Invicta FC Goes From Zero to a Force in First Year
It would be hard to find a promotion that had as much of an impact in 2012 as Invicta FC. What started as a new promotion focused solely on women’s MMA, Invicta’s shows quickly established it as a premier promotion in the sport, regardless of gender.
Numbers for live streams of the promotion’s three events in 2012 were beyond expectation, and perhaps more so importantly, fighters themselves raved about the first-class treatment they received and in return delivered some of the most competitive and impressive action anywhere.
“I’m going to say that we far exceeded any expectations,” said Invicta VP Shannon Knapp.
“Any time you start a new business you hope for the best, but to start an all-female promotion like we did and have any expectations, we had none. We just wanted to do our best and succeed to some degree to where we could start making a difference for the athletes.”
While some promotions could point to a couple of moments that stood out for them this past year, Knapp feels everything Invicta managed to accomplish in 2012 were highlight moments for the promotion.
“Honestly, I think the highlight moment was to kick off that first show and to have such an amazing response and for people to support and embrace us,” she said. “That second show was also a highlight, and now that I think about it, every show that we did and to see the support we got and how vested the athletes were in it were all highlights for us.
“It was a process of growth for us too. To go into something and not really know how it was going to work out, and to sit back and watch every aspect become highlights because they were all success. Every show stands out to me as a highlight because they just got better.”
Likewise, Knapp couldn’t single out any individual fighter as an MVP for the company, as she feels that from top to bottom, they all gave their best.
“Each and every one of them brought something important to the promotion, so it’s really hard to say one person outshined any one of them,” she said. “They all stepped up.
“To tell you, honestly, each and every one of them who stepped in the cage is the MVP because they all brought it. Not one athlete that I can think of didn’t go in there and give it everything they had and didn’t get behind what we were doing with the movement.”
Looking forward to 2013, Knapp told MMAWeekly.com that she hopes that things continue to improve to where that not only the promotion reaps the benefits of growth, but the fighters as well.
“The biggest thing that stands out more than anything for our goals for next year is to keep improving our product and to make a difference in helping find ways to put more dollars in our athlete’s pockets and move the sport forward.”
