The all-female MMA promotion has been putting on phenomenal cards since their post-pandemic return. Since singing a deal with AXS TV, Invicta FC has been building prospects into contenders and having viral KOs noticed by mainstream MMA media.
Watching The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, he made a comment regarding Invicta FC needing to sign female talent that move the needle on the regional circuit. Since leaving UFC Fight Pass, this statement couldn’t be truer as the landscape of regional MMA is starting to evolve right before our eyes.
Eventually, more and more regional promotions will be signing talent to multi-fight deals in order to keep prospects and champions under their banner before the eventual call-up. Others may even have a defense clause keeping them around to defend their belt at least once. Smart? It is. Especially when you consider that there will be more homegrown talent for promotions to build into promising prospects.
With this idea in mind, The Scrap decided to highlight 5 exciting female prospects Shannon Knapp and Invicta FC should consider signing and building into massive stars.
Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano
The 7-division world boxing champion, Amanda Serrano is amongst the current needle movers in woman’s mixed martial arts. And signing her would be huge for Invicta. The best part about Serrano, is she has been doing both MMA and Boxing for the last couple of years, racking up a 2-0-1 pro record. And the best part about that, is that her wins are coming by way of submission.
If Invicta were to invest in Serrano, it would serve them well. Not only did she have a MMA fight this year for iKON, she is coming off a title defense in the co-main event of Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley. An event that allowed her the spotlight she so deserves. She is as advertised — Serrano is “The Real Deal”.
Bella “Lady” Mir
Frank Mir’s daughter, Bella Mir, has a bright future ahead of her. She went 2-0 since starting her MMA career as a pro in 2020. Though she has yet to fight this year, when she does, all eyes are on her. Those eyes are needed right now with Invicta being on AXS TV.
Since most regional promotions often lose their champions to the big leagues without having them defend, it’s critical for Shannon to sign women this early on in their career she’s able to help build into a star. Bella could be that star, without a doubt.
Chelsea Hackett
Though her time on Contender Series didn’t go as planned, Chelsea Hackett is still one of the best female prospects on the regional scene. She hasn’t stayed active since the first loss of her career, however, she is currently the youngest contestant on Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn. Similarly to how Tommy Fury’s fanbase carried into his boxing career, Chelsea has potential to do the same here.
Once the show is done airing, one would hope she chooses to return to combat. If she does, Shannon should get her on the main card of a future show. Chelsea will have more eyes on her than ever before when and if she decides to fight again.
Jamey-Lyn Horth Wessels
Though we are not sure what exactly is going on with Jamey-Lyn Horth Wessels, what we do know is we want to see her active again. She’s been unable to fight for Contender Series, and though she is a name we thought we’d hear for Season 5, it has not been announced yet.
Enter Invicta. Getting Jamey-Lyn active should be top of the list for her team and Invicta bringing in an undefeated Canadian prospect for their flyweight division is surely needed. She may not be moving the needle in WMMA quite like the rest of the women on this list, but she sure has the talent to be built into a promotion’s star. She is 4-0, 100% finish rate, 7-fight win streak, and had an appearance on Amanda Nunes’ Modelo commercial. Jamey is a no-brainer signing for any promotion right now.
Jasmine Montoya
Until it starts to catch on with the MMA media, we’re going to continue calling Jasmine Montoya the upcoming “It Girl” in MMA. She has what it takes to be a massive star in the sport, depending on her moves while on the regional circuit. She was supposed to make her Combate debut that was unfortunately canceled due to COVID.
If Combate can’t or won’t book Montoya for a future card, Shannon should come sliding in her DMs with an offer. Though she’s only 1-0 as an amateur, she’s ready to make her pro debut and has so much potential to bring eyes to the promotion if properly promoted. Soon the Factory X prospect will be making more noise… But remember, you heard it here first.
Who do you think Invicta FC should sign? Let us know in the comments below.
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Mir and Serrano are already established names; the former because of her father and the latter because of her sensational boxing career and I think the UFC, Bellator and ONE may all be competing for them. If Invicta can score them on the basis that they should work their way up to MMA at the highest level, more power to them The other 3 all sound like good prospects for Invicta.
The reason I wrote this list is for Invicta to sign women moving the needle in MMA, so there will be established names like Mir and Serrano. I can assure you ONE, Bellator, and UFC are not looking at anyone on this list expect for maybe Jamey-Lyn (was supposed to fight on DWCS). Serrano and Mir, though they are established names, are still way too early into their MMA careers. They need to be built, and Invicta would be a great platform for them to get consistent fights.
https://www.tapology.com/rankings/3979-fighters-invicta-should-sign