Caitlin Sammons

Invicta Fighting Championships will host a historic night of women’s mixed martial arts action for Friday, Aug. 27. The world’s premier combat sports organization for women returns to pay-per-view for the first time in eight years for Invicta FC 44: A New Era. The event will take place from Memorial Hall in Kansas City and is headlined by two championship match-ups.

Invicta FC 43: King vs. Harrison was a mixed martial arts event. Ir was originally scheduled to be headlined by Pearl Gonzalez and Erin Blanchfield fighting for the vacant flyweight title. Due to COVID-19, the planned title fight was forced to be postponed. The previous co-main event of Emily Ducote and Montserrat Ruiz fighting for the vacant strawweight title was then moved up to become the main event. Stephanie Geltmacher was scheduled to fight Trisha Cicero, but Cicero withdrew the week before the event and was replaced by Caitlin Sammons. The event will also feature the promotional debut of undefeated Olympic judo gold medalist, Kayla Harrison The day before the event, the planned main event of Ducote vs. Ruiz was called off and postponed due to COVID 19. As a result, Kayla Harrison's debut against Courtney King was moved up to become the new main event.

Invicta FC 41: Morandin vs. Ruiz was a mixed martial arts event headlined by Janaisa Morandin and Montserrat Ruiz. The co-main event was set to feature Erin Blanchfield against Stephanie Geltmacher, however Geltmatcher was forced to withdraw and was replaced by Brogan Walker-Sanchez. On July 19, Cynthia Arceo was forced to withdraw from her bout against Itzel Esquivel and was replaced by Kelly D'Angelo. The night of the event, the bout between Esqivel and D'Angelo was removed from the card due to testing for COVID-19.

Invicta FC 36: Sorenson vs. Young was a mixed martial arts event headlined by Pam Sorenson vs. Kaitlin Young for the vacated featherweight championship after former champion Felicia Spencer signed with the UFC. Alyse Anderson was scheduled to fight Anastasia Nikolakakos, however Anastasia withdrew a week before the event and was replaced by Katie Saull. At the weigh-ins, Janaisa Morandin missed weight by three pounds over the limit and was fined 25% of her purse. Chantel Coates also missed weight by half a pound over the limit.

Invicta FC 34: Porto vs. Gonzalez is mixed martial arts event headlined by a fight between Vanessa Porto and Pearl Gonzalez for the vacant Invicta FC Flyweight Championship. The event also featured the beginning of a flyweight tournament to determine the next number one contender.