Visa issues have resulted in a pair of late changes to Saturday’s Invicta Fighting Championships 9 card in Davenport, Iowa. Kaitlin Young is now set to battle Raquel “Rocky” Pa’aluhi in a featherweight matchup after Young’s original opponent, Cindy “Battlecat” Dandois, was forced to withdraw.
Young and Dandois were set to meet in a bantamweight bout, but Dandois, who has recently spent months training and living in the U.S., was unable to secure a visa to compete. As well, an atomweight contender’s bout between Ayaka Hamasaki and Hérica Tibúrcio has been scrapped from the card.
Young (7-8-1) has been a staple of Invicta FC cards since the all-female promotion’s inception in April 2012. While she remains in search of her first Invicta FC victory, Young is one of the most popular fighters on the current roster thanks to her thrilling bouts with Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith. Young recently relocated to train alongside “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey and The Four Horsewomen stable in California, and she plans to showcase her new skills in victory on Saturday night.
Pa’aluhi (3-4-0) is no stranger to Invicta FC fans and she looks to pick up her biggest win to date when she returns to the promotion on Saturday. The Hawaiian made her Invicta FC debut in July 2012, also on very short notice, and suffered a quick defeat at the hands of current UFC contender Amanda “The Lioness” Nunes. She most recently earned a first-round TKO victory 14 months ago and has since focused on improving her grappling game. She steps in on mere days’ notice to battle Young.
The planned 105-pound contender’s bout between former Jewels champion Hamasaki (10-1-0) and Brazilian standout Tibúrcio (8-2-0) was removed from the card this week when Tibúrcio encountered visa troubles that forced her to withdraw from the event. The fight may now be moved to Invicta FC 10 in December, but an announcement has not yet been made.
Invicta Fighting Championships 9 takes place on November 1st at RiverCenter in Davenport, Iowa. The event is headlined by an Invicta FC Flyweight Championship bout between Barb “Little Warrior” Honchak and Deep Jewels titleholder Takayo Hashi.
Invicta Fighting Championships 9 Fight Card (subject to change):
– Barb “Little Warrior” Honchak vs Takayo Hashi [Invicta FC Flyweight Championship]
– Mizuki Inoue vs Karolina Kowalkiewicz
– Kaitlin Young vs Raquel Pa’aluhi
– Nicdali “The Night Queen” Rivera-Calanoc vs Jodie Esquibel
– Amber “The Bully” Brown vs “Lightning” Liz McCarthy
– Amanda “The Lady Killer” Bell vs Maria Hougaard Djursaa
– Shannon Sinn vs Andrea “KGB” Lee
– Jenny Liou Shriver vs Jamie Moyle
– “Killer” Kelly McGill vs Maegan “Mayhem” Goodwin
(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)