Invicta Fighting Championshup will debut the “Phoenix Rising Series” next month and eight women will compete for the opportunity to become the new Invicta FC Strawweight Champion. The strawweight gold was vacated when Virna Jandiroba signed with the UFC, debuting against former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza at UFC Fight Night Fort Lauderdale.
The eight fighter field has been set for the one night tournament, with those pairings being UFC veteran Kailin Curran facing Sunna Davidsdottir, UFC veteran Juliana Lima versus UFC veteran Danielle Taylor, Janaisa Morandin versus Brianna Van Buren and Mizuki Inoue versus Sharon Jacobsen.
Two reserve fights have been announced as well, as Itzel Esquivel faces Alyssa Krahn and Amber Brown faces Manjit Kolekar. The only way that the two reserve fight winners will get a chance to compete in the tournament is if any of the eight competitors in the field are unable to continue on in the semi-finals or finals.
Marc Raimondi of ESPN also reports that each fighter must pass a King-Devick concussion test before competing in the next round of the tournament, which is a rule required by the Kansas commission.
Invicta Fighting Championship “Phoenix Rising Series” takes place on Friday, May 3 from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Missouri with the tournament finals in the main event spot. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass.
