The Ultimate Fighting Championship is a little more than a month away from stepping into territory that many people believed was further off than it in fact was. At UFC 157 women’s mixed martial arts will stand front and center, when Ronda Rousey faces Liz Carmouche to defend her bantamweight title. The level of success that this event achieves has the potential to cause waves down the line for women within MMA, and for one organization in particular.
Invicta Fighting Championships has become the go to organization for fans of women’s mixed martial arts. Under the leadership of Shannon Knapp, the company has been able to deliver four solid events that featured some of the best women competing in the sport, while also giving exposure to lesser known athletes. As its coverage within the MMA media has grown, so has its developing fan base. This continued exposure, and the success of its shows, has the potential to make Invicta an interesting target for Zuffa down the line, should that company’s investment in building up Rousey go as planned.
There isn’t any question that building an entire division around a single individual can be a dangerous strategy, especially in the game of MMA. Rousey can get caught just like any fighter, and if she loses, there goes the entire group almost at the same time. As Invicta continues to build up a stable of names that can hold the attention of fight fans, its value increases, because the UFC will need female fighters to fill its roster eventually. And instead of stealing Invicta’s top fighters away by being able to offer them bigger paydays, Zuffa could find a way to absorb the company and let Knapp say on as the main promoter/matchmaker.
Another area in which the UFC and Invicta could mutually benefit would be in the area of providing fight cards for viewing online. Invicta has carved out its niche in the sport by presenting its cards online, and using grassroots promotion through viral video and social media to build a loyal online following. However, the promotion and its fans have had to deal with bandwidth issues during each of the promotion’s outings, and recently, the company had to offer refunds to the purchasers of its Invicta FC 4 online pay-per-view due to last minute technical issues. Zuffa has the resources available to work with Invicta and solve these online viewership problems by making the cards available on one of its online streaming platforms. Zuffa’s benefit would be it they would be able to test the feasibility of moving certain cards online, where they can be ordered directly from the company, rather than through pay per view partners (which is a step the company has been trying to take for years.) And by bolstering Invicta’s ability to successfully present Invicta events online without any technical glitches, Zuffa would be doing themselves a service down the line as well, as it would give potential bantamweight contenders a platform for exposure, while also building up a library of footage that the company could use for highlight videos and countdown shows.
This weekend, the MMA world bids farewell to Strikeforce, the company that introduced MMA fans to both Rousey and Carmouche, and whose purchase by Zuffa has provided and continues to provide an infusion of polished high-level talent to fill its roster. What makes this departure more sad than sweet is that many fans would have loved to see Strikeforce live on as a UFC “feeder league.” A partnership between the UFC and Invicta, or an outright purchase, would be a business move with the potential to create that kind of feeder league setup, helping both organizations while assisting the development of women’s mixed martial arts as a whole. Invicta would get a parent company in Zuffa that has the means to further expand their product, while Zuffa would get a subsidiary where they can develop a much needed talent pool while testing out business practices they would like to employ on a larger scale.
Still, all of this likely hinges on the two women stepping into the Octagon on February 23, carrying the hopes of many upon their shoulders. Shannon Knapp, and her dreams of pushing women’s MMA forward, are definitely one of that many.
