Invicta Fighting Championships returns with its 13th all-female event on July 9th at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Invicta FC 13 card is headlined by a featherweight title bout between champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino and challenger Faith “The Immortal” Van Duin.
In the 135-pound co-main event, Tonya “Triple Threat” Evinger squares off against Irene Aldana “Robles” for the vacant Invicta FC bantamweight title. Newly-crowned Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Hérica Tibúrcio makes the first defence of her belt against former Jewels titleholder Ayaka Hamasaki.
Justino (13-1-0, 1 ND) is one of the most dominant champions in MMA today, and she is 3-0 inside the Invicta FC cage. After destroying Fiona Muxlow in her promotional debut, Justino captured the Invicta FC Featherweight Championship by stopping Marloes “Rumina” Coenen for a second time at Invicta FC 6. She sat out for more than 18 months before returning to the cage in February at Invicta FC 11. In a brief and one-sided bout, Justino demolished Charmaine “Not So Sweet” Tweet in 46 seconds.
Van Duin (5-1-0) first made a name for herself by defeating three opponents in a one-night tournament to become Storm MMA Women’s Featherweight Champion in August 2013. The talented New Zealander suffered her first pro loss one year later in a rematch against current Bellator fighter Arlene “Angerfist” Blencowe, but Van Duin rebounded from the setback with an impressive win in her Invicta FC debut. At Invicta FC 12, she submitted Amanda “The Lady Killer” Bell with a no-hooks rear-naked choke.
Evinger (16-5-0) is currently in the midst of a six-fight winning streak that includes three key victories under the Invicta FC banner. After making a successful promotional debut against Sarah “The Monster” D’Alelio at Invicta FC 7, Evinger earned one of her biggest wins to date when she submitted Brazilian contender Ediane “India” Gomes in September. She returned to action three months later against an overmatched Cindy “Battlecat” Dandois and submitted the Belgian fighter with a second-round armbar.
Aldana (5-1-0), alongside strawweight teammate Alexa Grasso, is one of the most powerful female strikers in MMA today. She began her career in her home country of Mexico and racked up three devastating knockout victories – the longest lasting just 43 seconds – en route to becoming Xtreme Kombat Women’s Bantamweight Champion. Following a loss to current UFC fighter Larissa Moreira Pacheco, Aldana has bounced back with a pair of first-round submission wins inside the Invicta FC cage that were both set up by strikes on the feet.
Tibúrcio (9-2-0) made her Invicta FC debut in December after putting together a three-fight winning streak that included a notable submission victory over Kinberly Novaes. In spite of that success, many onlookers expected that the young Brazilian would be quickly overrun by then-champion Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson. Instead, Tibúrcio shocked the MMA world by dominating and ultimately submitting Waterson with a third-round guillotine choke to become Invicta FC Atomweight Champion.
Hamasaki (11-1-0), who formerly held the Jewels Lightweight Queen Championship at 114 pounds, has excelled since dropping down to the atomweight division following her lone career loss against current UFC contender Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha at Invicta FC 6. Hamasaki first finished former Jewels Featherweight Queen Champion Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama in August, then outpointed newly-crowned Deep Jewels Atomweight Champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Rounding out the seven-fight Invicta FC 13 card, undefeated Cage Warriors Women’s Bantamweight Champion Pannie “Banzai” Kianzad (7-0-0) makes her Invicta FC debut against Jessica-Rose “Jessy Jess” Clark (5-1-0), who has captured multiple titles in Australia. Amber “The Bully” Brown (4-1-0) takes on Catherine “The Alpha Female” Costigan (5-0-0) in a featured atomweight contender’s bout.
Strawweight prospects Amy “The Resurrection” Cadwell Montenegro (6-1-0) and Tuff-N-Uff champ Jamie Moyle (2-0-0) collide at 115 pounds, and Marina “The Supernova From Moldova” Shafir (1-1-0) battles amateur standout Amber Leibrock (0-0-0) in the featherweight opener.
Invicta Fighting Championships 13 takes place on July 9th at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event streams live on UFC Fight Pass.
Is this suppose to be Cyborg’s last fight at 145? Could honestly care less about it. Van Duin is simply way in over her heard. 145 is such a terrible division.
The 135 belt doesn’t mean much since if Aldana wins, she drops it anyway to sign with UFC. Zero reason for her to stay in Invicta after this fight. You can argue she should be on the Mexico City card anyway. Mexicans don’t know she exists right now and UFC needs to promote her and Grasso. And if Evinger wins…yeah. UFC doesn’t want her so the belt would mean nothing on her. She would be just a placeholder until a prospect beats her.
Hamasaki vs. Tiburico is really the only fight to get excited about. Although they are not names that will draw viewers or put butts in seats, you can argue 105 is really Invicta’s best division even without Waterson. The other divisions are just blah. And there are some girls just too small to ever go 115, so the talent will develop. UFC will eventually add a 105 division, but not for a while.