Invicta 5: Cris Cyborg vs Fiona Muxlow fight booked with Ediane Gomes hurt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 19, 2013) – Pound for pound great and vicious KO artist Cristiane Santos (10-1, 1 NC) of Curitiba, Brazil will square off with rising star Fiona Muxlow (6-2) of Townsville, Queensland, Australia, in a featured Featherweight (145 pounds) bout at the Invicta Fighting Championships women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world championship doubleheader event at Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City after a rib injury sustained in training camp forced Cyborg’s original opponent Ediane "India" Gomes to withdraw from the scheduled match up, Invicta FC officials announced today.

Muxlow’s original Invicta FC 5 featherweight opponent, hard-punching Julia Budd (4-2) of Port Moody, BC Canada, will be matched with a new opponent to be announced soon. Fighting out of Team Takedown Australia, the 35-year-old, 5-foot-5 Muxlow, a highly-skilled grappler, recently reeled off three consecutive victories before her win streak was snapped at the hands of top-ranked superstar Marloes Coenen at Saitama Super Arena in Japan on Dec. 31, 2012.

Muxlow jumpstarted her professional career by defeating three consecutive opponents – all by way of submission -- in one night of action in a featherweight tournament in New Zealand on June 2, 2007.

The 27-year-old Cyborg is universally recognized as the most devastating striker in the women’s field of MMA fighters, pulverizing her way to eight (T)KO victories since making her pro debut in 2005. Cyborg took her career to new heights in a main event showdown with superstar rival Gina Carano on Aug. 15, 2009, quickly overwhelming and stopping Carano with a barrage of punches in the first round (4:59) of their meeting to become the first-ever Strikeforce women’s world champion in history.

The long-awaited fight set a new viewership record for MMA on premium cable channel SHOWTIME.

In the main event of the stacked 14-bout card, reigning Invicta FC Atomweight (105 pounds) Champion Jessica Penne (10-1) of Huntington Beach, Calif., will defend her crown against superstar Michelle Waterson (10-3) of Albuquerque, N.M., and, in the co-main event and first-ever Invicta FC flyweight (125 pounds) title fight, submission ace Vanessa Porto (15-5) of Sao Paulo, Brazil will square off with red-hot star Barb Honchak (7-2) of Bettendorf, Iowa.

Flyweight superstar Zoila Frausto Gurgel (12-2) of Cincinnati, Ohio, will also make her Invicta FC debut in another featured bout against submission expert Jennifer Maia (6-2) of Curitiba, Parana Brazil. In other action on the eight-bout main card, Bantamweight (135 pounds) superstar Sarah Kaufman (15-2) of Victoria, BC, Canada, will make her long-awaited Invicta FC debut against dangerous striker and Invicta FC 3 and Invicta FC 4 winner Leslie Smith (5-2-1) of Pleasant Hill, Calif.

Undefeated KO artist Lauren Taylor (5-0) of Anchorage, Alaska, will battle hard-hitting Kaitlin Young (7-7-1) of St. Louis Park, Minn. at bantamweight. Crowd-pleasing "Rowdy" Bec Hyatt (4-2) of Brisbane, Australia will drop from flyweight to strawweight (115 pounds) and look to return to the win column against undefeated sensation and Invicta FC newcomer Jasminka Cive (5-0) of Graz, Austria.

The Invicta FC six-fight preliminary card will be highlighted by a bantamweight tilt between two undefeated prospects in powerhouse Jessamyn "The Gun" Duke (2-0) of Richmond, Ky. and Muay Thai stylist Miriam Nakamoto (1-0) of Dublin, Calif. Katja Kankaanpaa (7-0-1) of Seinajoki, Finland, will square off with fellow undefeated rising star Juliana Carnerio Lima (5-0) of Belo Horizonte, Brazil at strawweight in what will mark both fighters’ Invicta FC debuts.

Alex Chambers (4-1) of St. Ives New South Wales, Australia will meet unbeaten Jodie Esquibel of Albuquerque, N.M., at atomweight. Fresh off of her professional debut victory in the Invicta FC cage, top-flight prospect Rose Namajunas (1-0) of St. Paul, Minn. will face off with fellow undefeated upstart Kathina Catron (2-0) of Tehlequa, Okla., at strawweight.

Following her explosive first round KO and professional debut victory over Katalina Malungahu at Invicta FC 4, recent Team Alpha Male enlistee Veronica Rothenhausler (1-0) of Sacramento, Calif. will return to the cage against Mollie Estes (1-1) of Kansas City in a featherweight battle.

Cassie Rodish (4-3) of Des Moines, Iowa will face Simona Soukupova (3-2) of London, England in an atomweight contest.