This Friday, Invicta FC will hold their first event since October of last year when they return to Kansas City via the Memorial Hall, the site of their inaugural event and a regular stomping ground for North America’s premier women’s only promotion. According to their founder Shannon Knapp, this time off hasn’t been wasted, rather they’ve made important internal changes, obtained a broadcasting deal with CBS Sports, and already scheduled 4 more events for the year.
Also, Invicta will continue to cooperate with Japan’s Deep Jewels promotion, with whom they entered into a strategic partnership back in 2012, by bringing both Saori Oshima and Yuko Higashi over to compete this Friday, both of whom are champions in Japan. For Oshima especially, this has been a long-time goal of hers and she revealed after her win in May that she’s been in communication with Invicta for over a year now.
Japan’s Little Giant
Hailing from the rural mountains of Western Japan, Oshima was born to Judo practitioners and started training in the discipline when she was 3, consistently competing at a high-level all the way through college. Afterwards, she retired from the sport, married a fellow judoka, and gave birth to twins. However, the competitive fire still burned within her and thanks to a friend from college, Miki Motono, who is currently competing in the Road to the UFC tournament, she was introduced to AACC, a gym with a long history of producing top female MMA talent. Just 3 months later she made her amateur debut and in 2020 she made her pro-debut.
Since then, Oshima’s fought 18 times, finished 10 opponents, won 3 championships across 2 divisions, gone 4-0 in Rizin, and defeated the likes of Si Woo Park, Kanna Asakura, and Miyuu Yamamoto. As her nickname suggests, standing at 4’11 and able to fight at 97lbs, Oshima is more times than not, smaller than her opponent. This was most evident last year when she took on Pancrase’s 115lb champion at Rizin 43. Despite being half a foot shorter and her opponent having an 8 inch reach advantage, Oshima dominated, finishing her opponent in 1 minute and 16 seconds.
Now, Oshima is set to make her U.S. debut against Andressa Romero, a physically imposing fighter from Brazil who’s never been finished. Will Japan’s “Little Giant”, who has flourished in her underdog role, be able to do what no one else has? Will Romero spoil Oshima’s debut? Tune in this Friday to find out.
Full Card
- Talita Bernardo vs. Olga Rubin
- Kay Hansen vs. Sayury Cañon
- Saori Oshima vs. Andressa Romero
- Taylor Guardado vs. Yoko Higashi
- Elisandra “Lili” Ferreira vs. Katie Saull
- Zoe Nowicki vs. Josiane Oliveira
- Fallon Johnson vs. Violeta Mendoza
How to watch
In the U.S., the sport will be broadcast via CBS Sports and in Japan, the event will be available via Youtube for 160 yen.
Japanese 
English