Emily Ducote

Live MMA on Wednesday, May 11th, 2022 from Memorial Hall in Kansas City, featuring Invicta FC strawweight champion Emily "Gordinha" Ducote attempting to defend her title against former atomweight champ Alesha "Half Pint" Zappitella

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 40: Ducote vs Lima is a mixed martial arts event that is scheduled to be headlined by Emily Ducote against Juliana Lima.

Invicta FC 38: Murata vs. Ducote was a mixed martial arts event that was headlined by Kanako Murata vs. Emily Ducote for the vacant strawweight championship. The original main event was Vanessa Porto defending her flyweight championship against top contender Karina Rodríguez, who earned her shot by winning the flyweight tournament at Invicta FC 35, however Rodríguez failed to make weight thus was no longer able to contend for the championship and the bout was changed to a non-title fight as the co-main event.

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.

Bellator 195: Caldwell vs. Higo took place on March 2, 2018 at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event aired live in prime time on Paramount Network. The event was headlined by Bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell making the first defense of his title against Pitbull brothers' protege Leandro Higo.

Bellator 186: Bader vs. Vassell took place on November 3, 2017 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. In the Bellator 186 main event Ryan Bader made the first defense of his Light Heavyweight title against Linton Vassell . The co-main event featured Ilima-Lei Macfarlane against Emily Ducote for the inaugural Bellator Women's Flyweight title.

The main event will feature Brandon Girtz against Derek Campos in a rubber match. Campos won the pair's initial meeting in June 2013 at Bellator 96 by unanimous decision. Girtz avenged the loss in November 2015 at Bellator 146, where he won by knockout in the first round.

Bellator 167 was headlined by a bantamweight fight pitting Darrion Caldwell against Joe Taimanglo. Caldwell and Taimanglo previously met in a catchweight bout at Bellator 159. Caldwell did well in the first two rounds, but was caught with a fight-ending guillotine choke nine seconds into the third round. The defeat was the first loss of Caldwell’s career and Caldwell was a 14-1 favorite entering the bout, making the upset the fourth biggest in MMA history. Taimanglo was riding a four-fight winning streak into the rematch. Caldwell came into the first bout with Taimanglo off a career-best win over Joe Warren at Bellator 151. A featherweight bout between Pat Curran and John Teixeira was also scheduled for this card. However, the fight was cancelled in early November due to an injury sustained by Curran. Teixeira instead faced Justin Lawrence.