, she may still be a part of the event. On April 5th, Sanko served as a cageside interviewer at Invicta FC 5 and she received rave reviews from observers who tuned in to the event’s live Internet Pay-Per-View stream.
Invicta Fighting Championships 6 takes place on July 13th at the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. The event is headlined by a pair of championship fights.
Invicta Fighting Championships 6 Fight Card (to date; subject to change):
– Marloes “Rumina” Coenen vs Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino [Invicta FC Featherweight Championship]
– Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza vs Ayaka Hamasaki [Invicta FC Strawweight Championship]
– Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio vs Lauren Taylor
– Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith vs Jennifer Maia
– Jessica Penne vs Nicdali “The Night Queen” Rivera-Calanoc
– Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood vs Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha
– Ediane “India” Gomes vs Julia “The Jewel” Budd
– Bec “Rowdy” Hyatt vs Mizuki Inoue
– “The Queen of Mean” Miriam Nakamoto vs “Diamond” Duda Yankovich
– “Thug” Rose Namajunas vs Tecia “The Tiny Tornado” Torres
– Ashley “Smashley” Cummins vs Emily Kagan
– “Miss” Mollie Estes vs Veronica “The Heartbreaker” Rothenhausler
– Cassie “The Hulk” Robb vs Livia “T-Rex” von Plettenberg
(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)